Wildlife in Abundance

[eggcentric]

Great picture, that's exactly what we saw!  If they're standing still you would never see them in the marsh grasses.  They make the most interesting sound; like a drop of water.

[eggcentric]

Aaaaargh!  Just got chickens, cats, dogs, and kids trained to stay out of the garden only to find little itty bitty handlike prints in a muddy spot beside the tomatoes...Racoons!

Anyone have any experience with racoons/vegetable gardens?  I always cut up orange rind and throw it in to deter the cats; wondering if that works with coons too.  I know they'll grab the corn when its ripe, but what else do they like to dig up?

The worst part is that where there is one, there are more...

[Rachel J]

This morning I just found 2 of my strawberry plants neatly pulled up and the whole where they'd been pulled from dug nice and deep - no footprints to identify what it was so my guess was probably a raccoon too. No idea what will deter them I'm afraid, buy my 6 foot high walled garden will hopefully do the trick 

[eggcentric]

We may both be wrong...the culprit in both of our gardens may be the same visitor you spotted last week; a porcupine.
I also had a very neat, deep hole in the soft earth between my tomato plants...no sign of feces, no urine smell so maybe looking for some grubs, nightcrawlers, or slugs?
The footprint I saw had only 4 fingers, I've found out since that racoons have 5.
If you want to get a good set of prints, wet down the walkway around the area in the evening and check first thing in the morning.
The bad news is that either porcupine or racoon, they both can climb your wall!
Perhaps not appropriate parlour conversation...my solution to all critter invaders is to make pots of tea when my hubby is home and make him "mark" the perimeter with urine. (Credits on that to well known explorer/author Farley Mowat, who kept the arctic predators out of his camp this way.)

[eggcentric]

For those of you from 'away'...
The European Starling was imported to North America by a Shakespearean zealot named Eugene Scheifflin in 1890.  The tens of millions of starlings on our continent today are descended from only 100 birds he released in New York City's Central Park as part of his romantic quest to transplant all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's works to the New World.
Though strikingly handsome, much like my husband, the Starling is well considered a nuisance.
It is their habit to oust other birds from their traditional nesting sites; woodpeckers, purple martins, and bluebirds being especially vulnerable.
Farmers and gardeners despise the starling as they travel unmolested by predators in the safety of large groups, voraciously consumings field crops and livestock feed; what they don't eat is often fouled by their droppings.
The best known natural deterrent for this pest is the kestrel, which easily picks them off in the air because of its superior speed capabilities.
Though the negative habits of this species are what it is most remembered for, much like my husband it does have some uses.
They do eat flies and other insects in abundant quantity, and are brilliant vocal mimics.

For more interesting facts, or to hear audio of their calls, follow this link to the Cornell Ornithology Lab site:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/European_Starling/id

[eggcentric]

Tree Swallow

I haven't seen these yet this spring, usually late April or early May.
There is a good reason to call these 'swallows', because that's what they do!  These gorgeous little iridescent teal birds eat tons of mosquitoes and other flying insects in amazing acrobatic antics. 
We call ours 'The Squadron' since they swoop and pivot and roll like the Red Baron on maneuvers.
Cornell has a nest cam on some of these, check it out by following this link:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tree_Swallow/id

[eggcentric]

This is one of my favorite natives. 
I often see our local male grouse at supper time marching across our field, as if he were on his way home from work.  A few times I have caught him peeking at me as I was walking through the woods, the first time this happened I thought he was one of our dark cornish roosters following me.  We actually seldom see them, maybe once or twice a year, out in the open; but always in the same places.  The best was the time he came out by the garden to check out our hens, they look so much like his kind that he must of thought he hit the mating jackpot...20 or more females in one spot!  The roosters escorted him back to the woods.
Another surprising appearance was two pairs that came out last year, in the worst, coldest, iciest week of the winter, to forage at the very tops of the 50' birches.  The snow was so deep and crusted they were desperate for food, and so they worked their way from tree to tree all the way around the yard eating the buds off the trees.
An interesting fact about grouse is that they actually grow protrusions on their feet in the winter so they can snowshoe!

For more info, follow this link:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruffed_Grouse/lifehistory