How exciting,  I looked outside just as a Great Blue Heron stopped in for a visit.  It is a bad picture but if you look close you can see I have different Heron ornaments around each pond so he fit right in!!! My list of unexpected visitors just keeps growing,  but this one was really cool.  I was afraid to go outside so my picture and video is from the house but he was totally cool and unbelievable. I can’t stop smiling 🙂

My small nature sanctuary  with all my buddies has had a very rough year.  If only we would all pay close attention to the severe effects that take place when all the trees are torn down.  We have seriously failed in our attempt to share this world with the entire circle of life that we All need in order to survive.

Woody and Momma are now limited on how they can come in to visit,  my area is really all that’s left in this section as they just wiped out over 40 acres of forest again and pushed those animals into what is left.  This means I now have Bald Eagles, Red Tail hawks, huge pack of coyotes all coming to this small sanctuary to eat.

I lost Momma Duck, and my male Flicker in the same day which led me to stopping all my feeding. This didn’t work well as we had the hottest summer here ever and the food supply was limited,  add all the Fires also and it becomes very clear our nature friends need our help.

Today we are cleaning up from a week of storms and my locals are really busy,  Buster is still here but has had several close calls so I have to be really creative in my feeding.

Red, the hawk is getting the nick name of sneaky Pete !!! I watch him sneak into the shrubs just before dawn waiting.  Cooper is also here but Red seems to dominate.

I have a new Crow  I call Jabbers that is really good at giving out the warning call when sneaky Pete arrives haha. The Stellar Jays take turns it seems dive bombing Cooper to fish him out, but they scatter when Red is around. That’s when the Crows get involved with some serious cries. But when that Eagle comes in ….you can hear a pin drop in the forest.

My point in all of this is to remind everyone that our Wildlife needs our help. Each home can help in some way and some even more.  I would like to start selling my mixtures and housed I build but so many already do it.  If your reading this send me a message about your thoughts good or bad.

Thanks

They

Good Morning,   I am still one of those silly giraffe watchers and we are still waiting lol…. Meanwhile I have noticed an interesting trend here in my small little piece of forest. I have a lot of pairs.  I started to list them and began to laugh that so many are right here in that header picture I have for my backyard…It so funny  I have Chuck and Lilly again the mallard ducks, I wake up to find Chuck on the roof of our cabana and Lilly eating away at the same spot as the bunnies.   Speaking of bunnies I also have a pair living here in the yard,  My Crow (Harriet is building nest here again and eating suet which means babies). Buster the douglas squirrel, the Pileated , Hairy and Downy woodpeckers (aka woody and mamma, Big and Little Ricky and Lucy lol. ) The Flickers I call pretty bird, and I even have a yellow-bellied that I call Blondie  (she is new this year) Chip and Dale the chipmunks are again in their house out back, The band tailed pigeon (Bandit and Mrs B), The morning dove (I have one that is no longer skittish) which is a bit of a problem since I saved it from a cat last night !!! Pair of bald eagles that have a nest nearby, and the red-tailed Hawk is a pair along with the Coopers Hawk (he is my biggest pain) I only say that because he is a sneaky bugger! Found out Pokie the opossum has found a way under our back shed.  I’m checking to see if there are babies before I move her out. I also have 4  white-tailed deer since momma had 2 fawns (twins) hooray!!

I sure I’m missing some but that is a pretty good idea.

The amazing part to me is this is all in my little backyard and  it’s getting even more popular and its making the circle of life even more interested in my sanctuary. Now we are getting the coyotes , Bobcats , eagles etc that make it tricky to put out feed. I am now picking different routines because I caught the hawk sneaking in the tree at the crack of dawn while I put out feed hoping not to be seen…. he apparently figured out the feeding times and was taking out my squirrels and dove, so I switch it up hoping to get them to hunt elsewhere.

The weather is wet wet wet, so getting good pictures is not easy , I posted these two above,  I thought the ducks taking off was kinda cool, believe me I never said I was a photographer but I do try 🙂

More later

Wow the sun finally came out and my little forest is busy.  Chuck and Lily the mallard ducks just returned (yay) Its been 3 years of visits. I am getting visits from Band tailed Pigeons aka Bandit and part of their family,  they are cooing , it’s very similar to the dove but a deeper sound.  Speaking of the dove they are courting too 🙂  The frogs are in the ponds and I still have one with a broken sounding croak.

I also seem to have 2 bunnies,  I have seen them from time to time but now everyday at feeding time and in my yard. They seem to have made a burrough below my spruce shrub so I might get babies !!!

And now not only do we have the Coopers Hawk, but now a red-tailed hawk and a pair of Bald Eagles ! I can’t believe that all this activity is happening in such a small area, but its a lot of fun.

Yesterday we saw Buster the douglas squirrel climb into the bird house that’s high on the side of the shed,  now considered the maternity ward. It’s a heck of a jump to get down so I assume she will move one at a time again after they’re born,   well see.

I don’t have any pictures yet because I am addicted to watching April the giraffe 🙂 have her baby,  How cool would that be to visit animal adventure park, but I seem to have a park of my own just wild 🙂  It’s interesting to me that my wild visitors get this  close and that they continue to return but its always hard when they don’t .

Hope everyone has a good day,