Category Archives: Critters

Mystery Neighbors

Literally overnight it looks like two new and strange bird nests have been assembled under the eaves of the roof outside of our front windows.

I’m guessing that they’re bird nests because they’re connected up underneath the eaves and I don’t know what other kind of critter might be doing that.

I’m guessing that the one on the right is more complete. It’s not 100% clear to me what they’re made of – some kind of grass, but I don’t recognize it as anything growing nearby.

The one on the left seems only partially finished, but it’s the same design structure. I didn’t see any birds (or any other critters) around either nest, even though I was looking for them once I noticed that these were there.

What’s so surprising is the speed with which they had to have been made. They’re not subtle, I saw the long strands hanging down from inside the house, and on the outside they’re ridiculously obvious. I didn’t see a thing on Wednesday, even when I came home from the gym about 19:00, so this ALL had to get done this morning, assuming they didn’t work at night.

I ran the pictures through Google Lens to see if it could ID anything, but came up blank. I also looked on a couple of bird sites, including on the Cornell site, but found nothing. In simply describing “basket-type bird’s nest made of grass” the main hit was for orioles, and I have seen the large black & yellow hooded orioles around, but I don’t see any way these nests, as big as they are, could accomodate them. They’re big birds, almost as big as crows or ravens.

I did get one site that said that possibility was a Black-headed Junco nest, and I know we have those in the yard and the size makes more sense, but that’s a tenuous clue at best.

I’ll keep my eyes open and see what happens.

Does anyone recognize the nest design or have any clues to share?

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What’s Missing?

Vermont has lots and lots of stone and it’s been used as a building material for a couple hundred years now. In Springfield, my old home town, you can find stone walls like this everywhere.

Look at all of those wonderful nooks and crannies! As you know if you’ve been reading this site for any length of time, around here anything like this would be filled with lizards! In Vermont, where it’s covered in snow and ice and sub-zero temperatures for big chunks of the year, there wasn’t a lizard to be seen.

But life will fill any ecosystem. I finally spotted an occupant – a chipmunk! Cuter than your average lizard I guess, especially since we humans do seem to be partial to mammals when judging “cute,” but I missed my little “Freds” and “Bubbas.”

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Bunny Bunny

There are several of these little critters around. Normally they’re not out until it’s dark, but I surprised this guy just after sunset.

He froze at first and I tried to be conversational, but as soon as I moved he was off like a bat outta Hell, under the car, through the roses, and into the neighbor’s yard.

The joke’s on Bunny Bunny – they have astroturf. Good luck getting dinner over there!

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No Context For You – June 28th

The trip to Vermont was a ton of fun, but it’s been a long, hard month in many ways.

I spent two hours in the dentist’s chair yesterday getting an old root canal  drilled out and re-done, with two more to come in July. That whole “minor discomfort” lie? I’m calling bullshit!

I’m trying to model my reactions based on the mockinbird. Nothing bothers him. Except for the squirrel. I don’t know what the squirrel did, but the mockingbird his harassing him mercilessly.

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A Rogue Beaver?

While walking through Springfield, I found this:

It’s a telephone pole near the town Commons (where the baseball field & park is) and across the street from the cemetary.

Did this get hit by a car or some piece of heavy equipment or is there a rogue beaver wandering around town?

Our old house was only about 200 yards down the hill – I’m about 99.999% sure there isn’t any water around that might be home to a beaver, so I’m going to go with something man-made or accidental. It was the only pole I saw with this sort of damage and it did leave me wondering.

A small town Vermont mystery!!

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Two Hawks

We have hawks all the time overhead, ususally red-tail hawks soaring overhead and sometimes getting closer, plus red-shouldered hawks in the pine trees on the hill below us, and the occasional Cooper’s hawk. Plus both great horned owls and barn owls.

The red-shouldered hawks seem to have taken over for the moment. There’s the one that can be seen or heard pretty much daily for the last several months. But since we got back home from our Vermont trip, the screeching of the red-shoulder hawks has been almost constant from before sunrise until after sunset. I do love the hawks, but it would be nice if they would shut up for a while every now and then.

There also seem to be more than just the one. Every day this week I’ve been able to hear at least two of them screeching from different directions, and once I could hear two while watching a third. I suspect there’s at least one nest being constructed somewhere in the neighborhood.

Tonight I saw one of them sitting in a tree just off of the edge of the hill, so I went to take pictures.

It was sitting in the shade (not stupid – it was HOT out there today) and about the time I started zooming in, I was surprised to see a second hawk sitting with it. Do you see it?

After making more racket, the one on the left, in the deep shadows near the tree trunk, flew off to perch on the other side of the canyon. This one stayed here as sunset progressed and its perch spot moved into the sunlight.

I don’t know if there are distinguishing features or patterns that might tell me if one is male and another female.

Given that there are at least three in the area, there may be some competition for a single female and that could explain some of the noise levels.

We also have our annual infestation of gophers or moles chewing the crap out of the hillside and lawn. All of the hawks are cordially invited to keep well fed on that particular food source!

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High-Rise Spider Condos

Bringing the trash bins in this morning, I found the Italian cypress trees covered in these little pockets of spider webs, one above the other.

They went all the way up and down all of the trees, pockets of white, still covered in dew.

They stood out from the dark green trees and the way that they each just hung there, row after row, up and down, reminded me of those iconic, round towers next to the river in Downtown Chicago.

I don’t know what kind of spiders are building these, but this is their high-rise condo building along those same design lines.

Somewhere in thee is the little spider equivilent of Dr. Bob Hartley!

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Fireflies

On the one hand, it was incredibly special and SPECTACULAR for me to see fireflies again for the first time in probably 55-60 years.

Out in back of the Hartness House is this lovely area surrounded by trees and a couple of fountains and a gazebo. When we first pulled in it was after midnight, and the sky overhead was crystal clear, filled with more stars than I’ve seen in years and years. Some of them were blinking and moving, and the trees were also filled with blinking, yellow stars.

Click on it to blow it up and you can see a couple of them. I tried every night to get better pictures but this was as good as it got. I’ll just have to settle for the memories. Which, as I said, were SPECTACULAR!

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Bunnies By Streetlight

Two of the local rabbits on our front lawn this evening, illuminated by the streetlight and a tiny bit of moonlight:

I wasn’t sure if the picture was going to come out, but the iPhones these days (this is a 13) have amazing low light capabilities. To the eye it was much, MUCH darker. I could barely see the rabbits.

They get all upset when I go out to stretch my legs, but were I to be them I would be more concerned about owls and coyotes.

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Do You Know Where Your Goat Is?

No, it’s not my goat.

I just happened to be standing there watching the parade when the guy with the goat came by.

Isn’t that the way that it always seems to happen?

If the goat guy was hanging out near you, wouldn’t you take a picture? Maybe even try to get a selfie with the goat?

 

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