Random Sightings Lately

I figure I am due for a post of mostly photographs, random stuff I've encountered the last few weeks either at home or on a walk with or without Angie. Even as I start this, I'm not sure what I'm going to share. Busy days, humid days, my mind is usually consumed in the now and not the past. So this will be fun for me too!

A cool find one Sunday walk a few weeks back thanks to Eagle-eye Angie was this Snowberry Clearwing Moth. We'd never seen one before and initially thought it was a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth that we see so many others post photos of. Thanks to our bud Joanne, she took a moment and gave us the proper ID on this creature.

A week later we did luck out and see a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth at our friend Barbara's place.

While we don't really keep life lists of insects, we know both of these were lifers for us. We do have it in our heads to start lists of Butterflies, Dragonflies and other things.

The main reason we were visiting our friend Barb was to pick up a Cecropia Caterpillar, which we hope to raise to it's moth stage. He's named Heimlich, like the caterpillar from A Bug's Life. Angie did a great blog about our new house guest, see here.

I'm finally seeing an Opossum again. Not every night, but at least once a week.

Our new Squirrel friend, Ripper, is a riot. He certainly knows how to make the whole Pigeon flock angry all at once.

Bear disappeared for over 2 weeks and then suddenly returned.

This was the first time I have ever seen him in a tree. Silly that I wondered if the old boy could climb or not but until this time I always saw him on the ground, and often laying down to eat.

A couple nights later, there he was again. He likes the spot down back, just over the fence behind a couple neighbour's sheds. One of them has a habit of not securing their trash bin and he takes full advantage of that.

The new Raccoon family, mom with three young, is fun to see. Of course there's always one kid who is bolder than the rest.

My whisky Wednesdays have been a little more entertaining, if I can cover up and brave the mosquitoes plus the humidity.

I see him a lot. There was a week I was concerned about him being on his own, and not seeing his family. It seems he's quite the wanderer and eventually the rest of the family do catch up, as I discovered when staying up and outside for longer periods.

I've spotted a 2nd family recently. This one is a mother with three young as well. These kids are smaller. Young Raccoons, what's not to love?

No shortage of Skunks this year. A couple very large ones roam around, there's been two wee little ones I've seen side by side, and one of the Toppers still comes around.

One of the kids peeking out from under the lattas. All the night critters know the secret passages under the shed and deck.

We have at least 4 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds visiting our feeders nowadays. It's hard to believe that in another month or so and they will be gone again until next year.

A Cooper's Hawk has been hunting our backyard. This is nothing new but a few weeks earlier than when we normally start to see this Hawk species pass through on migration and then we end up with one or two that stick around for the winter.

Now away from the backyard, here are some lovelies spending the Summer in Toronto.

There's a family of American Kestrels near us. Such a treat to see the prettiest Falcon we have in Toronto! They are a declining species so this encounter touched my heart.

Belted Kingfishers are fun to watch as they hunt the lake and rivers.

Black-crowned Night Heron. We saw a pair this particular morning.

A mammal sighting we don't get in our backyard... White-tailed Deer. This is the first one I've seen all Summer. A peaceful early morning encounter for us.

I've not seen many spiders this Summer, which is disappointing. Other than a couple very small jumping spiders, I have found one Cross Orbweaver. It was something to watch this one work on it's web one night.

Lastly, we spotted this cool looking caterpillar. We think it's a Virginian Tiger Moth.

We let him be, to do his thing. Some researching since, here is the moth this little beast could turn into. Wow! If the ID is incorrect on this one, please let me know.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, here are some wise words from one of our backyard Squirrels. Cheers!

Little Bits B4 the Long Weekend

Good day! Is it just me or is this one blazing hot summer in Ontario? Apparently not as this has been floating around social media...

Where I work, the building (warehouse) has no A/C and with all the propane forklifts driving around, plus all the machinery making our products, it's almost unbearable and exhausting some days the last number of weeks. When the work day is done, I don't want to do anything, even sitting in the A/C house and blogging. As much as I have wanted to be lazy, a lot of the time I am not, and cannot.

The Skunk hunt continues although I've decided to not put the trap out until I really start seeing him again, and not just a tail fleeing the yard in the dark. That blog is here. I've caught a number of other birds and animals in the trap. The most "interesting" to extract has been the Opossum. A big creature who barely fit in the trap but did manage to squeeze himself in for the ice cream. Ice cream?!?! Yes, I figure if the Skunk had a hankering for a McFlurry, then baiting him with some ice cream seemed like a good idea. But the 'Possum got to it first.

When I opened the trap, the 'Possum didn't do a thing. I thought perhaps he was stuck and needed some help. I was not about to try and pull him out with my bare hands though, even by his tail. I held the trap above ground, with the opening facing the ground. I shook the trap for a number of minutes before he finally started to slide out... very slowly. It was like trying to get thick ketchup out of the bottle. Finally his weight pulled him out with my shaking. No lie, the animal dropped at my feet. He lay there on top of my feet, looking up at me, for at least a minute before he finally scurried off for safety under the shed.

The Raccoons are having a blast with the trap because they know some good food is within. Momma knows how to get the grub out without getting trapped. The kids love to monkey with the trap, push it around, trigger it and even risk going in, getting trapped, just so they can have the food. I've released them and they quickly run off to a waiting mother nearby.

Nothing but trouble these young'uns are but we love them and they add to our summer.

The other morning I found one stuck in our garbage bin. They are at that age where they are exploring the 'hood and quickly learn good things to snack on can be found in the bins. We rinse our containers and we separate our trash but they still go in on occasion. Lucky for him it was me who found him! He was also lucky to be inside here while we experienced one very intense long lasting thunderstorm. It may have been hot in there but at least he stayed safe and dry.

He sure was happy to get out! To do this, I slowly and gently lower the bin on it's side, and I back away, letting him come out on his own.

I watched him race off home, which is at the very back of our property.

Mom was waiting for him.

I wonder what our furry neighbours think of me? They see me daily, early morning and after dark. I say nothing to them, just do what I'm doing, which is often sitting quiet and still. I make use of sitting by the shed, and set up a little barrier with a cinder block. They come around the corner and look at me. The block seems to be a border and they feel safe with it there, separating us. Of course I see photo ops with this.

No wonder people post Raccoon things on my Facebook wall, eh?

I've been keeping busy with Toronto Wildlife this summer but that's for another blog.

And I guess the biggest news of late is our pal Pierre the Pigeon celebrated his 4 year anniversary of coming to visit us on July 21st. I know not everyone is big on Pigeons, often calling them flying rats or even worse. But come on, this bird deserves some love and respect. He is a survivor! How many of his flock I have seen become Hawk food, get carried off by some free roaming cat or just not come back for one reason or another (none of them good). Sure he gets a good meal from me but other than that, there's nothing else I can do for him, I can't protect him from all the danger out there with predators, Pigeon haters, sickness and so on.

Pierre July 2016

The first day we met back in July 2012

A bitter cold winter day where it was in the -30's with the wind chill

I made this on his 2 year anniversary with us

A birding bud whom we've not yet met created this.  Thanks Jeff, still makes me laugh!

Thanks for stopping in, thanks for not giving up on me and my blog! Have a great long weekend, if you have one. Cheers!

I posted this on social media not too long ago, and I guess it is good for here too.