Holy hell, here we are with another Wednesday already upon us! And my 3rd installment of Wildlife Wednesday.
I really tried to fill the last one for anyone reading my blog. It was fun but also turned into something more like work, which took away the fun of blogging. This week, it's not as jam packed and that's more because we were busy with a few things plus we had some home stress.
A couple weeks have passed and I checked some Long-eared Owl spots I've known about. One LEOW is still hanging around, enjoying the recent sunny days on his branch, exposed to the world, which funny enough has pretty much no humans noticing him sleeping the day away out in the open like this. C'mon people, stop staring at your phones! Look out! Look up! Look around! And I don't mean just for traffic which sadly some cannot even do. Lord knows how many people have walked right past this sleeping beauty.
Still seeing Snowy Owls as recent as March 19th with 4 along the stretch of the Hwy 401 that I take every night. Unfortunately there was also a shout out to pick up an unwell Snowy at Pearson airport yesterday morning. I didn't count my encounters this time around. I'm just enjoying the sights even if it's me just passing them by.
We had a daytime visiting Skunk a few mornings ago. It was snowing, windy and about -15 celcius with the real feel. Brrrr! This big healthy beast was roaming around, trying to dig into the frozen ground and under the bird feeders for anything to eat.
I did some ninja creeping moves and set a big pile of freeze dried meal worms down at the back. I wasn't sneaky enough for this guy and he scurried under the shed as they all know it's safe place to hide. I stepped back and eventually he crawled out, finding the bounty and had a good feed. I'm not hand feeding or habituating him. I just helped him along on a cold day, in a tough time of the year when food is not so easy to find.
One of the Toppers came by another night. And so did an Opossum as Karen asked me about in the last blog. No photos of this visit but I assure you, we get them semi-regularly. A few Sundays ago there was 2 Opossums wandering around the backyards at the same time. Sad to see them not get along but it's about territory and survival of the fittest, especially as I mentioned at this time of year when food is harder to find.
Random cute Opossum photo from our backyard.
Charlie the Pigeon still comes most days. That funny Squirrel is still here but not as bold lately. No new migrants showing up yet. None of my old Pigeon flock have come back. I've walked the Forgotten Land recently and all is quiet there. Forgotten Land? Do you follow my nest blog?
I spent some time at the Sportsman Show. I almost didn't get to it because of an issue at home with our old furnace. Frustrating. Worrisome. Our Budgie spent a few days with his "grandparents" so he didn't freeze his feathers off. We all deal with home stress at times, it's the "joys" of being a home owner. You are never prepared for it and often neither is your bank account.
It was an exhausting few days, always listening to the furnace, the day in between waiting for the part, and the next day or so after the fact. This sums things up.
Here I am in one of my happy places, spending time with Alex the Great Horned Owl once again. Hard to believe a year has passed since we last hung out.
We also spent a day with many of the members of the Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society on the weekend. They had their annual general meeting. Lots of talks ranging from Ontario Turtles to Chimney Swifts and lastly one regarding the plight of the Piping Plovers at Sauble Beach. All have their negative tones because of humans especially the Piping Plovers. Sad some care more about a manicured beach than doing something to help this endangered species of bird. More on that another time. In all, it was another happy place to be with many other Bluebird enthusiasts even as we talked about 4 long time members who passed away since our last get together.
As always, thanks for stopping by here. Hopefully see ya next Wednesday for the 4th edition. Cheers on Whisky Wednesday!
Sorry to hear about the stresses. HOPEfully, spring will REALLY be here soon & we won't have to worry about furnaces for another 5 months or so!!
ReplyDeleteShow off! Hahahahaha! That's great about your Owl sightings through another winter Rob.
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