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One of our resident bunnies, Usagi-chan (they're all named Usagi-chan) was near the patio, pulling up plaintain leaves and eating them stem-first. She eats everything that way, but these leaves were huge. It was a challenge.
Later, Sparky the Chipmunk (they're all named Sparky, but this one has half his tail chewed off) shot past behind us, skirting the house, as we sat out in lounge chairs.
I have been very worried about not hearing a veery thrush this season when I'm in my back yard. I thought we may have lost them in our area.
We went into the back woods today and were sooooo happy to hear one. Seems he/she (hopefully they) had moved deeper into the woods so we can only hear their lovely song when we're closer.
It made my day. Listen to the clip of this lovely descending trill and you'll understand why.
I have been very worried about not hearing a veery thrush this season when I'm in my back yard. I thought we may have lost them in our area.
We went into the back woods today and were sooooo happy to hear one. Seems he/she (hopefully they) had moved deeper into the woods so we can only hear their lovely song when we're closer.
It made my day. Listen to the clip of this lovely descending trill and you'll understand why.
Ah, life is good.
Love the sound...thanks....not sure we have the veery down here.....
Location: Approximately 50 miles from Missoula MT/38 yrs full time after 4 yrs part time
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There are 3 wild hen turkeys that nested this spring within 75 yards of the house. Each have between 11 and 13 chicks and they stay within approx 200 yards of the house. Due to our exceptionally wet spring and early summer precipitation,the wild grasses, weeds and brush are 3 times their normal growth at present............some of the areas of wild native grasses are 36 inches high.
This has resulted in an abundance of various types of insects which comprise about 90% of the turkeys diet and keep these 3 Turkey flocks quite close to the house area... The chicks are grown to the point now that they can fly when disturbed and are about the size of pigeons.
What is interesting to watch is when I let my Brittany out of his dog-run to run and exercise, he picks up the scent of one of those flocks and quickly finds them in the heavy grass and weeds................
To witness the "explosion" of 13 chicks and 'mama hen' out of an area that is maybe 12 to 14 feet in diameter is something to see.......They fly to and land in one of the close by Pondarosa Pines and leave one frustrated bird dog barking at the base of the tree.
Two days ago this happened twice with in 4 hours.
One of the benefits of living "out in the boonies "!
We have had an abnormally huge amount of snow and rain this year where I live. Top 3 year for precipitation so far in recorded history.
I've been looking at the leaves on the trees I planted 3 years ago (lots scattered around on my 3 acres - about 36 trees) and have been noticing in the past few days how HUGE the leaves on all of them are! Seriously, you have never seen such giant leaves on oak and cottonwood and cherry trees!
I've never planted trees before so don't know: are huge leaves typical of 3 year old trees? (I guess they're 4, really), or are the leaves huge because of all the moisture this year ?(if so, then why aren't the leaves on established trees as big) or are they huge in reaction to the zombie apocalypse/ teeny meanie rumptydump's anti-environmental policies/ weird chemicals in the air/ or ?
Seriously, the leaves are like 4x the size of the leaves on the established trees. The oak leaves on these teeny trees are bigger than my hands.
There was a family of raccoons sleeping at the top of a tree next to our bedroom window. I could see their noses and whiskers, then one of them lazily stretched, with her paws sticking out on either side of the tree trunk. They looked so comfortable and content up there, napping in the afternoon sunshine.
Trees are their houses, branches are their beds, leaves are their shade. It's a magical place up there in the canopy.
There was a family of raccoons sleeping at the top of a tree next to our bedroom window. I could see their noses and whiskers, then one of them lazily stretched, with her paws sticking out on either side of the tree trunk. They looked so comfortable and content up there, napping in the afternoon sunshine.
Trees are their houses, branches are their beds, leaves are their shade. It's a magical place up there in the canopy.
I never see any fireflies at night anymore. When I was a kid, we would catch them and put them in a jar and watch them light up and then let them go. LOL
They have fallen victim to climate change, land development, pesticides, and light pollution.
If you live in the western US, you will never see one.
It is unknown why they have never existed west of Kansas.
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