WILD Birthday Bits

I've been wanting to blog ever since we ended our 9 day vacation but I seem to have some sort of writer's block. I don't know why. It was a fantastic week off and we did things that I was thrilled to do, things I loved doing. Everything should just flow out with a blog but it's not...

We did a private raptor encounter at Mountsberg Raptor Centre. We do these pretty much yearly and this is the second year in a row where we've done it right around my birthday. Having a Great Horned Owl on the glove is always fun. Meet Octavius. You can read about his background story here that I did some years ago.

I got a little extra love with Shadow the Barn Owl. He's such a character.

I don't advise anyone to just go and stick their face in that of any of these birds they may meet; or any animal out there anywhere. Let them set the boundaries and just enjoy the time with them. Animals are individuals. They have their own moods and personalities. Some people don't understand that for some reason.

I highly recommend these raptor encounters to everyone. To be face to face with these birds, having one of their educational birds on the glove or just admiring them from their homes. It's a great way to set off a spark in a young person who may become an advocate for birds and wildlife in the future.

This was a great way to start the vacation week, or as Angie put it "your birthday week". She said for the next 9 days, I would have a present each day, not always something big and grand, but there would be something. The Mountsberg Raptor Encounter was the first gift. I don't need to list all the gifts here as this is Rob and the Animals, right? Angie did a nice recap of our week off which you can see here. Give her a little love over there, she worked hard at surprising and spoiling me.

Our other big animal adventure was visiting Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue. Angie got me a private tour for Christmas last year. We initially were going to go in the spring but with our Vegas trip and other things, we held off until our vacation week in September. We've known about Soper Creek for a little while now and have met them at a few public exhibitions the last 18 months.

What can be said about Soper that isn't said on their website? They are a caring bunch and have an impressive set up with large enclosures for the educational animals. They are a rehabilitation centre and visitors do not get to meet the patients, as it should be. The educational animals basically work, helping to raise money for the rehab centre.

We met a lot of animals on our tour. There were so many stories shared about the animals, like why they came to Soper. Sadly many are due to human interference. How is it that people think they can just take baby animals from outside and keep them as pets? Those animals never learn how to be true wild animals, self dependent and being able to take care of themselves. When people finally realize that it was a bad idea, or they get tired of caring for the animal and the work involved, or in other cases the animals are found out about and get confiscated... what then? Zoos and rescue centres if they have the space, or it's euthanasia.

Okay, let's meet a couple of their educational animals now, shall we?

Both Angie and I were floored when we got some real one on one, up close and personal time with a couple of their animals that we see in our backyard quite often.

Here I am with Persephone. What a lovely Skunk she is. She was more snuggly than our cats. She nuzzled into my neck, her face often getting lost in my hair. Angie had a mirror moment with her too. Some ask, did she stink? Did she claw us? No and no. Skunks can be de-scented. She was very gentle too.

Then there was Claire the Opossum. Of the 3 big night mammals to visit our backyard, the Opossum is the most elusive of them. So holding one was a real treat. We could never pat one in the wild. Their fur is softer than what it might appear. Claire also was a gentle creature, making her a great ambassador for her kind.

We met a handful of Foxes, some Porcupines and a Groundhog too. You read about some of the ambassador animals of Soper Creek by clicking here. Just a few photos of some of the creatures on our tour. I wish I could remember all their names and their stories to share.

A big friendly Porcupine who is named Vinnie.  He lives with a couple others named Leia and Chewie as well as two Skunks and three Crows.  If you click on Vinnie's link on the website, it says he came from the USA, living in harsh conditions.  I know we heard of someone having numerous animals, all living in small totes, and Vinnie may have been one of them to be taken from this person.

This Groundhog we have met on a few occasions.

He lives with a couple Pigeons.

One of two Red Foxes.  We weren't allowed to mingle with them in their enclosure as they aren't the friendliest.  Still something to see as I rarely find Fox on my walks.

Soper is home to two Bobcats.  Wow!  What lovely beasts they are to see.  I've never seen one in the wild. 

Chewie and Leia.

Some more Foxes we met...

It was a sunny day so it was tough photographing in the woods, inside these enclosures.  This one below probably looks intimidating due to the shadows and his coloring; but I assure you, he was not.

It was fun to be among these young ones.

Of all the animals we met, and the stories we heard, the one about this Crow has stuck with me. His name is Russell. Russell has an amazing story so far in his short life. Russell had come into a wildlife centre as a fledgling, and released to the wild when he was able to fly. A few weeks later, Russell came back to the wildlife centre he was released from, this time with a broken wing. He remembered where the wildlife rescue was, and that the people there could help him. Unfortunately his wing had to be amputated. Russell lives a fulfilling life at Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue now, and lives in a multi-species enclosure. This story just floors me, grabbing my heart strings. I know Crows are very intelligent to begin with but still...

If you are seriously interested in doing a private tour at Soper Creek, here is the link.

Also something wild that week was getting our confirmed backyard bird species #76. A Chestnut-sided Warbler paid us a visit two mornings in a row. It's fall migration, you just never know what might pop in a person's backyard.

Lastly, Angie got me another awesome perfect gift being this t-shirt. It's gotten lots of praise wherever we go and I have it on. Angie said "you'll probably live in it" and I said I would but don't want to wear it out that fast. I should get another one or two.

Oh, there is one more wild bit but that will be blog worthy on it's own and something you might want to follow in the coming months as it will give me reason just to do updates about it on here. Stay tuned for that...

Remember, give Angie some love and see what else we did on our week off. She rocks. I'm glad we share so many interests, yet still have our own too.

Thanks for stopping in.

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Milestone Moment for Me

So here we are nearing the middle of September. The 15th is a milestone day for me as I turn 50. FIFTY!!!!!! I sit back and wonder how the hell did that happen? Where did the time go?

I will enter this new decade with my head up, looking forward out to the world and adventures ahead of me. May as well embrace it, right? You can't stop it. I'm thankful for having very good health. I'm thankful for still having all my hair. I'm thankful for having a loving supportive wife who is with me where she can be with this ride with the animals or just says "okay" when I message her with things like I am bringing home a bat for the night, a Goose is in the truck for the night, there's a Woodpecker in the closet and a few other interesting creatures that have bunked with us for a night.

Will I change with this turning 50? Absolutely not. I can assure you that I will remain the same old (am I old now?)... me.

I will still be that cat, Pigeon, Raccoon, Skunk, Opossum, Squirrel, Peregrine Falcon, hell anything with fur, feathers, scales, slime loving, whisky sippin' heavy metal loving guy you have come to know either in person or through my posts.

No real big plans to be honest. We start a week of vacation after today. September is a nice time of year for us. The weather is a little cooler. Peoples' kids are back in school so things are quieter wherever we go.

I'm sure I will blog about any animal related stuff when it's back to the grind.

Here's a hint of one thing we will be doing tomorrow. This is always a blast and a nice time out from our busy lives.

Thanks to those who are always here when I blog. You rock!

Whatever Happened to that Monarch Caterpillar?

Some of you may recall we had a Monarch Caterpillar in our garden a few weeks back. We watched over him for a few days and then he disappeared. Not truly knowing what happened to him, we told ourselves he crawled off somewhere to go into the next phase which is the pupa and from there to hopefully morph into a butterfly a few weeks later. A friend on social media told us that they will do this, looking for a safer place to do this. So having someone actually tell us that gave us hope that this was actually happening.

Over the next few weeks I always kept a look out in the garden. Numerous times I squatted down, peering into the many plants near the swamp milkweed where it fed as a caterpillar. Never did I spot the pupa.

Last Thursday while out puttering in the yard, my eyes finally caught something. It was orange and black. It was moving. It was about 2 feet from the swamp milkweed plant. Holy! It was the Monarch emerging as a butterfly!

Look at the size of the abdomen here. That was something I had never seen before.

I texted Angie and told her the news. I had wished she was home to see this with me.

My first sighting to this miracle of nature was about 11 am.

I went about my morning, doing the things I must do before going to work. I checked on the butterfly a few times throughout.

I also did some Google researching to see how long this process could take until it would fly away. Approximately 2 hours until the wings hardened enough.

My last check was at 12:30 pm. The Monarch was gone. I half wished I delayed my shower to witness it fly off but that was the chance I took. A quick crappy shot of the spot, you can see the pupa in the blurry section. I'm still amazed at how well it blended in with the salvias. I know I peered through this spot more than a couple times since it disappeared.

This has never happened before in our backyard. It was a little more thrilling for us since our Cecropia moth never emerged from last year. Having this all happen naturally made for a really memorable experience (no disrespect to those who raise caterpillars in enclosures). It also inspires us to do more with our developing pollinator garden.

As I said in my last blog, it certainly has been the year for caterpillars.

Year of the Caterpillars

I don't know what it is this year with all the caterpillars we are finding in the garden; but it sure is something. We've certainly never experienced this before. Angie got the SEEK app installed on her phone and it's really helped us ID these creatures.

Here is what we've seen in the last couple weeks. I'm going to borrow a moth image for each caterpillar to share so you can see what they may turn into if they make it to that stage. Now in no particular order...

Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar

After our little photo shoot inside and ID'ing, I put him back outside in the area where I found him. Good luck little one!

I hope to spot one as an actual moth in the near future. I can pretend it was this caterpillar, right?

Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars. There is easily 75+ of them on our one swamp milkweed plant.

They are so small but so colorful.

Almost a week later, they are still out there. My how they have developed.

With how many Milkweed Tussock moth caterpillars we have, we should see a few of them as actual moths.

What we believe may be a Saddled Prominent.

If I saw this, I don't think I would know how to ID it without that app. There are so many moth species out there.

I found one very similar to this caterpillar below in my shed a couple weeks ago. I was rather preoccupied with something else and moved him to safety since he was where I was working. It was a small, fuzzy, yellow caterpillar that tapered down at the back end. If I'm correct, it was a Definite Tussock Moth caterpillar. I borrowed this image from a search of fuzzy yellow caterpillars in Ontario.

Seeing photos of the Definite Tussock moth, I am fairly confident that is it. There are a few of these nightly now, or what looks like this, on the orange halves we have out for the Baltimore Orioles.

Then there was this odd looking one hanging from another tree out back. He was just out of reach for me to bring inside for a better photograph, and the opportunity to ID. A mystery but with so many others we've been able to ID, I can live letting this one get away. I used my headlamp on him as the camera flash turned him completely white.

And of course let's not forget the Monarch Butterfly caterpillar who was blog worthy.

We've been asked what became of the Monarch caterpillar. He disappeared and we like to think he went deeper into our garden to go through the next stages of his life. I keep an eye out for him, be it the cocoon or a fresh new Monarch. We shall see.

Some people understand why Angie and I feel no need to leave the backyard during the summer months. Perhaps a few more will get it after reading this blog?

Of course after I publish this, what appears on the kitchen window screen but another caterpillar! I took a couple photos of him.

I then coaxed him onto a small stick to get him off the screen as that's no place for a caterpillar to hang out, and nothing to eat.

I then moved him to the nearest tree and off he went. I'm leaning towards another Banded Tussock but something looks a little different. We found that with the SEEK app, that sometimes it doesn't pick up the insects but the plant that it is on. So taking photos and loading them onto the computer screen, having blown the photos up to just the insect does help with ID'ing. We shall see.

Last Light

One of my favourite times of the day to be with the wild ones is at last light. Some call it "the golden hour". Whatever the term is, it's a magical moment. Here is some of what I saw with last light... last night.

Some creatures are getting their last feed for the day. The Cardinals are always the last birds out and our resident male we call "papa" is always busy taking care of his kids at this time of year.

That last hour seems to be peak time for us with Hummingbirds. There's been a couple young birds or females in the Bee Balm this past weekend. This part of the garden takes in that last hour of light. At least two males are visiting our feeders as well.

A lone young Raccoon rises early and makes an appearance in the backyard. Angie has named him "Albert".

The young male Downy Woodpecker continues to use this nest box to roost in. The sun shines down from the back, making it very difficult to get a decent photograph.

Directly across from the Downy's house is one of our Owl boxes that the Squirrels have once again taken over. They did not use the box to nest in this summer and it's been empty since April. I cleaned it out a couple weeks ago. Last night I noticed 3 of them go into it. There was a moment when all of them had their heads sticking out but I did not have my camera with me. I go get it and of course only one stayed in place. The Downy had tucked himself in his box when I took this photo but after I went back to the house, I could see both animals with their heads peeking out again. It was a cute and comical sight. Maybe they were saying "goodnight" to each other?

Since I work an afternoon shift, I only get to see the last light at home on Saturday and Sunday. I wonder if my younger self would have believed that I would be more excited about being home on the weekends, watching the wildlife in the evening and not prepping for another night of partying?

Normally I stroll the backyard after work around 11 pm. I will try to be more courteous to these sleeping creatures that are calling our backyard home, not shining my head lamp to their houses and being a little more quiet.