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The woodchucks are still hiding in their tunnel…
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And it’s proving to be quite an effective escape hatch.
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten is undeterred.
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And extremely hopeful.
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Patience, thy name is cat.
🤣
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Hope springs eternal.
Tag Archives: wildlife
Momma’s little stinker.
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I can no longer call our nightly visiting skunk he.
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She’s a momma and she brought her baby!
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This is too much cuteness, I can hardly stand it.
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So sweet!!
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A junior stinker.
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Be still my heart.
❤️❤️❤️
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Breakfast with siblings.
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Morning brings the baby chucks in a group.
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They squabble a bit now and then but as long as the apples and carrots are plentiful they usually munch side by side.
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Momma has been leaving them alone more often now.
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It won’t be long before she boots them out of the den altogether.
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Follow the leader.
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The visiting pair of mallard ducks hasn’t been spotted at Casa River for a few weeks now… so I figured it was getting too dry and they’d moved on.
Until the other day when I was out mowing the front lawn and saw this:
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Momma duck and 13 babies!
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She sashayed across the lawn and headed right for the road … in front of an oncoming car which had me ditching the mower and running into the street waving my arms like a crazy person.
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She tried crossing three times and three times I had to stop traffic only to have her duck ( pun intended ) back on the lawn.
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Fourth time was vehicle free.
Momma and babies made it safely across.
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Misc. wildlife.
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All kinds of critters are showing up for the evening buffet at Casa River.
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Some of them a tad more odiferous than others.
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I wish it was still legal in Maine to de-scent a skunk and have one for a pet. A friend of mine did that back in the day and the little fluff ball was wonderful. Affectionate, playful and litter box trained. More than I can say for some of my friend’s husbands now that I think about it.
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Baby chucks are always the first to pounce. Carrots, apples, lettuce, melon and blueberries? Love them.
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Spinach, celery and strawberries? Won’t touch them.
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We have one young lone deer showing up for grain a few times a week.
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We probably won’t see the herd back until fall.
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Buffet buddies.
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You never know what combination of critters will show up at the nightly Casa River buffet.
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Last evening?
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It was a skunk and a fox.
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Happily observing Covid protocols and dining six feet apart.
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Tweedledum and Tweedledee
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If you’re tired of woodchuck photos feel free to skip this post. I’m sure I’ll have something equally as ridiculous tomorrow.
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Can I get an awww?
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So much cuteness I can hardly stand it.
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The little guys sure do enjoy their buffet.
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As evidenced by the little junior bellies they’re beginning to sport.
🤣
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In which his Lordship searches for woodchucks.
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While Lord Dudley Mountcatten prefers watching squirrels and birds, the abundance of baby woodchucks scampering around the royal landscape can be perplexing. He spots them, but then they scurry into a hole.
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Usually this hole, which is really more of a tunnel dug under a burning bush after we removed a dead cedar.
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His Lordship is a patient soul and knows they’ll pop their heads up sooner or later.
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Catching them? Well that’s a whole other issue.
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After he sees one, he searches everywhere.
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Sorry buddy. I don’t think they’re in there…
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Waking up to a horror.
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Warning- disturbing, graphic images of a dead animal ahead.
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Still here? Okay then…
I woke up the other morning and thought I saw something strange on the front lawn. Still in my pajamas, I asked the husband to investigate. He came back inside with a strange look and a reticence to tell me what he’d found. After much shuffling of feet and stalling.. he told me Momma woodchuck had been killed.
I couldn’t believe it. She’s a tough old lady and I literally watched her chase off a fox last year.
Much as I didn’t want to, I had to see for myself.
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Poor thing.
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Something… coyote? fisher?… had ripped it apart. But as awful as it was, I told my husband the good news. It wasn’t momma chuck.
He thought I was nuts and proceeded to deal with the corpse. He said I couldn’t possibly tell one woodchuck from another … but I knew.
And a few hours later?
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Momma chuck and her baby enjoying some leftover deer grain.
Silly man. He should never doubt my ability to identify the critters I feed.
❤️
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Deck visitors.
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Baby woodchucks are starting to explore the back deck.
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And have quickly figured out it’s a nice place to sit in the sun.
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten assured me this beats watching Animal Planet on tv hands paws down.
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Baby whistle pigs are fast, and fun to watch scampering around the deck.
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His Lordship agrees .
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River's world..... 