Wasps

 

Skeeters Making Baby Skeeters

 

A Coyote Says My Husband (I am not so sure)

This coyote (or red fox) was not far from the house yesterday morning. I took the pictures through the window and was not using a tripod, so I am surprised any of them came out at all, especially since we have a screen on the window and I shake a bit now when I hold the camera.

Not the best photos in the world, but I thought my readers might like to see a wild coyote (if that is what it is). This one was smaller than some I've seen around here. This one was about as big as a small collie, perhaps. It was really too close to the house for comfort. And before anyone asks, no, I did not shoot it except with the camera.

My husband says it is a young coyote, anyway. I tend to think it might be a fox.

Not a Cloud

 

This is not a cloud bank over the mountain - it is smoke from a controlled burn. The U.S. Forest Service is conducting numerous such burns in our area this spring. This one was on Potts Mountain. They are burning thousands of acres.

The smoke rolled into Alleghany from this fire, but the weekend before, the smoke from a burn on Caldwell Mountain nearly ran half of Botetourt out of the county, the smoke was so thick.

These kinds of prescribed burns are weather-dominated, as in, it must be not too dry, wet, or windy for the burn to happen.

After many years of fire exclusion, an ecosystem that needs periodic fire becomes unhealthy. Trees are stressed by overcrowding; fire-dependent species disappear; and flammable fuels build up and become hazardous. The right fire at the right place at the right time:

• Reduces hazardous fuels, protecting human communities from extreme fires;
• Minimizes the spread of pest insects and disease;
• Removes unwanted species that threaten species native to an ecosystem;
• Provides forage for game;
• Improves habitat for threatened and endangered species;
• Recycles nutrients back to the soil; and
• Promotes the growth of trees, wildflowers, and other plants;

The Forest Service manages prescribed fires and even some wildfires to benefit natural resources and reduce the risk of unwanted wildfires in the future. The agency also uses hand tools and machines to thin overgrown sites in preparation for the eventual return of fire.

I think controlled burning is appropriate. I don't like it when the smoke rolls in my direction, though, because it sets off my asthma.

Just one of those things to live with on occasion.

Squirrel of a Different Color

We've had a new squirrel turn up in the yard. He (or she) has a black face instead of the gray or brown we normally see. His tail is darker, too. Definitely different markings than the squirrels we usually see.

The Coyote

This coyote was sitting about 150 yards from my house Monday morning. That's a little close.

We hear them frequently at night, and last fall I saw one try to bring down a small deer very close to my house, too.

We've also lost a cow to a pack, and have to watch the calves when the cows are calving. They do go after the livestock.

They may look like dogs, but they are quite vicious.

The photos aren't very clear because I didn't have my tripod.

The Noise in the Garage

A few times over the last several days, I heard a noise in the garage.

I thought it was the wind, because the times I heard it, the wind was howling. This fall, we had removed trees that buffered the house. Things sound different now when the wind blows.

Today I came home from the chiropractor, and my husband, still non-weight bearing on one foot, met me at the door on his knee scooter.

"Did you see the dead squirrel in the garage when you left?"

Well, no. Obviously I hadn't, or I would have done something about it.

The dead squirrel was beneath my vehicle, at the drain. We're guessing it ran into the garage one day when I was either coming or going and had the garage door open.

So the noise I heard in the garage was really a noise, and not the wind.

I feel bad about the squirrel. It died of thirst, I am sure. There was no water source for it except the water in the drain, and it couldn't get to it. It also could have licked antifreeze or something from the garage floor, I suppose.

At any rate, it died an untimely death.

My husband learned of the squirrel when the USPS driver delivered packages. He stood at the kitchen door and asked the driver to place the packages inside the garage door, which I had left unlocked because I was expecting the delivery.

Since he's obviously incapacitated, she obliged.

Then she turned to him and said, "Did you know there is a dead squirrel in your garage?"

To which he replied, "No." Then he proceeded to wheel himself down the patio and into the garage, where he managed to get a snow shovel under the poor squirrel and give it a toss out into the yard.

That is where it was when I came home.

Later, the young firefighter who is helping us with feeding the cattle stopped by and obligingly removed the dead squirrel from the yard.

Moral of this story? Pay attention to the rustling sound in the corner.

It may not be the wind.

(Also pay more attention when you're raising and lowering the garage door!)

Skunked!

Birds and a Squirrel

Pileated Woodpecker

Robins

Squirrel

Squirrel



Wrens? Brown Thrasher? Not sure.

Squirrel Eating Celery

Yes, the squirrel was hanging upside down!

Night Critters

A while back I bought a little game camera and have been placing it in various spots around my house. To my dismay, the only "dear" it kept capturing was my husband doing various things in the yard.

So I stuck it in a corner behind some propane tanks where the weather wouldn't get to it and left it for a few days. While I still caught plenty of shots of my sweetie, I also found these:

Rabbit!

Cat!

Racoon!

Same racoon, but look at the rings on its tail.

Friends of a Different Kind

Nutty Squirrel

Praying Mantis

A Visit From Mr. Skunk

Early Saturday morning I had a visitor in the field. I shot these in low light, so they're not the best.

One thing I was intrigued by was the snake-like way the skunk moved about the field as it searched for grubs. It moved as if it had no bones, almost. The skunk was minding its own business, seeking breakfast, and I was far enough away not to bother it. Thank goodness for a long-lens camera!

We smell them occasionally but rarely see skunks, so I was pleased to get these photos.

Silly Rabbit

Buffalo

A big farm over in Paint Bank, VA raises buffalo, or American bison, as they are supposed to be called. We saw them when we drove by Sunday.

I'm not sure what a happy bison looks like, but these didn't look very happy to me. They are very large animals and apparently they are shedding (molting?) right now.

Squirrel in Snow

White (ish) Squirrel

Thursday Thirteen: Virginia Aquarium

We visited the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center while we were in Virginia Beach last week.

It's very hands-on facility, and while I am never a fan of seeing anything behind glass or in cages (the critters always look sad to me), it was an interesting afternoon. We saw birds, komodo dragons, snakes, sharks, sting rays, lots of different fishes, read about the geology of the area and the meteorite that supposedly landed in the Chesapeake area a very long time ago, and felt pieces of said rock (it was soft and slippery).

Here are some photos of our afternoon. I don't know the real names of the things we looked at.

Bright blue fish.

Yellow fish

Snouty fish.

Sad-looking blue and yellow fish.

A growing coral reef.

A sea turtle.

A striped old man fish.

A bird.

A yellow bird.

A komodo dragon.

Up close with the komodo dragon.

Pink fish.

________

 

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 523rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.