Category Archives: Critters

August 21, 2024 · 23:32

Don’t Assume

No, I did NOT fall again. Never left my feet, no damage done, no gym equipment revenge needing to be plotted.

However, while doing one of my quick laps around the sidewalk in the back yard, in the dark, I found that one of the local orb weavers had unexpectedly built a large web straight across the path at face heighth. The subsequent “spider web dance” and convulsions were apparently generating enough centrifugal energy and G-forces on my wrist as I swung my arms around to set off the alarm. So, again, I got to stop mid-crisis and tell my watch to chill, I was not in need of a 9-1-1 call. I was dealing with a garden spider, not Shelob. (I was busy re-inventing break dancing perhaps, but I’m no Samwise Gamgee.)

I’m going to have to start carrying a flashlight. Or I will break something. With my luck I would break something badly, die, end up at the Pearly Gates, tell St. Peter what happened, and while laughing riotously they would send me to Hell “just because!”

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Filed under Critters, Disasters

August 19, 2024 · 23:45

Fledgeling

Yesterday I stumbled across this smallish dude plotzed out on the backyard patio.

It didn’t seem particularly in any sort of distress or injured, nor did it seem too concerned about my presence.

Obviously a mourning dove fledgeling, which isn’t surprising since we have probably a dozen nests within a couple hundred yards of our back yard. Feeding time in the morning looks like a Hitchcock film between the house finches, scrub jays, juncos, mourning doves, towhees, and all of the other miscellanous freeloaders who have figured out that we’re a soft touch.

Even when I got right down on my knees (more fun than usual!) and just a foot or so away, it never tried to flutter or walk or run or fly, and it barely moved its head. It wasn’t near any of the windows or sliding glass doors, so I didn’t figure that it had run into one of them.

I finally ended up with my iPhone maybe an inch away, and all I got for my efforts was a scowl. They definitely had an attitude!

I had no idea what to do that might help, so I did the absolute minimum and otherwise left it alone. I went to get some bird seed and a cup of water, but by the time I got back the fledgeling had vanished. I left the food and water out there anyway – if he doesn’t need it, one of the other birds will finish it off, it won’t go to waste.

We don’t see any feral cats in our yard, so the hawks during the day and the owls at night are probably the biggest threat. “Circle of life” and all of that – I checked a couple times today and I don’t see any signs of an attack, so no news is good news.

Good luck, my attitudinal fledgling friend! Your species is hardly endangered around here (or anywhere else) but I hope you make it!

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Filed under Birds, Critters, Photography

August 13, 2024 · 23:22

Fine Feathered Friends – August 13th

House finch – male.

The colorful red head gives him away – the females don’t have any of that coloration, just muted browns & greys.

I got a couple of decent pictures of him through the kitchen window before he saw me and screamed, “NO PAPARAZZI!!” before taking off for a more private perch.

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Filed under Birds, Critters, Photography

August 8, 2024 · 23:41

Begging Call

I’ve been hearing something flying around at night that had me stumped for a while. I’ll hear the great horned owls hooting fairly often, and I’ll occasionally see them. (They’re spectacular!)

But this isn’t hooting, it’s more of a screech, and a couple of different types of screeches. I finally got the Cornell Merlin app to hear enough of one sort of sound and identify it as a barn owl instead of a great horned owl. Fair, good to know, it would be great to see one, but so far I’m just hearing it.

But the other screeching sound? Not so much.

Until tonight. Our bird was right across the street on top of the power pole there, then later in our pine trees in the back yard. I was finally able to get a good recording for the Merlin app to chew on.

You can hear calls about every eighteen or nineteen seconds before it flys away and fades out on the fourth call. I got a glimpse of it as it flew off – it’s a large animal, must be fantastic to see.

Merlin ID’s it as a great horned owl, but instead of the normal hooting call, this is referred to as a “begging call.” You hear it from a juvenile that’s left the nest and is learning to hunt, but still used to screeching when it’s hungry so that mom or dad can bring food for it.

It’s the owl version of “Adulting sucks!”

The Long-Suffering Wife wants to help it out since she’s used to throwing out bird seed for the songbirds and having me fill the feeders for the hummingbirds. I explained that owls are carnivores – her solution was to give it some shredded chicken. I’m thinking that the owl is looking for something more alive and warm – obviously I’m not thinking outside the box properly, since it’s been explained to me that I could microwave some chicken and then go stand out in the back yard and wiggle and wave it around so that it looks alive.

The hungry, screaming, pissed off juvenile owl probably needs to just find one of the neighborhood rabbits and learn to catch its own dinner. Sorry!

 

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Filed under Audio, Birds, Critters

August 7, 2024 · 22:44

Sunset Lizard

I know that all y’all have been wondering how the yard lizards have been doing. It’s a good thing, nothing to be ashamed of.

Just an hour or so before sunset. I went out to catch a final bit of daylight, my little lizard friend in all of his ectothermic glory, was doing the same.

Not so little. We’ve had quite the crop of tiny (maybe two inch long?) “popcorn” lizards this summer, but this one’s pretty good sized for a fence lizard.

The instant I got too close, our friend was off like a shot to someplace where they blended into the background a little bit more.

Being in the shade wasn’t ideal, and there was also a goal of staying opposite of me on the tree trunk, so when I moved, they moved.

Once they got up into a higher, sunnier spot, I backed off and went back the way I had come in, leaving them to catch those final rays for the evening. They needed it more than I did. I’ve got a billion years of evolutionary advancements working for me.

Of all of the things we’re looking for in the Forever Home that we love about our current and previous homes, our lizard friends will be the easiest to guarantee finding in the Victor Valley area.

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Filed under Critters, Forever Home, Photography

August 2, 2024 · 23:37

Diverse Neighbors

I showed pictures a while back of all of the tiny, horizontal spider webs climbing up the Italian cypress trees.

Today I noticed that in the spaces outside of those webs there are different webs. I’m no spider expert by any definition of the term, but I’m guessing that different designs and types of spider webs mean different breeds of spiders.

Assuming that’s true, our “spider high rise” has turned into a diverse neighborhood of arachnids.

And up above (fortunately still above head height) we still have the much bigger webs of the much bigger spiders, the orb weavers.

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Filed under Critters, Photography

July 29, 2024 · 22:46

Oh Deer

While there are deer in SoCal (the Pepperdine campus in Malibu is practically infested with them, as is the JPL site in La Canada-Flintridge, and I’ve almost hit them on the 405 Freeway through Sepulveda Pass) they’re uncommon. Whereas in Vermont…

When we stayed at my mom’s place in Barre (this was a few years ago, like twenty years) we would see them every morning.

That’s an apple tree, and they would raid it around dawn every day. The only down side to seeing them was getting up at dawn, which even then was not my strong suit, but hey, DEER!

Cool! (Except for the ones, probably these, that would wander out into the road at night and threaten to re-arrange your radiator and give you a free airbag check to see if they’re still working.)

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Filed under Critters, Photography, Travel

July 24, 2024 · 22:27

There Are THREE Rabbits

I guess it was the squirrels’ day off.

(You can still scream it in Picard’s voice if you want to.)

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Filed under Critters, Photography

July 22, 2024 · 23:12

Old White Guys, Am I RIGHT?!

With the Volvo back in the driveway and the daily temps hovering around 100 degrees, it’s normal to see a lizard or two hiding under the car (protected from birds) in the shade (the concrete’s plenty warm, but not TOO hot).

As I went out to get the mail today I noticed a couple hiding in the shade (not this guy – these pictures are from 2020.) and as is my wont, I started talking to them.

You know, the usual stuff. Complimenting them on their choice of a spot which was safe, warm, and with multiple escape routes. Warning them about any mockingbirds I had seen. Chatting about the weather and heat. And so on.

I thought it was a private conversation, but then the roofers working on the neighbor’s house spoke up. I didn’t understand so I just waved, but I’m sure it was whatever the Spanish phrase is for, “Look at that batshit crazy old white dude talking to lizards!”

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Filed under Critters, Farce, Photography

July 14, 2024 · 22:11

Happy Bastille Day

Not because I’m French, or speak French, or have ever even been to France. (Someday…) Nope, just looking for any reason to celebrate, and having peasants rise up, overthrow the monarchy, and start beheading nobility sounded like a perfectly good cause today.

I thought that the Tour de France was finishing today, but apparently it’s next week, on the 21st. But Wimbledon finished today, along with the Copa and Euro soccer tournaments. And MLB wrapped up the “first half” of its season, with the All-Star break and other festivities starting tomorrow. So that gave me lots of things to do other than pay attention to the news.

These guys made excellent role models for that plan, not caring one whit about the news and all of the stupid things that humans are doing. I suspect they would be happier if we would stop cooking the planet as we’re in the middle of another long summer heat wave, but even after we manage to destroy ourselves, they’ll do just fine I suspect.

They’ll miss the two-quart buffets that I keep putting up, but those will disappear when we move to our Forever Home. I have no idea if future inhabitants of this house will bother to feed the hummers, but I can only worry about so many things, and that’s outside of my pay grade. I’ll probably leave the feeders and if the next tenants/owners want to take up the task of refilling them periodically, great. I’ll be feeding a new group of avian minions about 100 miles to the northeast. I hope. Someday. Soon. Maybe.

 

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Filed under Birds, Critters, Forever Home, Photography