Living in the country as we do we see a variety of wildlife. We have possums, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, turkeys, and the occasional bear. Poor bears. They are being hunted once again this year. It’s too sad to even talk about.

A few weeks ago I looked out the window and saw a beautiful buck deer standing up by the top of our driveway, his rack of antlers held proudly. With a flick of his tail he was off up into our neighbor Kim’s yard. I see a small band of about five or six deer pretty often just outside the fenced part of our yard in the woods. The dogs just lie on the deck and watch them.

Lately we’ve had a mangy looking fox hanging around. I first saw him sitting in our driveway grooming himself like a cat. He looked up from his ritual and saw me watching him through the window. It was weird making direct eye contact with a fox. I went to grab the camera as quietly as I could but he ran off. Here’s the shot I got of him then.

Then the other day he was back again to take advantage of the bird seed and stale bread I had thrown out at the bird feeding area in the front yard for the squirrels (so they’ll leave my bird feeder and suet feeder in the back yard alone!). I think he must have mange although I have never seen it to identify it in a wild animal. He is scary looking! I do admire his black legs though. The rest is pretty darned ugly.

I’ve seen him down the road at neighbor Luke’s house too. A few years back I remember seeing another scroungy looking fox and I have to wonder if it’s the same one?

Another visitor to our yard and woods behind the house has been the pileated woodpecker. Every time I run for the camera he spooks and flies off to a different tree farther away. Do you remember when I was able to get photos of him a few years back? Follow this link to see them. We can hear him sometimes and don’t see him. When he flies he looks like no other bird: big black wings with a white streak. You don’t even notice his head until he lands. Twice in the past week I have caught him out of the corner of my eye in flight. He’s elusive that’s for sure.

I haven’t seen any cardinals for a long time. I wonder where they go? We are overrun with titmice, chickadees and white-breasted nuthatches. We have a few juncos now too and yesterday we saw a rosy finch.

The woodpeckers seem to really be taking off this year in numbers as well. We have downy woodpeckers and a red-bellied woodpecker that have always been visitors. But this year we also have the downy’s bigger cousin, the hairy woodpecker too. Here he is:

He looks just like a downy only considerably bigger.

Yesterday I looked out at the suet feeder and something about the bird on it didn’t look quite right to me. At first glance I thought it was a downy woodpecker, but it had a dark chest, not a white one. Hmmm. I got out the binoculars and saw that it had a red spot under the chin as well as one on top of its head. The markings around the eye were different too. Off to get the bird identification book! I am proud to present our very first Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker!

The light was not good since it was late in the afternoon but I think the shot is decent enough to see the bird fairly well. I hope he comes back!

We didn’t have any acorns from the oaks this year. It’s odd, but I guess they do have years when they don’t produce. Maybe that has something to do with the increase of woodpecker activity? Maybe they produce more sap when they don’t produce acorns?

I like having all my back and front yard buddies around. Well, maybe not so much that fox ...

I hope you enjoy your day and your Thanksgiving feast today, not matter what you choose to eat! “My” turkeys showed up this morning for their Thanksgiving feast! Aren’t they cute?

I am at a loss for blogging at the moment, so I would like to redirect you to hubby Rick’s site and his stunning photo of an immature bald eagle we saw on our walk two weeks ago near Monksville, Reservoir.
Follow this link.

Yesterday afternoon I was walking into the office and this caught my eye out the window.

When I first saw it out of the corner of my eye I thought: owl. No, not an owl. A hawk. Quite a large one, too. Waiting for some unsuspecting little bird to come down to the bird feeding area. Take a closer look:

I got out the normal bird book and nothing matched. Hawks are really hard to identify since they can have different plumage at different times of year, whether or not they are immature or adult, male or female of the species. So, I turned to my Peterson’s Field Guide for Hawks and I believe I can property identify this one as a Cooper’s Hawk. Immature and most likely a male.

Here it compares three hawks to one another: the Cooper’s Hawk is in the middle (immature and female.) The call-outs are what identifies this hawk in particular. And they match! It calls attention to the white tip on the rounded tail; the square appearing head. Also important in identification is the eye color. And, if you’re trying to identify any bird, make sure the map shows it living in your area before you go any further!

Now why would I have a field guide dedicated to only hawks you might ask? Well, many years ago while living in Ft. Collins I took a class on Raptors through the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program. (Raptor is just another term used to described “birds of prey.”)  They used to be an extension of CSU, but now I think they are on their own. They rehabilitate injured hawks (and other raptors) and, when they can, release them back in to the wild. Some are not releasable and they live out their lives at the center.

It was a fascinating course! I had thought I would volunteer at the center feeding the birds but I just couldn’t bring myself to chop up mice!

If you don’t believe that these birds are the descendants of dinosaurs, I urge you to watch this video link below which includes incredible footage of a Harpy Eagle and you will see what I mean. Look at the sharp beak made for ripping and tearing, the huge talons, the eyes. This video clip lasts about six minutes and has other things of interest too. All shot with a Phantom HD camera (or course!) The Harpy appears at about 2:20 in to the video. If you’ve never seen one, please watch. Such a beautiful creature, but very prehistoric looking. They are also the national bird of Panama, and no I didn’t see one when we were there!

Harpy Eagle

This is Thomas. Thomas is a turkey and named with the utmost originality. He is a tom turkey. Get it?

We have many turkeys that visit but Thomas always comes on his own. He usually arrives in the morning just as I am sitting at the computer with cup of coffee checking email. He stands there and stares at the house. Sometimes he even comes up closer to the window to catch my attention as if to say helloooooo! i’m here for my breakfast! And, it works. I get my bucket and put a few scoops of cracked corn and bird seed mix and head out the door.

Thomas trusts me and stands and waits for me to scatter the food. I tap the bucket lightly as a signal he’s going to be fed. He waits patiently. Sometimes he starts eating with me still standing there and sometimes he waits until I leave.

Now I am not saying that I have trained Thomas the Turkey because no wild animal can be tamed, but Thomas has learned over time that tapping the bucket means food. The other turkeys know that signal too and sometimes even when not one turkey is in sight and I tap the bucket, I get a swarm of them coming out of the woods running towards me. It is a sight for sure to see all 13 babies and three or four adults heading right for me! They are smart birds.

Lately our little group has included a few toms, one that is quite large. I didn’t know that toms could be persuaded to be babysitters, but just look at this proof.

They are fun to have around except for when they make their way into the back yard and I unknowingly let the dogs out. The dogs love to chase the turkeys and the poor things squawk and gobble their way out of harm’s way, either by flying into the trees or taking off over the fence. Hailey can sit for hours under a tree with a turkey sitting in it. They amuse everyone in our household.