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We're really enjoying watching the baby birds being fledged recently. And watching the parent birds teach them how to catch insects and worms. The baby bird will sit in the grass and screech until the parent brings it some chow... But eventually the baby gets tired of waiting so watches where the parent goes, and follows and imitates the worm hunting... Yum! Hey, I can do this too! Whenever I want! Cool! Bingo. Job done.
I just saw a hummingbird chase off a butterfly from a flower. There were plenty of flowers to go around! Mean hummingbird!
By mid-July our Oriole feeders are pretty well devoid of orioles, so the grape jelly is usually the sole possession of the honey & bumble bees, but yesterday I saw a female Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (they look like the black/blue Spice Swallowtail) at the feeder. It approached the jelly from above, so it was essentially standing on its head, so to speak, to eat.
The bees were somewhat intimidated and flew off and tried to dive-bomb back in, but the butterfly swatted them away with its wings....kinda reminded me of a horse nonchalantly swishing its tail at flies while eating.
I heard a bird call today that I didn't recognize. Out came the binoculars and then the bird book to verify. It was a Northern Flicker. I haven't seen one of those in ages.
Location: Approximately 50 miles from Missoula MT/38 yrs full time after 4 yrs part time
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Observing nature (white tail bucks) as they progress from being "yearlings", to "young teen-agers", to young adults:.....
The abnormally wet spring and early June this year has resulted in a super-abundent amount of growth of the wild grasses, bushes, Aspen and all other species of "brouse" that the white tail thrive on.
Since about May 1st, I have been "visited" daily by (4) bucks that (at this time of year), always come as a "Party of Four", and are in my field of view for about an hour, as they graze their way across my property, about 600 feet from east to west, from the wooded, undeveloped property on one side, to the woods on the other side....This area that they frequent every day (approx 600' x 500'), is between my house and the creek that is about 800 feet further from the house......They literally spend their entire life-span on my 14 acres and a few adjacent acres on either side.....After the almost 40 years of my living here, ...they feel safe and trust me.
Many times they are as close as ten feet (10 feet) from my sliding glass doors, (as I sit motionless in the Liv Rm), so I get an excellent "up-close and personal" view of their antlers, ears, head and their other individual imperfections, so I easily can identify "who-is-who"!
One is a "fork horn";.... two are twin brothers, (I remember when they were born as twins) each have 3 tines on each side; ...another one has 4 tines on each side.....(not including the "eye-guards"), and naturally they are all in full Velvet, and will continue to develop their antlers until they rub the velvet off approximately in mid Sept....This is an excellent year for Antler Growth. Much of the forage growth is (4) times the amount of previous years.
They all were born within approx 800 to 1000 feet of the house and (along with at least 10 others), probably never get more than 1/2 mile from my house........they have no reason to go further away.
There are probably another 50 or more deer that live within one mile of my place, but these ten or so seem to like "my place".
Any way, this is how I spend many hours per week................watching deer,...........what else should an "old-retired-hunter" do...........?
Last night shortly after sunset (around midnight), my 2 cats went outside and I decided to watch them to see what they were up to. One started walking down the driveway (I have a really long driveway) while the other one watched and eventually decided to head in the same direction.
Something caught my eye so I grabbed the binoculars. Sure enough it was a Red fox not more than 10 feet away from the first adventurer. It looked like they were checking each other out but honestly I can't say for sure because like a bat out of hell I was out the front door and rushing to the driveway. By the time that I got there, the fox had scooted off into the woods. My cats were not perturbed - I imagine that they have encountered foxes before in their 17 years. Nevertheless, I'll make sure to keep an eye on them on those rare occasions that I let them out at dusk.
Location: Approximately 50 miles from Missoula MT/38 yrs full time after 4 yrs part time
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FWIW......If I were in an area where Red Fox were acclimated enough that they were on my driveway, ......I would check with the AK. F&G Dept about the possibility of Rabies present in the Red Fox population in your area......
And I would definitely not let my cats out, particularly after dark, unless I was right next to them.
I have a friend who lost their cat to a Red fox that lived in a den that was under the Foundation for an unused out bldg on their property here in western MT.
Had a northern water snake in the koi pond. We now have fewer fish!
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