More wascally folken

... a continuation of the last post!

This is Buckwheat. This little yearling always shows up by himself and seems unconcerned with our presence even on the deck ... IF ... we don't overtly look at him. He's become a fixture beneath the bird feeder and at the water trough.

These belong to our Carolina Wren. The nest is burrowed into the succulent pot hanging on the laundry room porch wall. I've now got to figure a way to keep my murderous felines from getting close once the eggs hatch and the babies create a commotion. The Wrens have already built a second nest in the hanging pot on the front porch as well. We are assuming they will occupy that one next - reportedly they do plan ahead like that. It was interesting getting the 5D and an attached flash for some bounced fill positioned since the nest is just a few inches off the wall and well covered.

More birdcake! ;)

This is Rudy (short for Rudderless Ra), a Scrub Jay and frequent visitor. Rudy has a pretty severe case of noassatall - a condition believed to be inflicted by predators-who-shall-not-be-named! I was worried at first that Rudy might have been grounded, but to my great relief and surprise he flies with great agility and accuracy. Let's hear it for Rudy ... Ra!

HAPPY FRIDAY Y'ALL

answers, pics and stuff

Again, I'm sorry I've been so absent, but "busy" and "life" just seem to be synonymous these days - I'll elaborate later.

There were a couple of questions asked in the last post's comments and I thought it better to answer them here:
Sandra asked about the Painted Bunting. Here are a couple of shots; one of the male and the other of the female at the feeder with a Titmouse.

Anil P asked how we could tell the difference between the fox. They are such frequent visitors (twice a day usually) and sometimes they just hang out around the water basins in the backyard for the afternoon. They each have different personalities and there are some obvious coat differences. Sometime it gets a little confusing; for instance, there is a new vixen that we've named Samantha, but for a while we thought she was Sebastian with an attitude. The confusion was cleared when we noticed that she was very obviously nursing kits. They do have different mannerisms and personalities, things that we notice now that we know they are 2 different fox. There are little nuances like the size of their tails and how they carry them or the dimples and scars on their ears that help identify them.

Carolyn asked about the sound of fox aggravation. Imagine a kid dragging a board across a picket fence on a hot and sultry summer afternoon, when the sound is muffled by the surrounding heat from the pavement. Still means "I want bread" in fox!

Speaking of hot and sultry: when it's THIS...............

..........the animals are doing this................
(remember you can click on any to enlarge)

"Are you done yet???"

Hope you all are having a wonderful and safe holiday!!!!

Vulpine diaries 5-14-08

I was watering the plants in the early evening last week and notice some movement in my peripheral vision. I turned to see Rimpy drinking from the birdbath not 20 feet from me. Rimpy, if you recall, is one of the kits from last year's litter and has been a pretty shy fox in comparison to the the older three - not as shy as Sten, but close. I had a difficult time convincing "B" that Rimpy's antics were on the up and up. A few days ago in the late afternoon I spotted Rimpy making his way through the oak trees and "B" got to see him in action as I grabbed the camera and snagged these shots.

It had been an ongoing mystery for weeks as to why all the water was disappearing overnight since the deer have normally spurned the bath on its pedestal. We hadn't even considered the fox.

Life has been insanely busy here at Casa Vulpini; between all the spring duties (both the necessary and the contrived), ridiculous job searches, more ridiculous paperwork, even more ridiculous interviews, entertaining sublimely thick and terminally dull interviewers, new jobs, car shopping and various family crises.

A few bullets:

• Simon came really close to eating out of my hand again
• No burn ban so the winter/spring trash is going up in smoke
• The Painted Bunting showed up on May 2nd - just like last year
• The Pyrrhuloxia have not appeared yet this year :o(
  
• Zoë brought me one of the female Painted Buntings. She allowed me to take it and fortunately it didn't appear to be seriously injured (if at all) - just frightened and flew away when I took it outside and down into the pasture. It is a humbling experience holding such a tiny wild bird in my hand. Zoë is now on my shit list and is getting a noisier bell this weekend!
  
• Sebastian got really annoyed with me while I was working at the shop and not feeding him - he came up toward the shop and I got cussed in fox - sounded like a stick run over a metal washboard - funny! He did return later for his daily bread.

I'll be visiting over the next couple of days :o)