Close Encounter of the (Slightly) Unexpected Kind

This time of year (around Memorial Day) if I see a deer, I usually try to look for a fawn nearby.  So, when I saw a doe near the path to our swamp late yesterday afternoon, I decided that after dinner, I would check the area.   I didn't see a fawn -- (there could have been one but they can really hide!) but as I walked along the path, I saw something else pretty special.

Our beaver swamp has cycled over the years... we've had beavers (and a good beaver dam and lots of water) then the beavers have moved on and the area dries out a bit.  Then beavers move back in and repair the dam and on it goes.  This spring the water level has been pretty low and we weren't sure if we had any beavers.  Then my husband saw one, and I also had one slap its' tail at me when I was kayaking.  So we knew they were there. But they've been very low profile... not cutting trees and not working on the dam as "eager beavers" have in the past.  

Last evening, I saw several muskrats as usual.  Then, along came a beaver!  A muskrat (in the back) and the beaver (right in front of the muskrat) crossed paths in front of me.

 Muskrats can be kind of funny.  They will be swimming along merrily on their way, then they suddenly see you and make a quick turn and swim off in the opposite direction.  Beavers usually disappear pretty quickly once they see you, too.

Not this one!  It came swimming right over to towards me.
At first, I wondered if it could be an otter, because otters are curious and will swim towards a person to check them out.  We have had otters before in the swamp... and even on land, like this one I happened to catch in photo a few years ago.

 It quickly became apparent that what I was seeing was a beaver though, by the way it swam.  (Muskrats are smaller and their tails go from side to side.  Otters undulate thru the water, beavers swim flat on the water, but you usually can't see their tails like muskrats.) 

This beaver came right over to near where I was standing, and started posing for photos.!

"Want to learn why I have orange teeth?  Click here."

At first I stayed still, but it really didn't seem to care that I was there.  I moved around a bit for some better photos.  

"This is my best side... photograph me from this angle, please!"

It swam around in circles a couple of times, and slapped its' tail at me twice.

"Are you still there?"

 But for the most part, it just watched me.  I guess... since I've read that beavers have very poor eyesight!  They are supposed to have much better hearing and sense of smell.  Click on this link to a very interesting website about beavers if you'd like to learn more about them.

Maybe it has a lodge along the bank under this pile of brush, but usually they have a home back farther in the swamp.  At least the beavers in the past have.  I can't get back to that area now with the kayak, so it's hard to say.  

This is how close I was standing while I was watching:

Finally, the beaver even seemed to get tired of watching me and was just lazily floating, with its' tail visible.

"Here I am pretending to be the Loch Ness Monster!"

Okay, Mr. or Mrs. Beaver, good night!

Nest Building Time for the Orioles

I noticed something funny about my planter on our deck this morning.  Seemed like it was a little fuzzier than before.

So I kept my eye on it.

Sure enough, in a little while there was mother oriole, pulling out strands of it for her nest.

I thought I’d try to help her out (and perhaps save my planter!)  So I cut some pieces of string for her.

Wonder if she would prefer cream or green?
The very next time she came, I was ready with my camera.

She seemed pretty happy with her new find... at least at first!

One, two, how many of these can she carry at once?

But then she seemed to change her mind.  She pulled some stuff out of the planter while she still had the string in her bill.

I thought she was going to fly away with her mouth full...

 Then, she stopped and dropped everything!  Time to think about this!

Finally she went back to the harder stuff... pulling more nesting material out of my planter!  Oh well, I think there is enough for both of us!

 

She really has to tug hard to get it out!  Maybe the string was just too easy for her.

This pair of orioles has chosen to nest in the cherry tree right above our driveway, where we’ve had orioles nests for quite a few years.  This one happens to be visible from our deck!  If you look carefully, you can see her tail sticking straight up from the nest in these next two photos!

Bunny Tale

I had something else planned for my next post, but today something popped up!  Bunnies popped up, actually - four of them!
 
It's really too bad Ruby, PhD, wasn't here.... she would have been very excited.  Even if she didn't see what happened (which would have been likely), she would have had fun figuring it out later with her nose!  Here's the story as told by Cottontail-- (not Peter this time)!

 Once upon a time, there was a lady on a huge, loud lawn mower.  It came very close to our rabbit nest in the tall grass.  We were scared!  We didn't know what to do, but the noise was just too much, so all four of us popped up and ran!  

 Two of my sisters went running across the short grass and then disappeared into the tall grass on the other side.  But Peter and I ran right to the door of the shed.  (No, not Mr. McGregor’s).  Peter found a pretty good hiding spot.  I wasn't so lucky!

That's me on the right.  Can you see Peter in his hiding place under the left side of the door?

 The lady stopped the noisy mower, thank goodness!  She left for a minute or two, but then came back with a strange-looking black thing that she pointed at me.  It made some clicking sounds.  I tried to disappear by making myself as small as I could.

 

Can you still see me?

The next thing I knew, the lady very gently picked me up!  Oh my!
The black thing clicked again.  But for some reason I wasn't scared.  Very quickly, the lady put me right down in the tall grass near our nest.  Even though she didn't hurt me, I was glad to be back there!

I wonder what Peter is doing?

I know the lady went back that way....maybe she clicked that black thing at Peter, too.  I'm sure she won't hurt him, because she was very gentle with me.

Peter hasn't come back yet, so maybe Mother will have to go looking for him.  I know he was safe though and will get back home.  He will probably even get to have bread and milk and blackberries for dinner, because he wasn't a bad bunny (this time!), he just was a little too scared to stay where Mama said.  Flopsy and Mopsy will be able to find their way home, too, because they are smart little bunnies.  
The End.

   

Home, Sweet Home!

Or maybe I should say, “Nest, Sweet Nest”.  It’s the time of year to keep an eye out for birds nests.  

One day recently I decided to hunt for our Phoebe’s nest.  Phoebes like to nest on something like a small shelf... a windowsill, rafter, or similar projections.  So I searched the various open sheds, garages, and pole barns near our house.  One year they nested on one of our garage door ledges.  

But not this year.  After a bit of searching, though, I found their new location!  Under the remains of the old dairy barn.  On a nail!  

See it back there in the corner?!

Phoebe's use lots of mud and moss in their nest, and line them with fine grass and hair.

Doesn’t seem very secure!  In fact, it looks like there used to be a nest on the nail “next door”, by the signs of mud on the beam.

But, hopefully, this nest will last long enough for them to raise their family.

Now, another mother chose what appears to be a more secure location to raise her family.  Can you see the bird on the nest in this photo?

My husband went to get some fencing today and discovered this:

Yes, the mother Robin built her nest inside this fortress of wire!

Mother Robin's nest is in the roll on the upper right.

I find it fascinating how each species of bird builds just the right nest for their babies.

A Ruffed Grouse builds right on the forest floor.

The Baltimore Orioles make a secure but swinging nest.  This one is from last year.... still strong near the top of the tree this spring.

Last years heron’s nest is still secure-looking-- although maybe the dead tree is not really very strong, it's hard to tell.  A few days ago, all three herons were hanging out there, even though it's not actually being used as a nest this year.  Maybe they were thinking of the good old days when they were nestlings?

 Nesting season is a fascinating time.  Most kids and adults love to see nests,  eggs, and baby birds.  I have two very interesting books that I’ve used for many years to learn more about them.  

 One was written for kids... but I still love it!  It’s called “Birds at Home” by Marguerite Henry.  It’s a very readable book (whether you're a grown-up reading it yourself or you are reading it to a child!) It's full of interesting tidbits about birds.  The second book is “A Field Guide to Bird’s Nests” in the Peterson’s Field Guide Series.  It’s also filled with interesting information about birds and their nests.  Used copies of the first book are still available online and there are more recent field guides to nests available --- though I don’t think the birds have changed their nesting habits too much since my book was published back in 1975!  You never know though... it seems I see something new every year.  I certainly never saw a Robin’s nest in the middle of a roll of fence wire before!

Bird Number 78 and other Bird News

Spurred on by my brother, a sort-of-retired farmer and much better birder than me, we started keeping a bird “yard list” in 2008.  A "yard list" for us isn’t just our yard, it’s the property we live on - which includes our actual yard (duh!), a beaver swamp, old farm pasture and hayfields as well as woods. Starting on January 1st, we write down the first sighting of each kind of bird we see on the property.  Or, in some cases... that we hear (like the Great-horned Owl, number 19 this year and Barred Owl, number 54).  As long as we can identify it for certain, it goes on the list.  We simply jot each species down in a small spiral notebook, with the date and location.  

Which brings us to my title... bird number 78, which was..... a Great Egret!  (making its first appearance since we started keeping our lists).  This is not the first time we’ve seen one here though, as I marked in my “Sibley Guide to Birds” that we saw one in the swamp on April 19th, 2007.  So, all in all, pretty uncommon for us.  And I missed it, because I wasn't home!  My husband was mowing the lawn (which is also pretty uncommon since I usually do the mowing) and happened to notice it.  He said such a large, white bird really stood out in the swamp.  So he ran to get the binoculars and camera.  These are the photos he took:

Great Egrets have black legs and yellow bills.

Sorry about the electric line cutting thru the photo!

I was sorry to have missed it, but glad to know it stopped by for a little while. 

I enjoy seeing each bird that makes our list, from the regulars at the bird feeders to those we only see occasionally.  Bald Eagles have been making the list the last few years.  I can still remember how excited I was when I saw the first one in the swamp in 2010.  Sightings of them have become more frequent, and this year I actually saw 3 (flying together) at one time. 

Bald Eagle sitting above the heron nest, February 10, 2013

And in other bird news, it’s been a pretty exciting day today.  The activity at the grape jelly feeder is picking up.  Besides the Orioles and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, which are constantly lined up waiting their turn (and sometimes fighting over whose turn it is!), today I saw a Blue Jay eat from it, too.  I didn’t manage to get a photo while it was on the feeder but this is from right afterward. 

You can also see a male Baltimore Oriole and Rose-breasted Grosbeak waiting in the wings.

Then later this afternoon, I saw a male Downy Woodpecker having a meal at the Hummingbird feeder.  He looked like he was quite enjoying it!

Drinking thru the bee guard is a little hard!

You can see how the Downy uses his specially designed feet to cling onto the bee guard.

After that, I saw a heron catch a rather large fish and eat it! That's something I certainly don't see everyday, even though I watch the herons in our swamp often.  

Besides the heron with its prize fish, can you see the Painted Turtle in this photo?

It's fun to keep a list of the birds we see.... and it helps me learn to identify more of them.