Fawn in the Food Plot Good morning! It’s a beautiful, cool morning here on the homestead. It feels more like September than July this week. It was 48° when I looked out at 4:45 am. Here’s an awwwww to start you’re day. This little buck fawn runs like a thoroughbred…
Loon Family of Upper Sysladobsis Lake I spent last week upta camp on Upper Sysladobsis Lake. Steve and Taylor took care of the house and poultry so I could stay there to write. I get a lot of work done on the book when I’m there. I also got to…
Living With Wildlife For Steve and me, living a life in the wild means living with wildlife. The animals we share our homestead with are special to us. We get to know some of them through personal encounters, photos on game cameras, and signs of what was in a place…
Baby Weasels About a month ago a short-tailed weasel bounded past my feet and into the barn. “Slinky?” I thought so. It doesn’t seem like a weasel that didn’t know me would come so close. I sat a long time on the back porch observing Slinky last winter. She trusted…
Porcupine Steve stopped in his tracks. “Get your camera ready, Rob.” And so I did because he knows a photo op. A big, round, slow and pokey, not-in-a-hurry-to-get-anywhere quill pig waddled down the side of the road. It took me 15 or 20 seconds of running to catch up close…
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds & Apple Blossoms I’m working on an entry about covering the high tunnel. Yes! It’s covered! The photos have been taken and resized. I’ve even uploaded them. Until that’s ready, enjoy a couple of ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubrisat) apple blossoms. These little tornadoes are taking on every bird…
Leucistic White-Throated Sparrow A puffy white face caught my attention early Monday morning. I couldn’t get a good look at the bird through the branches of the hydrangea tree in the few seconds before it disappeared. It took until from Monday to Thursday to get a good look and determine…
heard the familiar noise as soon as I stepped out of the truck. “Jeeeeb. Jeeeb. Jeeep.” I wasn’t thinking about anything other than getting the mail and letting the dogs out when I heard the sound. It kind of caught me by surprise. “Jeeeb jeeeeb.” I know I know that…
Merlin (Merlin columbarius) “Klee-klee.” I heard the high-pitched call but was too far out the door to stop mid-step.line, The predator, afraid of me, flew away. The garden was littered with the jay’s feathers. It flew, barely, and I lost track of it while I looked for the other bird.…
Relocating Bird Feeders I’m relocating bird feeders today because of a merlin. This merlin. It’s taking advantage of the bird feeders a couple of times a week. Yesterday’s hunt was a disaster. This is the best way to put an end to the merlin’s opportunistic hunting and help the small…
