Weekly Report for August 17th

August 17, 2024

It’s been ages since we did a (critter-centric) weekly report, so here goes!

• found a dead headless vole on the path on my walk out to do morning chicken chores. One of many reasons I don’t do chores barefoot.

• a bat fell down the chimney into the woodstove at 3am. Safely rescued and returned to the sky, like a fluffy santa claus.

• learned a little mouse has been building an empire in our car’s secret places. I call unexpected expenses like these The Woods Tax. Happy to report the mouse was retrieved alive and released into a new grassy home. (Thanks Joe!)

• while taking the compost out after dark, I slowly realize I’m not alone – the trees around me are full of the chirps of flying squirrels.

• our many milkweeds are being munched by monarch caterpillars big and small (pictured)

• tree frogs trilling all over. Including a few known characters near the house. There’s good ol’ Wapwap who lives with the pawpaw, but also Bucket Frog, Tent Frog, Bench Frog, and Window Frogs A and B.

• a broadwinged hawk coming to raid the yard keeps getting busted by snitchy blue jays. (Thanks blue jays!) Chickens all still present and accounted for. They scramble for cover like nobody’s business. Chickens, what chickens?

• the young roosters are giving crowing a try. Keen amateurs in the choir.

• Chris-gopher the groundhog has made their home under the deck – where the main waterline runs from the well into the house… We are trying to convince them – via pee and epsom salts – that anywhere else is better.

• as the wren family has moved out of their garden birdhouse nestled in the cucumber vines, our vegetable jungle can be wrestled into “order” once again.

• a baby bunny has made itself a grassy cave on the hill. Looking from just the right angle, tiny ears and a furry rump may be spotted snoozing in there during its adorable siestas.

• the nearby rivers and creeks have turtles basking on their rocks and in their shallows. And any day, any week, with a turtle in it is a good one.

Have a great weekend folks! 💚