Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

It was a nice holiday season. No story telling so I thought I would share a few photos.

The #whiskykittys and I are well stocked for a good part of 2019.

We started on the new rye the last 2 Wednesdays.

One of our nieces sent me this all the way from Alberta. Such a cool surprise!

We did not get a Critter Christmas tree this year. Some years we just pick up a discarded tree from one of the neighbours, but even that so far this year, has not happened. The animals get spoiled all year long so it's not a big deal.

It's nice to see Fitz coming in but also avoiding the Hawks hunting our neighbourhood. I don't see him daily, and there's been many days without any Pigeons coming in at all lately.

Oh Ripper! What's not to love about this gentle soul?

A few outings here and there but the bird activity is rather slow. We enjoy every bird seen nonetheless especially the unique ones like this Wild Turkey we spotted on Christmas morning. We also saw a couple Coyotes in the area so this bird sitting up in the tree was a great safe spot. Wild Turkeys in Toronto is not a very common thing. This one we've seen a few times since the fall.

A Snowy Owl has been hanging out at one of the lake parks this winter.

There's not many Long-eared Owls to be found in the area but I found one.

Tis the season for quieter nights at home and any mammal sightings. I did see tracks after a recent snowfall.

Raccoon tracks across the deck, passing our back door, and heading over the fence into the neighbour's yard.

Two different sets of tracks on the lawn. One set going towards the house. The other set going away from the house. I believe it's two different animals because the one on the right shows some dragging movement over the snow while the set on the left shows just paw prints and the animal was able to carry itself over the snow. The snow was too light and fluffy to get any good prints to look at.

The biggest surprise of the new year was this Opossum showing up in our backyard 8:30 Saturday morning. He made a couple appearances over the next 45 minutes before leaving the yard again, and hopefully off to sleep the day away some where safe and quiet.

Someone has been using our doghouse behind the shed. I am not sure who but it does smell kinda skunky. It's been so tempting to peek inside but I'd rather not disturb and scare away a sleeping resident. The house is packed with straw. A couple weeks ago I looked inside and noticed a matted down area where an animal had bedded down at some point. Funny thing is that time there was no signs from the exterior of use and I was just curious if anything was going on. Now there's signs from the outside and I won't look in. I am definitely getting a trail cam very soon.

Who do you think might be using the house?

Well, that's it for now. Have a great week! And as always thanks for stopping in. Angie did a blog about our Christmas if anyone feels up for a bit more reading.