Spring 2019 Catch Up

Well I am in awe that we are just about halfway through April right now. Where did March go? Where did the first 2 weeks of April go? Time sure flies...

Life got me pretty busy for a while and the weather kept me close to home where there's been little activity. But here's a bit of catching up on life with the animals.

I wasn't going to share this but I feel it is necessary because it really effected me. If you remember the new Pigeon visitor Claire. Well, sadly, she became prey to the winter visitor that is the Cooper's Hawk. While I did not see it happen. I am positive some feathered remains I spotted in a neighbour's backyard are that of her's.

I had seen her on a Monday around her usual time of visit. She quickly flushed from the yard before I even got my boots on to come out and feed her. I figured ed the Hawk came in and I hoped Claire flew off to safety. I did not see her any where. The next day I did not see her but I noticed a pile of Pigeon feathers in another backyard. There was some reddish brown wing feathers in the pile. I've had so few Pigeons coming in and can only think of one other bird with those colors of feathers. I have seen that other bird since but Claire never came back. What would you think?

I adored Claire. She was unique not just in appearance but also her personality. They all are unique but something stood out with her. It devastated me for many days after. I guess I always knew something wasn't exactly right with her. She wasn't like the other Pigeons. I refuse to say she was "slow". Maybe "inexperienced" is a better description? Seeing her sitting in the deep snow that one day during the storm was odd. Her staying in my hand when the Cooper's Hawk showed up was another odd thing. I'd seen her fly out of the yard at times and either hit the phone wires or clip branches, which I've never seen other Pigeons do.

The visits from Pigeons have been few and far between. Charlie and Fitz make random appearances every 2 or 3 weeks. I miss the bonding times with these birds but am okay with them not coming to visit, and hopefully are safe elsewhere. I've not seen a Cooper's Hawk here in a few weeks now. The Pigeons will probably be on alert for quite some time yet.

Note: I do not begrudge the Hawks. It's nature. They play their role. I feel some guilt making friends with these birds although at times they come here and are just that way, obviously being familiar with kind humans elsewhere.

Topper showed up the other night. I hadn't seen her in a few months. I know it was her because of her actions. She came wandering into the backyard near 11 pm on Wednesday. I watched from a distance down back and she made her way down my way. As she neared, I took a side step to make way for her. She stopped, got a tad spooked and started to quickly back up. I said "Topper" and she stopped. She sniffed the air and listened to me say "Hi Topper". She then put it in high gear, running in my direction, almost over my feet and went straight to the shed. I "accidentally" dropped some treats that I know she enjoys, to which she gobbled up. I said "it's so nice to see you again Topper" among other things. Whatever I say, "Topper" is added to the sentence. She may not understand my ramblings but I know she knows my voice and that one word... Topper.

I didn't get a decent photo of Topper to share but here's a great memory from that first summer as a wee little Skunk. She really helped me in those many weeks I was home recovering from my fall off the roof and healing 2 broken ribs. Who wouldn't love to have morning coffee with a baby Skunk?

For a recap, Topper was born in the summer of 2017. At some point I happened to notice an injured Skunk wandering our backyard. I called in to Toronto Wildlife Centre the next day about this sight. They said if I could catch her, to bring her in for assessment. The next night this Skunk showed up again and I was successful in catching her with my live trap. Long story short, she was severely injured and she was a lactating mother. Eek! They could not ethically bring her back her because of how severe the injuries were (most likely a survivor of a car strike). I was asked to keep an eye out for baby Skunks wandering around. I did just that as well as inform some of the better neighbours around here. About a week later 3 small Skunks showed up in our backyard. We monitored them and they seemed to be doing well on their own; of course with a little help from Angie and I leaving helpful bits like dried mealworms in random spots for them to discover. The young Skunks stayed close to our home for the rest of the summer and through the fall, especially Topper. She reappeared in the spring and made many appearances in 2018. How great it is that she is back once again! Perhaps this year she will have young of her own? I suspect Topper is a female as I did encounter her somewhere around December with a larger Skunk, they were walking side by side out back, digging and feeding together.

I hope the return of Topper eases any upset some readers may have felt from the tale of Claire.

We've had some issues at home with one of our cats, Merry. Constipation! Of course at first we didn't know that was the issue. Even the vets could not say 100%. Good thing Merry's mommy and daddy are very attentive and intuitive. A lot of monitoring of her behaviour lead us to this diagnosis. We are thankful the newer vets to have seen her, since our usual vet is now semi-retired, were good about looking for the more probable reasons to what was going on before doing more intensive and costly tests. It's a long messy story that I would rather not share.

It's stressful anytime a pet is unwell and a puzzle to determine what is wrong since they cannot just tell us. We almost canceled our vacation plans because of how rough things got and we still were without any improvements. Then just days before we had some turn around "movements" and also having a great cat sitter on board eased our worries.

Cats are an odd animal at times. Having a couple Calico cats amplifies everything by 100. It's like there is a switch inside them and it doesn't take much to set them off. Merry's constipation issues made her fear having a bowel movement and whenever she finally did, she would flee the box, still pooping and leaving a trail throughout the house, or she would go someplace else like on my coat I let her sleep on occasionally, or my pyjama pants another time. It was never intentional with these accidents and we knew that. I hope others in these situations do as well.

She may not be a baby anymore but she will always be that way to me.

So you've had a bad story, a good story, a shitty story. How about a fun story?

As mentioned, we made it Las Vegas. What a town! The strip is a crazy busy place. I am grateful we did get a full day out with a guide to explore the land away from the city. I ended up with 29 lifers. My photos weren't spectacular because I spent more time watching the birds with my own eyes, taking in the moments, and not concerning too hard about the photos. That's just me. Highlights were 3 new species of Hummingbird, a few Phainopeplas (Phaino-what-now?), Clark's Nutcracker and ending the day with 9 Burrowing Owls. Of course all the birds we saw were highlights but I figured I would stop before I got too carried away with a list. I'd highly recommend the guys at Bird Las Vegas if any of you ever want to visit Las Vegas and add some great birding to your trip. Here's a couple photos.

Burrowing Owl

Anna's Hummingbird

Vermillion Flycatcher

Greater Roadrunner

Gambel's Quail

A new species of Pigeon!  Band-tailed Pigeon.  How many can you see?

Clark's Nutcracker

As I key this today on April 12th, I want to acknowledge Meadow. Four years ago today we said "goodbye" or as I prefer "be seeing you". I had an emotional moment last Friday thanks to Facebook memories. It was a picture of Meadow and I at the vet, when she took ill. I was hopeful it was going to be okay. The words in myy post showed that as did the look on my face. Little did I know one week later she would go to sleep forever in my arms. The photo gutted me. One would think today I would feel something similar, but I don't. I celebrate the life we had together, the bond between her and I. She was my best friend, as it can be between a man and his cat. I never had to worry about Meadow. She never got into trouble. She loved her leash and harness while being outside with me all day, every weekend, every summer and pretty much any other sunny day through the seasons. If I was gardening or doing other projects outside, I never had to keep watch over her. She smelled the flowers, rolled around on the lawn and just enjoyed the time. Of course anything I was working on took much longer because of the numerous breaks with Meadow. Ask Angie about how long it took me to wrap Christmas presents with Meadow. I think about her every day, it's difficult not to because of the memories, and a few momentum(s) in the house. I miss her. I know some of you knew of Meadow quite well, almost as if you met her, though most did not, or she wasn't very welcoming to that many people. Everyone respected that and appreciated what we had. Angie was a big part of Meadow's life too. Their thing was a slow heat and years in the making. She can pride herself on being Meadow's favorite second human because there was no third, fourth, fifth, etc.

One of them Meadow breaks...

Another...

I loved to make little memes with her, and since today is Friday, here ya go...

As you can see it's been a bit of an emotional ride lately. I will hopefully get back on track with some regular bloggings soon. Remember I do a nest blog through the warm months.

Cheers from myself and the animals (this guy sat out back with me the other Wednesday)!