This is the one and only time I’m really happy to have squirrels at my feeder. How beautiful.
Silent flyers. Barred owls are so light they don’t bend the tiniest of branches when they perch. Amazing.
Little gifts.
wildlife
Fantastic Mr. Fox
As I sat and drank my afternoon cup of coffee I looked over the garden, down into the back forty and Mr. Fox was sitting in the center of the field.
My sister lost two more of her chickens last week so I’ve been paying closer attention. My rooster just started to crow on Saturday and I told him the whole idea was to be quiet and not announce to the wild world around him that he was there. He didn’t listen.
The first thing I thought was I need to clean that .22 but I grabbed my camera instead.
Walking out to one of my gardens I sat on the bench facing the field and watched. The sun was gloriously warm and Mr. Fox was just sitting, eyes shut, soaking it in. After a few minutes he decided to try to catch himself a snack and this is one of the shots I took.
As I watched him through that long lens I thought about the idea of looking through the sight of a rifle and how I felt about that. I understand the need and desire to protect your birds but he was so beautiful. He appeared to be just enjoying a sunny fall day. I’m not sure I could kill him just because he was in the back field.
I have to tell you though the gun will be cleaned and will be positioned at the ready for the day my birds begin to disappear. It’s a fine line between an amazing wild animal and a chicken killing predator.
Bunny Tracks
There is a lot of snow in Rowe. Bill plows out paths all over the property with the tractor. I think he does it for something to do more than anything else. This morning when I went out with the dogs there were rabbit tracks everywhere. I started following some of their little trails around and found it amusing that they use Bill’s plowed out roads more than anything else. They will go over the banks to get under something but it appears they’ve turned Bill’s roads into quite the highway.
I love seeing their tracks everywhere, I rarely see one in the winter. It makes me feel a little more secure about have the little dogs running around everywhere, especially in the evening. There were a number of years when we had coyotes in the back forty almost every night. There wasn’t a small critter to be found anywhere on that property. We found the carnage of a deer kill over the bank near the new perennial garden one spring as well. Friends lost their cats. They are quite scary, especially when you know they are there, you hear them but you never see them.
About two years ago I stopped hearing them barking at night. Then the critters started coming back. The rabbits are new to us here. As long as I can remember there were never rabbits in the back behind the barn. Now you see them when you drive in the driveway or go out early in the morning with your coffee and in the winter you see evidence of them everywhere.
Fort Pelham Farm 