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.
Oh, you thought the squirrel eviction was the end?
No, that was merely a side story.
The nightmare was the hole.
And the decades worth of squirrel nests concealed there in.
Appropriately masked, the husband approached.
Pulled a panel and…
How’s that for an action shot?
Man, you would not believe how much stuff he pulled out of there.
It was, in a word…. disgusting.
And landed everywhere.
If that isn’t enough to make the husband pay attention when I wave the honey do list in the future?
Nothing ever will be.
So now we had an empty hole.
A big empty hole with a badly installed spotlight fixture.
And a momma squirrel… who even though she found and moved her babies… still wanted back in.
So as the husband worked, with an audience, and stomped my geraniums to such a pulp I had to temporarily relocate them…
Momma squirrel was watching.
Many frustrating hours later, just as I was willing to admit defeat and use this-
It was done.
Hole plugged.
And momma red thwarted. We think.
Mad momma squirrel’s rampage continued for almost an hour.
Poor little thing, I did feel badly for her.
She was looking everywhere for her babies.
And then..
There they were.
Calling frantically for her.
So she came and got them, one by one.
Right past us, no fear at all.
I don’t know where she took them, but I hope it’s far away.
I love all our visiting critters.
But not when they want to actually take up residence in our house.
First there were two in back of the big barn.
Then three.
Then four.
Then five little scampers!
No wonder momma chucker needs a support bra.
So…
Momma squirrel was not happy we’d disturbed and scattered her children.
Not. At. All.
Matter of fact, she was downright pissed. And as the husband was working on fixing that awful hole…
She was positively manic, running to and fro….
Climbing….
Perching..
Even trying to get in the house.
It was crazy.
But what she really wanted was back in that hole.
And as the husband worked, she watched.
See her up top?
The longer it went on…. the braver she got.
There were times I thought she would climb right over the husband to get in there.
She was one mad momma.
To be continued…
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?
So.
Our resident woodchuck….
Who we (ever so creatively) call Mr. Chuck?
Yeah.
We may need to rethink that.
Can someone please call Jane Russell?
Because momma woodchuck is in serious need of a few eighteen hour bras.
Squirrels have to be brave to cross the wide treeless open that is the bird feeder area of our backyard.
So we rarely see more than one grey.
Until there’s something worth having that is.
These little sparrows adore the boxwood shrubs.
And the woodchuck?
Still feeding, still fat…
And now?
Winking and waving as well.
This last pic looks like a little inter species communication is happening.
Although aside from the deer saying “Please don’t poop on me.” I’m not sure what they have to talk about.
Of course some days are better than others.
But rainbow days?
Are simply the best.
River's world..... 