Category Archives: wildlife

Scampering squirrel

Friends, wildlife

We don’t get many squirrels up by our house. I know many people have to fight squirrels off to keep them from raiding their bird feeders. We don’t.

I was going through some digital images and came across this one of a squirrel on our critter cam.

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I thought I’d share it today.

We haven’t gotten all the way down our farm lane because of rain. Our cart is 2-wheel drive and won’t go through the mud.

Since Bob and I have to take care not to get stuck we’re thinking of hanging the critter cam closer to home.

When the farm dries up a bit (over an inch of rain last night) we’ll set it up and see if any other wildlife visits.

Today it’s just this scampering squirrel.

Cats and chickens

pets, wildlife

I just went outside to give the barn (feral) cats their evening meal. I should have waited just a little longer. The porch was invaded.

If I had waited our chickens wouldn’t have joined the cats on the porch. Since chickens are omnivores, they will eat anything…I think I’ve said this before.

Cats do not scare chickens and chickens do not scare cats. For a short time, the chickens joined the cats and pecked at the food I had set down.

This is not fair. The cats never venture into the chicken coop and eat the chicken food. The chickens do not share equally.

Hen heading up the front steps
Cats and chickens munching on the front porch

If I try to shoo the chickens away I end up shooing away the cats. It’s best to let them all be. The chickens don’t eat much, just chicken feed.

A little nature

Farming, nature, photography, wildlife

Bob and I haven’t been able to take our 2-wheel drive cart all the way down to the woods yet this year. Too much rain has made part of our farm lane a quagmire. In earlier years, we didn’t let that stop us. If mud got the best of us we got out and pushed, be damned the yuck. Now with Bob’s health issues, we don’t want to risk it. Getting stuck might mean a long walk home.

Usually, I take nature photos. The best I could do today was a snap of six ducks in a ‘lake’ in the middle of one of our crop fields–too much rain this year isn’t good for any farm. (No, the water shouldn’t be there.)

Look hard and you will see the ducks above this caption.

Most of the local birds, like sandhill cranes, are nesting now so they haven’t come out to greet us yet, but we hear them so we have hopes to see our crane family soon.

This photo of ducks was taken a few years back in late September. The crop around the waterhole is soybeans.

These ducks were a little easier to spot.

We’ll have to start bringing our binoculars out when we take our cart rides if the wildlife stays at a distance. Hopefully, the weather will change and dry up the land–for a while–so all farmers can get out on their fields, even retired ones.

See them run

nature, wildlife

Out in the country, there are many beautiful sights in spring. Trees starting to bud, flowers blooming–at least my tulips are getting close to blooming.

Another beautiful sight is seeing deer running across fields again. This photo shows deer kicking up their heels as they cross Sunnybook Farm.

See them run

Bob and I love watching wildlife on our farm. When we were housebound, our only view was from our windows. Deer usually don’t come close to our house. These two are far in the back 40. They are only seen from the seat of our cart, or tractor.

With binoculars, we saw some at a distance from our house. Nice to know at least some whitetail have survived our harsh winter. We now look forward to seeing new fawns as our weather warms.