Critters

Daily Deer

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I may not have posted deer photos yesterday, but I did get some!

My older daughter also took advantage of our camera set up and got a few nice shots of a blue jay in the trees.

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The two deer that come together came yesterday, and today.  Yesterday, the one that looks so hungry all the time did get some of the feed, but she’s so skittish, she ran off quickly, and ever got a chance to come back.

I did manage to get a photo of her in mid chew, though.  I love it!

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She looks like she’s making faces at me! :-D

I have noticed that, when they come together, they both go to different food piles and eat together for a while.  However, hungry girl gets startled far more easily, and dashes off a few feet.  She then hangs around, looking everywhere, before she starts making her way back to the feed.  That is when the mean one starts chasing her away. :-(

Today, however, it was a bit different.

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Now that we have a sack of bird seed as well as deer feed, I did things a bit differently, by putting out alternating piles of deer feed and bird seed.

I don’t know if that made the difference, but today, when she got startled off, she actually came back and ate some more, without being chased off.

The other deer started out eating the bird seed.  Considering the birds have been eating their feed for all this time, I figure that’s a fair deal. ;-)

The other possibility is that the other deer was just too distracted to chase off the hungry one.

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As the deer were coming over, this one was very leery of the cat at the bottom of one of the spruce trees.

The cats, on the other hand, don’t seem all that disturbed by the deer. :-D

I didn’t take many photos today, because our movements distract her, and I didn’t want her to run off.  I hope that, for today, at least, she got a full meal!

The Re-Farmer

Busy Out Our Window

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We got quite a bit of action outside our living room window today!

The beauty of digital photography is that you can take lots of pictures and not worry about running out of film, then go through them later to pick the best ones.

The downside is that you can take lots of pictures, and then have to try and choose the best one!  Today, alone, I took about 200 pictures.  Oh, how to choose!

Well, here is a sampling.

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The pine grosbeaks were back.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen them.  I forgot how big they are!  Almost as big as the blue jays.

Speaking of which…

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The blue jays are funny to watch.  They have a definite preference for certain seeds, and are large enough that they can use their beaks to flick through the seeds, flinging them all over, just to find that special one!  They’d eat the others, too, but only after picking out their favorites.

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I got some really good photos of the outside cats that showed up today, like this one of Butterscotch, who is staring at our mama cat in the window.

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Then there was Trüllbus the Crime Eater… also checking out our cats in the window.

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Nasty Crime Boy also made an appearance.

I have a hard time telling Crime Boy and Trüllbus apart when they are not right next to each other. :-D

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Even The Mothman made an appearance today!  It’s been at least a week since I’ve seen her.  Then I realized all over again, what a big frikkin cat she is!

She spooked the deer, too.

Yes, we got deer as well.  Two of them; the nasty one and the one that stays close to him for some reason (see video)

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I picked this photo, not because it was the best one, but because you could see the difference between the two, a bit.  The little one looks thin, and its coat is rougher, compared to the round belly and smooth coat you can see in the other deer in the background.  It’s not as clear in this photo, but you can see her hip and shoulder bones sticking out more prominently, too.

They did eat together for a while, then something spooked the little one.  She went off to the side for a while, but she she tried to come back, the other one chased her off.  She then went into the spruce grove and hung around.  At least she has things to nibble on in there, even if it might not be as good as the feed I’m leaving out.  Still, the poor thing looks quite hungry. :-(

The Re-Farmer

 

 

 

Not Nice!

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The pair of deer are here as I write this. This was taken moments ago. The one deer is quite nasty!

The other one is still around. I hope she gets a chance to eat. She looks much scrawnier than the mean one, and rough around the edges. :-(

Out Our Window, Today

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I finished off our first bag of deer feed this morning.  I’m glad I picked up a second one, already.

We got a visit from a lone deer this morning.  A different one; it did not have the larger darker patch of fur on its chest.

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I should go back over our older photos and see if I can tell if this is that first doe that started visiting us.

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I just love those eyes, and the long, long eyelashes.

Did you know that white tail deer have horizontal, slot shaped pupils?  Their eyes are so dark, I’ve never really noticed it before.

Of course, we had bird visitors.  I’ve been leaving some piles of feed closer to the house, and that has allowed me to get some better photos.

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For a while, this nuthatch was watching me take photos of it.  How much it could see of me through the reflections, I don’t know, but clearly, it could at least see me moving around.

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It’s a real challenge to get decent photos of the birds.  They just don’t stay still very long!  I’ve got the camera on a tripod with a head that is easily moved around, but it still takes a moment or two to adjust, and by the time I’ve done that, they’re usually gone.  Still, I’ve managed a few good ones. :-)

More deer showed up in the early evening.

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This is the one with the darker patch on its chest that comes with another deer that it drives away from the feed.  The other deer did show up with it, and was chased off by this one here.  Striking with hooves and all. Eventually, the other did make it to the feed, but barely got any at all before it ran off, then this one came back.

Interestingly, as it was coming to the feed and looking around, it kept looking up over the roof.  I wonder if one of the cats was up there?

The Re-Farmer

This Morning’s Critter Visitors

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We are going to have to rethink how our living room is laid out again.  A bit of adjusting to better suit my husband’s needs, and a bit more shifting around.  Our big picture window is currently blocked off completely, and I’d like to open it up again.

Then promptly block it again.  With a tripod. :-D

We had many chickadees, as usual, and a third squirrel has joined the two we usually see.  Then we got this crowd.

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I have been able to find our copy of A Field Guide to the Birds of North America, and was able to identify them as chipping sparrows. [correction: these are redpolls, which were not in my book at all.  We get chipping sparrows in the summer.]

Then our beautiful lady came to visit again.  We first saw her going through the spruce grove some distance away, but she came back for a quick feed.

What a beauty!

We have a pair of blue jays that regularly visit – likely a mated pair.  One of them hung out in the spruces for a while.

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I just love their colouring.  They’ve always been one of my favourite birds.

 

 

 

We Got Deer!

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It took a while – and perhaps it was found when we weren’t there to see – but today, a white tail deer finally showed up at the deer feed we’ve been leaving out.

What a beauty, too!

This is so exciting!!

(photo taken by P., using a Nikon D80 and a 70-300mm Nikkor lens)

 

New Bird Visits

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I don’t know the names of these ones.  Time to break out the bird books!

If they’re unpacked…

Unlike the jays, the chickadees are quite comfortable grabbing some seeds while these birds are around.

Update: The one with the most red on it is a male pine grosbeak.   I thought the one with just a red cap might be the female, but from what I can find online, it is the yellow one that is a female grosbeak.

Morning critter visitors

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Still no deer, but plenty of action at the feed this morning.

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This was taken using a 70-300mm lens, zoomed in as far as it could go, so we’re not all that close.  I know that there’s also lots of reflections of trees on the window – enough to confuse the birds into trying to fly into them (when I was a kid, we once had a prairie chicken fly right through the glass; we installed chicken wire outside the window after that).  Yet, it seems as if this Blue Jay is watching me taking pictures of him.

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Still keeping an eye out!

The jays are not as skittish as the chickadees, staying at the feed longer, but they still dash in and out, quickly retreating into the branches.  It makes getting good shots more challenging.  Especially with the zoom lens.

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There are always a LOT of chickadees!  They quickly dash in, grab a seed, and dash out again.  Skittish little guys.  They like to hang out in the shrubs outside our dining and living room windows.

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The red squirrels, on the other hand, are much bolder and assertive.  This guy stayed at the seeds for quite some time, with a Blue Jay in the branches above, watching and waiting for him to leave.  He took his time about it!

In the summer, they would come to the house and take dog food to store for the winter (we’d find a stash in the wood pile, every now and then).  My late father quite enjoyed them.  One fine sunny day, my dad went out on the front steps and sat down in the warm sun.  Eventually, he lay back and fell asleep.

He woke up to find a squirrel on his chest, checking him out!

Bold, indeed!

The Re-farmer

Wildlife Visitors

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The deer have yet to discover the feed we’ve started leaving out for them.

Other critters, on the other hand, are appreciating it.

So far, we’ve seen some Blue Jays, my daughter spotted a Grey Jay, and of course there have been plenty of chickadees and squirrels.

Here are some photos my husband got through the living room window this morning, with our old Nikon D80.

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Blue Jays are one of the few birds we see more often in the winter.

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Red Squirrels are pretty much the only type of squirrel we get here.  About an hour’s drive away, my sister gets both these little squirrels and the huge grey squirrels in her yard.

Wildlife visits are one of the positive trade offs with this move!

The Re-farmer

 

My Introduction to the Outside Cats

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My husband has been taking on our outdoor cat feeding duty lately, but his back was too far gone today.  So I got a turn.

They were waiting.

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They were almost friendly.   One even let me touch her. The big one we thought was pregnant.  She has just been fixed, thanks to my brother.

One, however, was a bit more shy.

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I’m told the cats have come from my brother’s place, up the road.  They have made themselves at home in the two old dog houses we’ve got in the yard. Food. Water. Shelter.  What more could a semi-feral cat ask for?

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