Nature Archives - Page 10 of 16

Muskrats in the Spring

May 11, 2015 @ 2:28 pm

Spring is so brassy …

And sometimes, it brings muskrats …

Muskrat signs on the pond bottom – first of the season. The fresh tan dirt on the normally dark bottom, indicates a muskrat has been holing out my bank nearby.

Tan dirt from ratty holing out my pond bank

I found the hole – after 10 minutes or so of searching – had to bend up a pole to find it. It was narrower than others I’ve found.

So I grabbed a rusting #110 trap, set it, and placed it over the hole. A stick helps keep it upright. And a stake through the ring chained to the trap keeps everything from being carted away by other animals, or an animal wounded in the trap. I think it’s usually fatal though.

Some older nearby holes ... — Some older nearby holes …

I hope it hasn’t already eaten the water lily bulbs I put in earlier this spring.

The Queen Bee

May 11, 2015 @ 1:48 pm

Kath and Steve saw the queen yesterday. All’s well. Here’s a slew of pics of the bees, the insides of the hive, some bee people, and a big brown bee dog. First comes the smoker, then opening the top, then the sugar feeder, then pulling the frames, to check status and hopefully, see the queen – which did occur. Then replenishing the sugar water (they are not yet self sufficient). Then closing up. All is well. And … they are as busy as bees!!!!

Also – the cooling vent was opened up.

Tadnarium

Today

May 7, 2015 @ 10:19 am

Just finished watching a green heron eat a couple frogs. What an appetite. Explains why our amphibian pop is down this year. It’s got these really big bright orange feet, big as clowns feet, that enable it to spread it’s weight out over the reeds.

Also, saw something round and thick laying on the reeds. Brownish/Tannish in color. Smooth. Looked like a coil of a snake. Or a mink, laying on top of the reeds. Never figured out what it was. Looked away for a bit. Looked back to check on it, and it was gone. Maybe the edge of the shell of a huge turtle? Now I’m dreaming up stuff.

[It’s the day after, and I can clearly see that there’s a snake, in that exact same spot, sunning itself. A big Northern Water Snake, I’d guess – seeing it through binocs from the deck. Got to be the same critter – snakes return to favored spots in the sun.]

Here’s some pics, taken this morning. Miles was with me, and is partially visible in one pic. And, there’s always one of the Shots. Wholly visible by the way.

Bat House

May 3, 2015 @ 2:23 pm

Kathy’s Bat House – finally gets a real home, after a year or more of being shifted about, from here to there, inside our home.

The Pond Today

April 29, 2015 @ 7:16 pm

The Pond Today – the water is so clear. Seen parts of the bottom this spring, I’ve never seen before. No plants yet, cept for some phrag shoots and one plant with lots of minute leaves, along western shore. And as noted in last post, couple days ago, I planted 12 water lily bulbs. But what’s bothering me, is that in all that clear pond water, nothing’s moving. No tadpoles. No fish. Not in the open parts I can see, anyway. Some bugs. That’s about it. But I did see a frog, a few days ago. It’s always interesting.

Almost Water Lilies

April 27, 2015 @ 3:04 pm

Can’t catch muskrats without bait …

Almost water lilies — Planted 3 each of these today – almost water lilies

And something a bit less, whatever …

No one's looking, cept that guy with the camera — No one’s looking, cept that guy with the camera

Bees

April 24, 2015 @ 5:35 pm

Bees in a Box

One cat, two geese and a duck

April 21, 2015 @ 3:25 pm

Two geese came to visit today. Along with the frog eating duck I saw the other day. And while capturing this action down at the pond, from up on the deck, one of our feral cats came to check me out – and I caught him on camera – one of the shots … Big Shot?

Also, I found the critter that took off with one of my traps last fall – and the trap too – in a foot or so of water, near where I’d originally set it on the hole in the bank last fall. Seems it was a muskrat, and not a mink. So, that’s 4 muskrats total, and 2 mink, I trapped last fall. Haven’t seen any muskrat tells so far this spring.

A Green Heron, a turtle, some dragon flies and a few tadpoles

April 17, 2015 @ 2:11 pm

Today was something. Sighted a turtle sunning itself on the reeds, near the back of the pond …

Two quite large, flying, copulating dragon flies – of such beautiful iridescent colors, locked in tandem head to tail, flashing color all about over the top of the pond, on such an early dull brown spring day.

And Tadpoles – but only in the sections providing cover.

And … a (The?) Green Heron showed up a couple days ago. Then again yesterday. Today too? We’ll see. Lurks about at the back of the pond – sometimes up in a willow branch. I got a pic – cropped the bit with the heron in it too. But took the shot from top of the hill with 10x mag … heron was tucked in the back among the reeds. Two pics:

And phragmite shoots. On land, and in the water. Seems the muskrats didn’t eat all of the phrags. Maybe some cats and water lilies survived too?