Whistle Pig

We have groundhogs living under the outbuilding not far from the house.

Sometimes they come up to the patio.

I am not supposed to like them, because the holes they leave behind are dangerous to cattle and such, but I think they're kind of cute. 

Look at those little, tiny ears.

They may be small, but they must hear very well. Groundhogs take off fast when they get the slightest notion of danger. I have watched them zoom away on countless occasions.

This one must have been very involved in eating the clover around the patio because I was able to get these shots without it running off.

My husband calls them whistle pigs sometimes. I don't know why, exactly, except that if you can do a loud whistle, they will stand up and look at you.

I can whistle, but not as well as I used to, so I haven't tried to whistle at a groundhog in a long time.

My National Audubon Southeastern Field Guide says that groundhogs are formally called "woodchucks," although we've never called them that. We've always called them groundhogs.

The book also says they are in the squirrel family, and while I've seen one grab hold of a tree trunk and cling there, I've never seen one actually up in a tree. 

These animals are vegetarian and usually I see them eat grass and clover during the warmer months. They stay mostly in their burrows from November through March.

I guess the best-known groundhog is the one in Pennsylvania that's supposed to tell the weather.

Mine, I think, are just quiet, sweet pests and they don't have much to say about the forecast.

Eastern Box Turtle

As best I can tell, this little critter is an Eastern box turtle. It decided to take a tour of the driveway early one morning.

This is only the second time since we moved in 39 years ago that I've seen a turtle of any kind up here at the house, although we have snapping turtles down at the pond.

The eastern box turtle (terrapene carolina) is one of those small, steady creatures that quietly goes about its business in Virginia’s woods and pastures, never in a hurry or asking much of anyone. They’re long‑lived, stubborn in their routines, and oddly endearing. They are mainly terrestrial and will soak in mud or very shallow water, something we've not had much of here lately with our drought.

My husband thought the small reptile might have been drawn toward the house by the water from the hose where we had watered the flowers the night before.

I used a zoom on the camera to keep from scaring it and making it go into its shell.

The Eagle Has Landed

Several years ago, I started watching a pair of eagles in Big Bear Park in California on their live cam feed.

The eagles were named Jackie and Shadow. They had bad luck with their eggs the first year I watched, with no eggs hatching. Last year they had three chicks hatch out, but one died during a severe snowstorm. Those two chicks were named Sunny and Gizmo.

This year they raised two chicks, Sandy and Luna.

About the time the two young hatchlings were ready to begin their journey away from the nest, Jackie disappeared. Shadow kept feeding his young for a few days and then they disappeared from the camera view.

And someone found a sick eagle not far from the nest area. The Friends of Big Bear soon identified the eagle as Jackie, who was last seen on the cam on July 23. The eagle was taken to the Ojai Raptor Center for care.

Today, the Friends of Big Bear notified everyone via Facebook that Jackie had passed away:

The Ojai Raptor Center

Patient Update: Bald Eagle 26-519

It is with profound sadness that we share that Patient 26-519 passed away in the early hours of this morning, following more than three weeks of intensive medical care.

Over the past several days, her condition continued to deteriorate despite intensive treatment and the combined efforts of our veterinary team and consulting specialists. She remained critically ill, receiving oxygen therapy, supportive treatment, and around-the-clock monitoring in our intensive care unit.

. . . Her remains have been transferred into the care of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

We know this news will be deeply felt by the many thousands of people around the world who have followed her journey, hoped alongside us, prayed for her, and supported the people caring for her.

. . . We ask for patience and kindness as our staff process this loss. We are working closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and will provide a more comprehensive statement including additional information on her treatments and test results.

I admit I was expecting this, given the previous updates about Jackie's condition. Hopefully there will be a report as to what it was that actually caused the eagle we came to know as Jackie to pass away.

This cam has become world famous for these two eagles. They've had media coverage about their offspring and efforts to raise chicks. Jackie sat through something like a 42-hour snowstorm once, covering the eggs to ensure they stayed warm.

Raised as I was in a rural setting, and still living in one, I am aware of the circle and cycles of life. Some animals mate for life, others do not. I try not to become attached to the wildlife around me - squirrels, deer, raccoons, etc. because I know it will eventually make my heart hurt. It's hard to watch a bunny day after day only to one day see it devoured by a fox, after all.

This past year I continued to check in on Jackie and Shadow's world. They were fascinating to watch. I enjoyed learning how eagles sound - nothing like hawks and frankly some of the sounds we hear on TV that are supposed to be eagle screams actually aren't - and they could be incredibly careful with one another, and with their eggs. I personally found it amazing to watch the big feet of the eagles around those tiny eggs. How they kept from stepping on them is beyond me.

The commenters on Facebook are wondering now what will happen with Shadow. Will he grieve? Will he find another mate? Will some other eagle pair take over the nest? Nobody knows. I wonder how long the Friends of Big Bear will leave up a camera at a nest that is empty, if it is not claimed during the next cycle of brooding for eagles. 

School children have been watching this pair of eagles, too, and will learn a hard lesson about life when they come back to learn that Jackie and Shadow are no longer a pair, and that Jackie has perished. I hope the teachers have the proper things to say when they are asked.

Farewell to Jackie, the queen eagle of Big Bear, thought to be the first successful hatchling there after many years of no eagles in that area. She reigned for 14 years.

A capture from the cam of Jackie & Shadow
in better days.

The Coyote

The coyote two-stepped across the knoll, her dark lithe body visible in the dusk. She was a big animal, large-dog sized.

I had heard the coyotes howling late in the evening the night before, a lonesome spine-tingling moan that made me shiver.

We had been to check the cows because the bawling from one had reached us across the evening quiet. An escape attempt by the animals earlier that day had probably resulted in a mix-up between a momma and a calf, we thought, so we hopped in the truck to make it right.

The coyote was a long way off; that is how we knew she was big. She was easy to see, dancing there, moving about the newly mown field.  Chasing a mouse, perhaps.  We eased the truck to a stop and killed the engine.

Before us, the alfalfa field was filled with deer.  A doe with a fawn.  A small buck with the velvet covering his antlers, making the little prongs look huge. We had enough daylight to make out the details. I could still see the spots on the little fawn. It and the coyote looked to be the same size.

Darkness was falling quickly. My husband considered taking a shot at the coyote. We’d lost a newborn calf a few weeks ago. A coyote seemed as likely a culprit as vultures. My Audubon book says they eat small mammals; newborn calves would qualify.

But he lost the shot as the twilight grew heavy and the night fell closer. His gun echoed across the farm as he missed. The coyote took off, as did the deer, their white tails waving goodbye to us as they jumped a fence and raced for the woods. I pulled my hands from my ears.

One thousand and one fireflies blinked around me, their light twinkling like stars fallen from the sky. In the distance, the train going toward the cement plant raced clackety-clack over the rails, and then her whistle let out a long moan. Unlike the coyote’s call, the train’s howl left me feeling sad, not shaken.

The night was alive with sound, now. Tree frogs, crickets.  Not long after the gunshot blast, I heard a faint “who-who” as an owl called from far away. Tires from a truck on the road behind us hummed a tuneless song that crescendoed as the vehicle sped by.

My husband turned the key to start the truck and take us back home. Once there, I sat out on the deck and lulled the night to silence with my guitar. I let the last note of Scarborough Fair linger, its sound meshing in with the calls of the frogs, and then surprisingly, the howl of a coyote.

 

A version of this was published in 2004 in The Fincastle Herald.

The Bobcat

On Thursday, April 9, as I was putting away groceries, I saw the groundhog come out of his hole under the shed behind the house. I kept glancing at him, and then he disappeared.

The groundhog, not yet under siege.

Then I saw this thing up against the shed. I thought, is that the groundhog? And I stopped what I was doing and peered out the window. 

That's some kind of cat, I thought. And it sat there and it sat there and I got my cell phone and tried to take a picture but of course it captured mostly screen in the window. So, I went out to the garage door where there are no screens, and I took a picture. I looked at the ears and I said aloud, "That is a bobcat! Oh damn, where is my camera?"

I raced into my office and got the camera off the charger, threw it on my tripod, and went back out into the garage. By then the cat had moved in front of the shed.

I tracked him, trying to zoom in and click. I really wanted to get him in full body because of the tail, so my husband couldn't say, "Oh, it was just somebody's house cat."

It was a magnificent looking animal, just sort of investigating the area. It looked in my flower cart that lies sideways so it doesn't trap the rain, and it went around a tree. 

Investigating the flower cart.

I thought I had lost it, but then its head poked around the oak. I got a great picture of that.

Hello there!

Then it came on out and I got a wonderful full body shot of it.

I was so excited I was yelling, "Siri, call James on speaker phone" and when he finally picked up - he was visiting with his mother - I yelled, "There's a bobcat in the backyard, it's down where the ash tree was now, it's heading toward Lanetta's, oh it's in the field, I can't see it anymore." 

And I sent him a picture and he was pretty excited, too.

That's the first time we've ever seen a bobcat here.

Deer, Raccoons, and a Coyote

We have a game camera about 20 feet away from the back door. I like looking at the night photos to see what comes around that I don't see. Recently, I've picked up a little buck, a coyote, and raccoons. I had no idea the coyotes came so close to the house.

A little buck

Coyote

Coyote

 

Raccoons

Regina Raccoon & Tom Turkey

 

It's unusual to see raccoons out during the day - except this time of year
 when they've had kits.

Tom found himself a girlfriend!

He put on quite a show for her.

I don't know if he was successful or not.

Not a Kitty Cat

This morning, as I set about to drink my hot water and read the news online, I glanced out the window.

The pasture to my left was full of does. I watched them, and they started acting a little skittish. It's the rutting season, or near the end of it, anyway, so I thought perhaps there was a buck coming toward the does. They can get a little weird if they're not in the mood when a buck comes around.

I called to my husband to come and look at the deer out the bedroom window, and I got up and went in there myself.

The deer were indeed acting strangely. To my surprise, I saw this huge hulking cat-looking thing standing up like a cat might do if attacked as a doe approached it. The doe was going after it. I've seen does pounce on other animals before, and it isn't pretty. Once I saw a doe stomp on a neighbor's cat before I could get outside to scare the deer and save the pet. The cat didn't die, at least, not then - it ran like crazy for home and I never saw it again.

The cat I saw this morning had a large head with pointed ears and a short tail with a touch of white on it. The light was low due to the early hour and clouds, so the animal looked dark. It was as big as a large racoon, but this was no racoon.

My husband arrived at the window just as the animal sprinted toward the woods.

"That was a bob cat," I said.

"Either that or a really big feral cat," my husband replied. But I am sure it was a bobcat.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture. This is the first time we've seen a bobcat on the farm. I saw one when I was young on my father's farm, but I haven't seen one since.

A bobcat (Lynx rufus) has a distinctive appearance and is generally solitary in nature. It is a medium-sized wildcat, typically weighing between 14 to 40 pounds, with males generally being larger than females. It has a short, "bobbed" tail, from which it gets its name, and its coat varies from tan to grayish-brown with black streaks and spots that provide excellent camouflage in its natural habitat. The bobcat's ears are black-tipped with short tufts, and its face appears wide due to ruffs of extended hair beneath the ears.

That's almost exactly what I saw before the animal ran for the woods.

Bobcats are highly adaptable and can thrive in a variety of environments, including deciduous and coniferous forests, swamps, and even urban edges. In Virginia, they are commonly found in the Appalachian Mountains (that's where I am) and the dense forests of the Piedmont region.

They primarily hunt small mammals such as rabbits, hares, and rodents. They are also known to prey on birds, insects, and occasionally larger animals like deer. Bobcats employ a stalking and ambushing technique, using their keen senses of hearing and vision to locate prey before pouncing with precision. Their diet varies based on the availability of prey in different seasons and habitats.

It was amazing to see a bobcat outside of my window. I hope I see it again - with a camera in my hand, this time.

Look, Squirrel!

I think we have an addict on our hands. This squirrel is out on this stump, licking at it, almost constantly.

Back in the fall, I placed a maple-flavored deer mineral tablet on this stump in the back yard. The deer ignored it as best I could tell, and I forgot about it. It disintegrated from time, sun, and rain.

This squirrel seems to be completely addicted to what I assume are the remnants of this mineral tablet. It is there every morning when I get up. It's there whenever I look out the kitchen window.

I hope whatever it is, it is good for squirrels.

Common Whitetail Dragonfly

I saw this critter out on the patio the other morning and snapped some photos. My guidebook says it is a common whitetail dragonfly. I don't know what it was doing at my house, since we've no ponds or standing water in the yard, but with the drought who knows what is flying where.

It was interesting to watch its little head bobbing up and down while I was shooting photos.

Raccoon

This raccoon popped up in the field in front of the house yesterday. I took loads of photos of her (I'd bet the house that this is a mother raccoon looking for food because her kits are making her thin) but these two were the best.

I don't generally see these animals in the daytime so this was a treat. She wasn't acting like anything other than a hungry animal, digging up grubs in the ground, so I felt sure she was ok.

She even hung out with the deer for a bit.

Deer at the top, raccoon at the bottom.

The Hawk, the Squirrel, the Fox, and the Deer

I was on the phone when I glanced out the window and watched a hawk land on a tree across the way. Next thing I knew, the hawk was chasing a squirrel, its wings flapping, head bobbing as the bird tried to grab the furry little thing in its talons. The squirrel ran in circles around the tree, it's fluffy tail wagging behind it like a flag. It raced to the back of the tree, and I lost sight of it.

So did the hawk. With its prey gone, it flew off, and I turned my attention back to my conversation.

Then I looked out the window again and saw a fox trotting across the pasture, not far from where the hawk had just been defeated by the squirrel. A mother fox with kits, I guessed, since she was out in the middle of the day. She didn't look rabid or anything. She was just going about her business, doing fox things in a fox way. 

I had to tell the person on the phone what I was seeing, because I don't see foxes very often and this was rather exciting. Fortunately, my caller is a nature lover, too, and understood my enthusiasm. But not enough for me to hang up the phone and find a camera. The fox would have been long gone, anyway.

Not long after the fox went by, I saw a small herd of deer wandering up from the creek, heading into the same pasture the fox has just vacated.

The deer were in no hurry, and I watched them simply flop down beneath the oak trees, sunning themselves in the warmth of the day.

They were still there when I ended my call. I grabbed the camera. They weren't a fox or a hawk, but they remained, still resting and soaking in the sun, and the other animals had vanished.

This is what I love about my life. Where else could I have such a view, and see such things on a warm spring day?

Deer just hanging out in the sunshine.

A Brown Raccoon

I grabbed these photos last week, in the middle of the day. I know raccoons are having babies now, so I assume this is a mom in need of grub to keep the kits fed.

The distance to the deer was amazing. She walked very close to them as they lay in the field.

The coloring also confused me. At first, I thought it was a groundhog, then I saw the long tail and the masked face. Raccoons are usually gray. I've never seen a brown one before.

Bugs

 

This is a moth, but I don't know what kind. I can't find anything like it in my guide book. It may be a Dark Arches Moth, as the closest I can find.

True katydid

The Groundhog

This groundhog lives under our outbuilding. He is eating acorns that have fallen onto the trailer, fattening himself up for winter.

Groundhogs are also called woodchucks in some places, among other names like whistlepig, etc.

The holes they leave in the fields can break a cow's leg. Or a person's.

Free Range Zoo

Last week, we took a drive up the road a bit to visit a drive-thru zoo. I am not a fan of zoos, but this was allegedly an open zoo with the animals roaming about on 180 acres. While that may sound like a lot of land, it is not. Not for as many animals as they had in there.

The safari place sells buckets of food, too, and you are supposed to feed the animals from your car. This means the animals are conditioned to think that car equals food. Most of the animals hang out at the entrance of the park, because obviously by the time you get to the middle or the end, you've given out all of your food.

I found it terrifying to have the car suddenly engulfed by a slew of domesticated wild animals. I still have llama slobber on my car window, my repayment for not purchasing the bucket of food.

The following pictures were taken through the car windows, so there is some glare and reflection.

This is what greets you when you drive over the cattle guard and into the safari area.

They don't like unopened windows. Yikes. This is a llama.

These are either fallow deer or axis deer. I am not sure which.

When I saw this, all I could think of was hakuna matata, from The Lion King. However, the guidebook doesn't say they have wart hogs. This may be a kune kune pig from New Zealand.

I think this is an eland, which hails from Africa.

This may be an elk.

I am not sure whether this is a blackbuck from India or a scimitar horned oryx from North Africa.

Some kind of deer. Fallow deer, maybe.

The little axis deer are very small. They came from India. There were a lot of them.

More deer.

Notice the field. There is little grass there for the animals to eat.

This is a blackbuck, which comes from India.

I think this was another elk.

They don't mind getting close.

These were resting a little distance from the car. I think they're elk.

Elk, I guess.

They had several white animals. In the wild, when we see albino deer on the farm, it generally means the herd is too large and there has been too much inbreeding.

This is an axis deer from India.

I think I liked the zebra the best. This is a "Grant's zebra' from West Africa and/or Zimbabwe.

This bird was huge. Ostrich, I think.

This was further into the park. The animals all came running toward the vehicles. Note again the lack of grass in the fields.

A kune kune pig from New Zealand.

A llama who is figuring out it should have gone to the front gate, I suspect.

You could see the giraffes but they were in a different fenced-in area and so they did not come near the car.

A fallow deer. They are found in Europe and Asia.

The farewell team of llamas.

We probably won't go back. We both thought the animals looked listless and sad. We know how many cattle we can run on the pastures of our farm, and it's not anywhere close to the number of animals on this small acreage. The organization feeds hay and there appeared to be a steady stream of cars behind us with the animal food, but this is not what I consider fun. It was a nice outing with my husband as far as that goes, but animals like these need to be roaming free. At the least, the herds of small deer and llamas need to be thinned out. There were too many ostriches, too.