Mar 31 2009
“Wild Coyote”
During the course of our daily activities Hilda and I have learned to glance out of the window occasionally during the day. We are never quite prepared for whatever presents itself. On this cool cloudy morning Hilda hastened to announce that there were two coyotes in the field across the creek from the house. I snatched up the camera and hurried to the door. I adjusted the optical zoom and squeezed off three shots. Further enlargement on the computer resulted in this photo. The animals were traveling about a hundred feet apart so the enlargement contains only one of them. Keep that camera handy.
We seldom see coyotes during the day but occasionally we hear them singing (howling) in the night. April is the time for whelping so maybe there is a den nearby. Some authors refer to the coyote as God’s Dog. Some ranchers consider them vermin. I enjoy having the coyote living near me. Coyotes are adaptable critters and live in the fringes of large cities. Perhaps my affection toward them stems back to when I was just twelve years old. At that time my brother and I had two young coyotes as pets. They were gentle and were treated the same as our dog “Teddy.”
In my last post I described monitoring Wood Duck nest boxes. These boxes are used by a myriad of creatures. Other than Wood Ducks I have seen nests of flickers, kestrels, starlings and wrens. One wren, which is a tiny bird, filled the foot square box half-full of twigs. It was a very industrious bird. Of course screech-owls bring their prey into their roosts for consumption and leave behind feathers and bones of blackbirds, flickers and parts of pheasant and ducks etc. Fox squirrels regularly use these boxes too. Then there are insects such as wasps and bees. When I find a box filled with honeycomb and a battalion of workers on guard I know bees have taken over. I don’t check this box. I just “LET IT BE!!!!!!!”
Many years ago I helped set up Wood Duck boxes on the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge. I have returned each year since to check the boxes and make sure they are ready for returning waterfowl and other critters. I like to check them early in the season (February or early March). Wednesday March 18, 2009 I checked a few of the boxes and found several in need of repair. I cleaned out all of the old Fox Squirrel nests and added coarse sawdust to some of the nests for bedding. I also collected many owl pellets from a number of boxes. These pellets are used for educational purposes at the refuge headquarters. By examining the contents of these pellets it is possible to find undigested bones which give us clues as to what the owl has eaten. It has been my experience to find that Screech-owls use these boxes for roost sites during the winter. Therefore many boxes contain regurgitated pellets.
Although the weather is still that of winter there have been reports of bluebirds in the area. Spring weather cannot be far off. Bluebirds should be arriving on their breeding territories soon. It is time to make the initial trip to the “Bluebird Trails” to make sure nest boxes are in good repair. Some boxes may have suffered damage from the weather, livestock or vandals since last Autumn. We want this little lady to have a home ready for her when she arrives.
This is another one of Hilda’s sketches. It looks like a pleasant scene out on the farm. But, look in the tree. An owl has been located by magpies and other small birds. They are sounding an alarm telling everyone that there is danger here. Occasionally a magpie will fly up behind the owl and tweek its tail. This is a typical scene in nature. Whenever I hear a commotion out there in the trees or brush with critters scolding I look to see what their problem might be. Usually they are mobbing a predator of some sort. In this case it was a Great Horned Owl.
This beautiful scene greeted me this morning when I looked out of the window. A couple days ago the ground was bare around the lilac bush. It looked like Spring was on its way. But, alas, a March storm roared through last night to remind me that Winter still lingers on.
Sometimes the frosting isn’t always on the cake. Feb. 28 I strolled out to the car in the chilly morning. To my great surprise I found these decorations etched in frost on the windows of the car. I followed my first impulse and brought out the camera. Here are the results.
