It’s fierce.
And when her babies are around?
(Yes, I’m talking about woodchucks…. were you expecting something else?)
When her babies are here….
And her babies are there…
Momma knows no fear.
Take a look at who she chased the other evening.
You go momma chucker!
The baby woodchucks are everywhere.
Behind the barn, in the rock wall, on the porch, under the deck.
Which means….
They’re going to be saturating my blog for a while.
Because really….
If there’s anything cuter than a mini woodchuck eating apples?
I don’t know if I’d survive it.
No, not the Hendrix kind.
The Japanese Iris kind.
They don’t last long.
But they sure are pretty while they’re here.
Especially after a rain shower.
At night.
Our resident buck with the felt covered mini rack has flown the proverbial coop, which is a shame, because I think most of you…. some of you?…. alright, at least one of you… was enjoying the fuzzy updates on antler growth progress.
But never fear.
Our old doe, who we call pregnant because she always seems to be, has last year’s progeny with her on a daily basis now.
So we’ll start from scratch.
Baby buck antlers.
At this point, they’re just little nubs that he keeps rubbing on trees and rocks.
And can you blame him?
The poor little guy looks like a four legged Frankenstein.
Since our spring was so late and cool, things have been blooming a bit more slowly this year.
But no matter when it blooms, if there’s any better smell than fresh lilacs?
I’ve yet to find it.
Though honeysuckle comes in a close second.
This one doesn’t look like much from far away…
But up close it’s pretty sweet.
These Mallow I planted a few weeks ago have quickly become my favorite new bloomer.
Naturally when I went back to the nursery for more they were sold out.
Boo to that.
June in Maine means rhododendrons…..
As well as Lupine.
And I love these purple beauties!
I heard some Hellacious (Yes, that’s a word. At least in Maine.) chattering the other afternoon.
Looked out back…
And saw momma red squirrel perched on the plant hanger.
She was flicking her tail and screeching like a Hollywood starlet who ran out of Botox.
She screeched so hard a seed fell out of her mouth.
It only took me a minute to figure out why.
The other visitor.
No worries readers, momma escaped unharmed.
Do you see him?
There, on the end of the stone wall.
It’s a little baby chucker.
And I am totally in love with these guys.
They’ve started to use the wall as their own personal jungle gym….
And scamper around like little Tasmanian devils.
It’s entertaining as hell.
At least that’s what it looked like in the field across the street.
(Pardon the picture quality, it was far away and my zoom was maxxed out.)
I thought it was a dog…..
But it wasn’t a dog.
It was the often heard, but seldom seen coyote.
And while I recognize his necessary part in the eco system…..
I admit I was a little nervous seeing him cross the street….
And head down into the woods where our deer, fox, raccoons, skunks and woodchucks live.
But what made me even more nervous?
Was realizing there were actually two of them.
First let’s deal with the peckers.
Because we all know not paying attention to peckers makes them crazy.
This is a hairy woodpecker.
Why hairy?
Your guess is as good as mine.
He loves the peanut nugget feeder and is an expert at extracting them.
There.
Now you can say you’ve had a hairy pecker wink at you.
This is a downy woodpecker.
Why downy?
Your guess is as good as mine.
To be honest, he looks more like a Storm Trooper from Star Wars to me.
Then we have a pair of Mallard ducks who visit daily.
The female strolls around under the bird feeder collecting scraps….
While the drake plops down and takes a load off.
That’s one chill duck.
Big Tom turkey?
Yes, we have one of those too.
And finally, a Baltimore Oriole getting his junk food Jones satisfied with some grape jelly.
It would be nice if he didn’t poo all over the feeder…. but hey.
Who am I to judge?
Since the viral apocalypse…. all the town offices in Maine are closed, as is the Department of Motor Vehicles.
While you can renew things online, buying a new or used car means a title transfer and paperwork that must be done in person.
In the meantime, we’ve been told to keep the bill of sale in our glove boxes and make up a temporary plate stating the Covid 19 crisis.
I think this guy nailed it.
River's world..... 