Local wildlife

[Karen]

It has been a banner week for local wildlife sightings - Sunday, I saw a Painted Turtle in the street near my mum-in-law's, so I stopped my car and "herded" her over to the grass, toward the river. On the way home, a young turkey - maybe one of last year's chicks, crossed the street in front of me. Then yesterday, Paul thought he heard the neighbor, afterwards realized it was Mama Turkey with 9-12 little chicks all going this way and that, they were in our yard from almost an hour all told. Then today, I was talking with a neighbor, and a very young chipmunk dashed past us and across the street under a car, and then when I went up the hill to the kitchen door, it must have been a sibling chipmunk dashed off the other way. They were about half the mass of an adult chippie, but almost as long, and their fur colors were quite rich.

No pictures of any of this, wild critters don't hold still for photo ops, and most of the time the turkeys were in our yard they were in the shrubs and lilacs, so you wouldn't have seen much had Paul managed a picture.

[cassiesmom]

Wow! Nothing that interesting around here. Just a lot of possums and raccoons, and the occasional deer. My brother and sister-in-law had a fox in their yard one afternoon. They thought it was a cat, but by the time they realized it was a fox and grabbed the camera, it was gone.

The deer worry me. They blend in so well with the trees, and they move so fast. Every now and again I'll see one (or more) dart across the street, especially near the creek or the forest preserve. Striking a deer is the last thing anyone wants who lives around here, but there seem to be more deer around every year. I just go a little slower at night and try to watch for them.

[Cinder & Smoke]

The Wildlife Herders ...

TheThree Amigos - Cinder, SmokeMutt, and Mini~Mutt (Heidi) all think
it's Great Sport to come bounding off the front porch at full gallop and
charge the morning clutch of Canadian Geese who wander out of the Pond
to forage in the grass. ...
NEETO!! - Phunn, Phunn, Phunn ... let's catch us a GOOSE!

Same outcome every day ...
Dogs wait til about 50 feet away, then BARK their arrival.
The GEESE spot to dogs at 200 feet, SQUALK Loudly, and fluter, flop, run, dash
in a panic back onto the pond. Feathers are *ruffled*, but none are lost.
The Geese *fuss* on the water for an hour, Zipp, Zopp, & Mini *strut*
around the pond acting *superior*. And they'll all do it again tomorrow ...

Tomorrow came today ...
The Drill started normally ...
EXCEPT:
The Protectives failed to notice the Senior Goose had broken ranks and
was chopmin bugs WAAY up by the lamp post ... outta sight!

The Dogs did a formation Charge; the Goose Gang Squalked, Fluttered & Fled ...
Brakes were applied (one does NOT wanna get TOO close to a mad goose!)
as the Dogs pulled up inches from the water.

*ZOOOOM* went the Head Goose ... he had a nice head of steam built up
from his start down the hill and pond bank ... he was covering a good
6 feet with every leaping bound ...

Dog Memo: WATCH your rear!!

Big Goose selected SmokeMutt ... reached out and *NAILED* him on the Butt!
Smokey let out a blood-curdling **YELP** and beat-feet around the house;
Cinder got a snap from BigGoose that missed by an inch; she gave him a
couple air-snaps before she fled back to the porch;
Heidi went into Panic Mode and ran faster than her lil legs would allow ---
thankfully the front door was open - she'd have never stopped in time to *knock**!

Big Goose was a LOT more vocal on the pond than normal ...war stories, I'd guess.

I checked Smokey & Cinder for battle wounds ... not marks found.
Smokey kept looking like he tought his tail was missing.

And the Phunn continues ...

:D

[RICHARD]

No pictures of any of this, wild critters don't hold still for photo ops, and most of the time the turkeys were in our yard they were in the shrubs and lilacs, so you wouldn't have seen much had Paul managed a picture.

Sports Setting!!!!!


I heard that you can photograph any animals that will not stand still if you use the sports setting on a camera.;)

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What a great neighborhood!

I am jealous.:)

[Laura's Babies]

All I see are lizzards around here and squirrels. There are lots of squirrels and I love watching them. I sometimes even stop and talk to them and they just look at me like I am crazy.

[Catherinedana]

A woodpecker landed on my feeder this morning. . . :D