Tag Archives: nature

Everything is changing

Hello to all,

When I last posted in March I was growing concerned with the severe increase in deforestation right here in my little spot and it has been drastic.

Woody and Momma did have a new baby I named JR6  I am not sure if they had a second which they usually do but the increase in predators here has really changed my environment . Currently as of yesterday JR6 is still here and his parents are gone and that is usually the opposite. We’ll have to wait and see if they return or if JR6 decides to make his home.

I shared Buster the Douglas squirrels three babies that made their entrance last year and it involved one of the three just not wanting to come out,  I named him Louie and as of now he has never left.  Louie made a home for himself directly above the shed in the tree and has staked a claim to the whole place, lol we put up a house in the trees for Woody to maybe move in but nope Louie has also staked a claim to that.

The predator issue is what I fight, since they decided a near by wet land was no longer protected here they literally paved nearly 100acres of land and in the 2 years since the entire forest surrounding it and us is drastically changing. Another 250 acres were cleared nearby followed by another 50 acre parcel.  You see we have completely displaced so many species that they literally have no place to go to rest, nest or eat and the results are scary.  My posts share a huge variety of visits in just a small avenue and this year they are not here. My visits were in the smallest groups if any and the ones that are coming in do not look very good.

We can provide and look after the environment directly in our own yards. We must remember to coexist with all of nature as we need them to survive , they do not need us to survive until now. Think about it,   a whale in Washington state carried her baby for 17 days for all of us to see,  She is telling humans in the only drastic way she can that they are dying. How can so many not see the many many stories around the world of the animals doing bizarre behaviors, well I believe they are attempting to show the gravity of what is happening to the entire world and I believe we can correct so much of it and are trying to but we need more and fast.

Mother Nature and Mother Earth are in desperate need of our assistance to stop the mass destruction like Fracking who could ever think that would be good other then a greedy individual, its killing everything it touches.

I thank anyone reading my thoughts and sharing my love of nature and its many critters.

p.s.

I have written previous about the deer eating my Hosta every year,  Well I was surprised to find out it was bambi all grown up,  He’s been here his whole life and the little sneak only crosses over to eat those blooms. And I blamed it on the Momma deer every year lol.

more soon…..

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Bambi
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Frogs?? Spring??

Good morning,

I am beginning to think that Sneaky Pete (our Cooper’s hawk) is making a game out of eating all of my buddies. I caught him sneaking beside the shed just waiting for Tippy the Douglas squirrel to come in and get one of his peanuts, in a flash he almost tagged him off the log ahhh then the little guys looks at me like Do something ! HaHa He doesn’t care if I’m even standing there anymore and he is succeeding in cleaning out my forest. But the other animals are still working together to come up with ways of notifying each other and me when he sneaking around. I have stopped feeding only to find them sitting in the trees waiting and realizing they have nowhere else to go so I become very creative in getting them food and cover.

I still have a large group of Bushtit and they are so small and cute so I am putting out the suet in hard to reach locations. I have Red wing blackbird’s now, which have figured a way to land on the suet log for Woody and like to eat it along with the stellar jays, black-capped chickadee’s and many more. Our temperatures are staying above normal so the buds on the trees are blooming and believe it or not Freddy the frog is starting to croak goodness it’s only January!

Woody and Momma are close but they can not come in right now until this Hawk is gone. Once the leaves return they will have a much better ability to come in. My need to keep a barrier along the fence line has caused some easy access during the winter, along with the deer which I can see come in at night and sit by the back shed and that have helped clear the overgrowth .

More of the forest is gone and I have a view of the mountain now, it is pretty but if you could see the amount of forest that’s now gone in just 6 months it’s heartbreaking. They just looked 70 acres behind us in the middle of homes and it’s a gigantic wrecking yard 😳 yep tore down a forest and filled it with wrecked cars full of oil gas and all things non environmental. I’m pretty sure there were other areas where so much wasn’t lost for the greed of just a few but that would have required a conscience and the ability to think beyond ones self and that is not happening anymore. So I will stay here and do my best to save this small corner of nature and hope that others around the world will too.

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Mt Rainer

 

Everyone is hungry 😳

What a month it has been. Sneaky Pete alias Coopers Hawk along with Big Red the Red Tail Hawk my little buddies are getting picked off left and right. What a bad time to stop feeding, it as frozen or flooding! But that darn Cooper has my number, he even landed right at my door grrrrrr I swear that bird knows haha. I have interrupted several of his attempts and kills in the hopes he will just eat elsewhere but I’m beginning to think he loves a challenge!

This increase in raptors is making it hard for Momma and Woody Pileated to come in. Now they come down and call from our porch so I can stand out there while they eat, that’s when I noticed I had 3 visitors and one is a juvenile female. Wow, this means because of hot summer and late fall arrival a lot of my birds had second batches of babies. I first noticed last week when my Downy and Hairy woodpeckers each had babies they were feeding, then yesterday I had a flock of Evening Grosbeak well that was a huge surprise, then looking closely I see they too have juveniles. That’s the picture from above, they are beautiful but the young have no color, they are grey and black super cool but odd that they are even here.

Also I’ve added a raw video of a visit with Momma Pileated ☺️ you will see Chester the chestnut backed chickadee, my Grey squirrel that’s addicted to suet 😂 and you will hear how Woody talked to Momma while she’s here. In the tree you’ll see a Flicker woodpecker and where Woody lands. And busters visit to the peanut hutch.

Freezing Foggy Morning

Its cold out and Hummer is still refusing to share……I use Christmas lights to help keep the food from freezing and he is hogging all three !!!! I even took down one so the little female could have a chance to eat and that did not go over well with him haha  little stinker hovers at my face giving me a what for !! He has to keep flying around in order to guard all three since I have them placed to share. good grief 🙂

Tippy
“Tippy”

Buster is not sharing either, those little douglas squirrels are funny,  I put the peanuts in to holders and today while “Tippy” was already inside, the one I call double T jumped in and the fight was on. I had to go and let the poor guy out. I am beginning to see my little nature buddies do not like to share.

It was a big night for Wiley Coyote seems him and his pack had a party in the back yard last night, tracks are everywhere but I am not sure what they got.  This pack is getting big and they are so limited on their territory but that’s really close. They are showing reports nearby of activity in neighborhoods and a little girl was bitten while on the porch hanging christmas lights and its only going to continue.   But the building and wiping out small pieces of forests just continues. I seriously think we can do much better than this.

waiting for the sun to burn off this fog…………………………

 

Pileated Visits

Hello,  I got some great shots of Woody and Momma coming in this weekend,  you will also see some pictures of the band tailed pigeons.  The backyard Diner has been busy with all kinds of new company including more pigeons.  ( remember, when you see one band tailed there are truly more to follow )  but they are cool.  They look like a dove on steroids lol  especially when they are down with the doves.   I am adding some raw video today just to show a bit of what the backyard is like and you will kinda see Momma come in to eat,  woody is already on the log when the video starts.  You can hear the Stellar Jay and then you will hear Momma make an entrance ,  Woody then leaves.  They do this routine everyday,  I am fairly sure babies are getting some good food.  I sure hope they bring them again this year.  🙂

 

Mealworms and Suet

It’s that time again,  the animals are building nest and having babies 🙂  I keep a small amount of mealworms (dried) and suet available to the parents.  If you have ever watched a feeding parent you know,  that poor bird looks all ruffled and the kids keep exploring away from her so she finds food and then has to find them ugh…It is truly amazing to me all the things an animal does in a day.  My chipmunks and douglas squirrels go back and forth everyday stashing their food.

Its hot out here so putting suet (beef rendered) will melt fast if not in the shade.  I have tried a couple of tricks especially in really hot weather.  You can keep them in the freezer. I take mine out in the morning and put the frozen one out, plus the fact that you need to try to find a shady spot.

Suet dough is different,  also known as  No melt.   the biggest difference is they add a lot of cornmeal to make the dough really thick and dry. Personally I don’t like it and neither to my visitors so I recommend the freezer method.

Same goes for water, especially in the high heat.  I take the square Tupperware and freeze a big cube of water and add that to my bird bath.   Just a couple of ideas for now.

Woody and Momma are continuing to come in but for quick visits.  I am having a lot of trouble right now with the circle of life 🙂  I have a new large addition of a bald eagle that must be living fairly close,  it’s just a really odd place for him to come hunt .

My deer are back too 🙂  My guess is they are close often because I didn’t see him right in front of me,  I was looking up the tree at Momma when I seen a movement and there he was . But they don’t take off,  just  hang out and eat the trees lol. My guess is that since I talk to animals all the time that they are used to my voice ,  I’m just so amazed how well they can blend in.

Lots to see and do today,  more pictures to come  Enjoy your morning.

Happy Monday

Good Morning ,  yuk what a stormy day 😦  and after such a beautiful weekend.

Today I am introducing you to Freddy the frog.( could be Fredrika but I like calling him that )   He arrived at my pond 2 years ago and since I love frogs my excitement just grew.  I wanted to do anything I could to make him stay, so I cleaned the pond for him …….note   don’t do that.  I did not realize until to late that he just sat there and watched me remove all the eggs.  So last year much to my surprise the eggs were back at we had polliwogs  🙂  I will warn you that the voice on these frogs is very loud and they stutter lol its like and old car thats enging just won’t turn over…anyway it is very fun and it seems that most of them stayed which is wonderful and noisy at the same time.  I love it.

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Freddys babies

A lot needs to be done in the early Spring,  time to clean the feeders (1 part bleach to 10 parts water ) is a great way to clean your stuff,  just remember to rinse it really well and fully dry before you fill it up. This helps with mold and bacteria that buildup,  and always wear gloves when handling your feeders, we can give stuff to them as much as they can back to us.

Woody and Momma are coming in often,  I have been testing areas with my GoPro to bring in some great video to share. But right now they are showing signs of nesting very close and it would seem to me the babies must have already hatched as they are feeding up a storm