Urban Wildlife

That's probably the best hope.

A sad encounter today. Bingo saw a turkey buzzard in the back pasture. He took off after it, and it did not take off. It kind of hopped and stumbled. It ended up just lying down and letting Bingo sniff it. Fortunately, Bingo didn't attack and the bird didn't try to defend itself, so no blood was shed. But, I think the poor bird will be dead in the morning. We called Bingo off and just let it lie in the pasture. The horses are not there right now. I will check in the morning to see if I need to dig a hole.

That's too bad. Nature's garbage collectors. May have eaten poisoned carrion. Bloody rodentcides.

Maybe. Not on my property, but who knows.

No buzzard in the pasture today. I think he must have gone somewhere. There's no sign of disaster.

That's good.

Our bald eagle is back. I was getting into my car, and it took off from a tree in the pasture. It is so cool to see him soaring over the pastures.

Love the raptors.

That is so cool that the eagle came back! Maybe it will decide to nest somewhere nearby next spring? If it does, the local rodent population should be afraid, very afraid.....

That they should be. Rocky Racoon showed up at the back door last night. Huge bugger.

I'm pretty sure he has a nest in the woods behind our property. I can't think of any other reason he has been around so much.

Rocky Racoon should up at the back door last night. He was huge.

I think Bingo has chased off our raccoons. I haven't seen or heard them in a while. The squirrels are raiding the bird feeders, but no raccoons.

I was looking out the living room windows today and saw 2 deer running across the yard. It looked like a mom and one of the spring babies. I told them they should stay on our side of the road because there's no hunting over here. It isn't deer season yet, but they might as well make themselves at home.

Do they hang out at your place during deer season.

A bunch do. They bed down behind the barn and spend the mornings in our pastures. I think they spend the day in the woods behind us, and those are inaccessible to people. The dogs run there, but they rarely get a deer. They are usually returning to where their keepers pick them up. I really dislike hunting deer with dogs.

Today, I was ATTACKED by a toad. I was filling water buckets in the stalls when one jumped onto my foot. I was wearing clogs with no socks, so of course I felt it land. I yelped and shook my foot, which sent the clog flying and the toad hopping away. It stopped in the stall door and looked at me like I'd lost my mind. I like toads. This one almost killed me.

Almost died of surprise huh?

Yup and embarrassment.

I trust the ponies didn't laugh too much.....and they won't tell anyone.
How far did the clog go flying? Just wondering...

I had to hop all the way across the stall to get my shoe. Despite the stall being cleaned, I didn't want to put my bare foot in the bedding. (Ick!)

This morning's sighting was a big box turtle sunning itself on the street in front of the house. I moved him (her?) to the yard to avoid squishing. Fortunately, it was headed that way, so I figure it won't run back to the road. I put it on the sidewalk that goes to my house so it could get some heat that way. I assume that's why a turtle would be just napping in the road.

We finally have puddles. I saw a hawk land in a puddle and splash around. I've never seen that before.