It's a Chip & Dude kind of day

I almost feel guilty being so freely entertained. 

First let me tell you that Chip seems ok with the lean-to protecting his burrow. He was able to get in and out. 

When I'm not being entertained by Little Dude, I'm waiting for the next wave of heavy rain due in another hour.  Seems the worst of it is slightly to the east in Lancaster County.  I'm thankful for that, though I of course don't wish it on anyone else. 

Weather is interesting. No matter how sophisticated technology gets, we still are helpless against the weather, and predicting it.  Sure we've gotten better at it, but weather still wins much of the time. Add to it that so many people don't respect the weather and you end up with catastrophe's.  On today's noon news I was watching as they rescued a woman off her SUV that was in water over its wheels. A spectator was trying not to chuckle too much as she described the woman crawling out of her car, and screaming and waving her arms. On one hand, you want to laugh because...well she was an idiot for driving through high water and got what she deserved. On the other hand, it's scary. Water is powerful. Water can wash away vehicles (though where she was, it wouldn't have happened that way). And we don't want it to ever be us having that experience.  I idly wonder why some people think that the rules, or even common sense, don't apply to them.  It would be ok if they were the only consequences of their folly, but they generally manage to put others at risk.  Luckily she didn't have a young passenger.  But the fire dept did have to go out and rescue her from the roof of her car.

Yes I could go on and on with the topic. 

But I'd rather share this about Little Dude and other goings on in the yard!

Like, I just looked out the door for a few moments.  There are at least 3 dozen goldfinches at the feeders, Little Dude's sibling is across the yard, along with some mourning doves, eating some soggy corn.  The chipmunk was running around picking up dropped food from the feeders.  Chip suddenly went bounding across the yard, into the middle of the doves, causing them up to scatter. Then...are you ready for this....charges right into the groundhog, bounces right off it and dashes back across the yard.  The groundhog flinched and looked a little startled but went right back to eating.  I don't suppose a tiny little chipmunk hurling itself against you feels threatening even to a cautious groundhog.

I know we shouldn't apply human emotions to animals but  it looked like he was doing it for the sheer fun of being a prankster who could get away with it.  Unless of course it was some sort of test to see how safe he would be over there.  Seems rather risky doesn't it?  I guess it doesn't matter. It made me smile to witness it.

I spend way too much time watching the yard.  Anyone that reads my blog already has this information, right? :D I give it some thought now and then. Like, if I didn't yard watch so much, I'd get way more done. In the house, in the gardens. I'd maybe get the sleep I need....no ...the yard calls to me.  

But I get to see some amazing stuff. The butterflies puddling and excreting the excess out their behind. A video classic, right?! :)  Baby turtles taking their first plunge.   Little chipmunks bouncing off much bigger groundhogs.  This can't even compare to housework. Or yardWORK for that matter.  If I keep my head down and spend hours pulling weeds, I won't see the hummingbird landing in the tree overhead. If I kept busy doing housework, I would have never known there was a coyote in my yard, or a northern flicker plucking ants out of the dry hard ground. 

ok enough chattering...you have to see the latest of Little Dude.

Stay dry!

starring....Chip!

There's no mystery any more why Chip was upset about the hosta plant removal.  Although I hadn't seen it, there must have been one of his entries to his burrow under the porch.  I hadn't thought he was under there (where the last one lived) because I always saw him running along the bank and through the garden. I must have covered up his entrance while I was digging up the plants.  He's opened it up again. But now I feel sorry for the little guy since there's no protection there, at least until I plant something else there.  To add to it, it's to rain today. a LOT of rain. possibly 5" of rain today with the potential for something heavier. I did come up with something I can put over the opening to have the rain run away from the opening. he's right under the awnings gutter, which will overflow in this kind of rain. But if the yard floods....my little friend will be in danger. 



  Do you ever wonder why some animals are sooooo adorable?  Cute, and antics enough to make most sane adults smile, yet they can be nuisances. And on top of that we can fall in love with the furry creatures that are way too easy prey!

Here he is, mouth open, ready to eat a black oil sunflower seed.  How can you look at this and not go...awwwww...

Apparently the birds and critters know bad weather is coming.  They've been very busy at the feeders. Some birds I hadn't seen for a few days at least, coming back and spending hours at the feeders, including the downy woodpecker.

Two squirrels were so busy gathering up food, and eating it there was no chasing each other about.  They were in serious food mode.  They were not shy, in fact, when I'd open the door they'd look expectantly at me, come a little closer.  They were rewarded with peanuts in the shell.  The titmouse and cardinals were sneaking about nearby, usually in the big butterfly bush, waiting for their opportunity to swoop in to grab a peanut for themselves.  The titmouse made a good haul for one so little.  It's amazing to watch them grab a peanut and fly off...when it must weigh as much as they do.  They drop down, usually look at it, tilting their head at it, then POKE...their beak pierces it and off they fly.

this cardinal was looking for some seeds and maybe some bugs in the planter.

The hummingbird still hanging around, watches from a tree, all the birds at the feeders.

An American Goldfinch

A young cardinal watching, contemplating how to get seed from some of the smaller feeders.

Watching the smaller birds feed.

Waiting for an opening in the nyjer seed feeder.

This goldfinch is getting a little testy with his feeder mate.

The last time the water rose over the yard, depositing yet more rock, can some times bring a bit of interest to the yard.   Mother natures own bit of art perhaps?  To me, it looks like a joyful dancer, arms outstretched,  kicking up her foot, wearing her heart on her chest.

That's all I got!  It was a cloudy, slightly humid and mosquito ridden day. The animals of course are my distraction, but I did get up all the plants that are in pots to keep them from floating away.  My biggest concern is for my newly planted paw paw tree.   In late October the guys from the fire station I run with are to come to my place for a work detail. We were going to move some rock in the stream and along the banks, to shore up my banks and to slightly alter the waters path so it doesn't beat so hard against my yard.  Over the past few years, when the airport came and cut all my trees down, I've lost at least 3 feet of my yard. A small bridge downstream is so low that everything jams up underneath it, adding to the problem, as does the counties new development where they changed the drainage...bringing it into this small stream.  It can't handle it but no one really seems to care.  So we'll do what we can, keep bugging people about it and see if something can't be done before we are all washed away. 

I love where I live. There's a sense of privacy because there's no one in front of me.  All the animals that come about. A stream in my yard.  Where else am I going to get that :D  At least on what I make for a living!

Hope it's safe and dry where you are.

A busy yard yesterday (Sunday)  I found it a bit distracting, but I did get a few things done.  I moved some hostas, dug more up, fixed my rock outline that's been buried in sand and dirt, weeded a little,  planted a vine, moved the bird feeder and started cleaning up the mess that is my yard and table. 

All in all each thing took little time, but with all the distractions going on, it took the better part of the day.  And I love days like that.

The heat was finally gone.  Though more clouds then sun and a constant breeze, it actually started to feel like fall. Every bird and mammal around seemed to appreciate the change also!  The feeders were all very busy.  Lots of scuffles between them as they all wanted a spot NOW, not in a minute.

First when I got home in the morning I heard a noise outside that alerted me there was some animal close by. Sure enough there was one of the groundhogs on the patio, moving around a storage container where I keep some yard/feeder supplies, as he was trying to get it open.  I was impressed, he had the right idea, but not the angle to be successful.  He was trying to pry open the lid with his teeth but didn't have enough leverage, and he kept putting a paw on the lid. Once he realized I was watching he took off as fast as he could.  When I checked the bin, you couldn't tell anything was trying to break in.  Apparently their teeth are not sharp enough to leave marks on plastic!   The bin everyone else has been getting in to was opened up by a squirrel.

Anyhow, this wasn't little dude.  I think I mentioned before about the other groundhog that was close in size to Dude. And I think it is a sibling from the same litter.  I often wonder about this because there were two that I rescued last year. Could they really be the same ones?  This one has more true white on it's face, while Dude's color around his nose and mouse is more of a brownish white.  The difference shows up more in real time then photos. For a time it was easy to tell them apart, because the other was heftier then Little Dude. But now Dude is making up for lost time it seems and has gained a goodly bit of girth!  And the other is very sensitive to any perceived danger, including me.  Perhaps I should say his reaction to people is normal, where Dude's become more adapted to me being close by.

I saw the granddaddy (as I call him just for his sheer size) groundhog eating some cracked corn, while 2 squirrels were chasing each other, while eating some corn off a cob at their feeder when through the yard flies a hawk.  I was concerned how oblivious the squirrels were acting. The groundhog didn't seem to care.  Then again at his size I don't think this hawk was of great concern to him.  The hawk flew into a nearby tree.  I didn't get a good look at him at first, and wasn't sure what it was.  After studying the photo, I thought it had to be a Cooper's Hawk. Later I was able to confirm it.

Here he is across right above the stream.  His eyes are still yellow, which indicates that he is still young. They'll turn more of an orange when he matures.

Another reason I thought it was a Cooper's Hawk is the way he then flew through the trees. I had read once where it's quite a daring behavior as when these hawks are captured and studied they are often found with injuries, broken bones, etc from their encounters with tree branches, etc.

I'd gone outside and filled the feeders and had left the bucket on the table, still with sunflower seeds in it.  At one point I looked out and saw a squirrel at the sunflower dish, behind the bucket, and all of a sudden a chipmunk pops up from inside!

 

 

 

 He would stuff his face for a bit, pop up and look around, go back to stuffing those cute cheeks some more. Too cute!  He ran off to store his treasure and while he was gone, I thought I'd surprise him with another treat in the bucket and placed 2 peanuts in there.  He made his way back and was ducking down to get more seeds.  By this time I'd moved to the back steps instead of being in the house. Trying to get better photos! The chipmunk peeks out over the edge again, and aI'm ready to take a photo when a bird swooshes right by me, startling me, and dives over the chipmunk! He jumped out of the container and dove onto the chair, hunkered down for about 10 minutes before he'd even move.

 

It all happened so fast I didn't know what it was at first.  Turns out it was a blue jay.  He wanted that peanut!

I usually throw out some peanuts every morning.  Some extras when the squirrels or Jays demand.  But once winter gets here, those blue jays will be here every morning and if I'm mere minutes late in getting the nuts out, they will squawk and carry on until they get their food.

Have a few minutes for some stories? :D

Reminds me of a few years ago when there was a chipmunk living here. I would hand feed him, he would jump onto my lap for a peanut. One day I was inside, my son still living here when I thought I heard a noise at the door.  My son said he heard it too. When I looked out there sat the chipmunk looking up at me.  I've no idea how that little thing made enough noise at my door for me to hear. For all I know he threw himself against it! 

One time I was sitting on the back steps, I'd been giving peanuts to the squirrel. The squirrel was burying them around the yard, not far from where I sat.  Never a good idea.  The chipmunk came out, sat at the bottom of the steps and watched the squirrel.  When the squirrel took a treat and went up the tree, the chipmunk went into action and dug up 3 peanuts, stuffed them in his mouth and took off.   The squirrel came back down, started running over to me and saw an open hole and stopped.  Next thing he is sniffing all around, finding every hole the chipmunk had opened and stolen the peanut!

Once the chipmunk was on my lap, while I saw on the porch. At the bottom of the steps, was a squirrel, who was cautiously approaching a peanut I threw down for him.  He took to long to grab it, a blue jay swooped down, stole the nut and took off.

It wouldn't be the last time a Jay stole from the squirrel.  I watched from inside one day when the squirrel was burying a peanut.  Of course squirrels are not always efficient and was 'burying' it under some dead leaves.  A blue jay stood watching from less then a foot away.  Once the squirrel ran off, the blue jay used his beak and pushed all the leaves aside, grabbed the nut and flew off.  One could almost feel sorry for the squirrels.

ok back to yesterday....

I'm still enjoying some color in the yard.

 

 

These black eyed susan were planted a year ago, but didn't do well.  I thought they didn't survive. But they came back, under my now full grown butterfly bush. So now one end shows them peeking out all over.  

I don't know why I didn't take a photo of the whole plant below, but these are the seed heads (and below that shows a tiny delicate flower which quickly turn into pretty red seed pods) from a limon talinum plant.  They have such beautiful lime green leaves that are gorgeous.  Planted with something purple or dark blue really makes that color pop! It is an annual that seeds very easily. Sister had given me some of the seeds, saying, just drop them in a pot.  Literally that's what I did. Tossed them in and voila` there was the plant.  If I can grow it, anyone can! LOL  There was another limon plant popped up in the yard, right next to my clematis, that kept dying off.  easy peasy!  I've been collecting the seeds and look forward to some different placement, now that i see just how easily it grows!

 

Now this plant makes me laugh. It's one of the plants that got flooded out of its pot and I just plopped it into a nearby pot that had lost it's plant.  I never got back to fixing it. But that didn't hinder it's continued blooming, even through all the harsh sun and drought conditions this season. 

a tufted titmouse. As the weather cools their numbers are increasing. I love these little birds.  Along with bird seed they love peanuts too.  In the winter one or two will get used to me and come right to me if it means they get food.

Male red cardinal.  The younguns color is deepening. There still seems to be a whole family of them still coming together in the late afternoon, early evening.

The hummmingbird is still making appearances. He first showed up yesterday afternoon, hitting up the butterfly bush. I had company at the time so I didn't have a chance to get a better photo while the sun was still out.  I was surprised to see it when it was getting darker.  But I had the camera at hand and took a photo of him sitting up high in a tree. (I'm sure waiting for me to get out of it's way!)

Here's the reason I had the camera in hand.  A flock of Blue Jays flew across the yard, landing in the trees across the stream making quite a racket.  And it didn't end when they landed. I figured what was going on and within seconds the hawk appeared flying through the yard.  The jays took off, still squawking and yelling. I could hear them nearby, then saw the hawk return, landing on a tree trunk by the stream.  He had something he was tearing apart.  I tried to get close, but with every tear he was making, he'd look to see where I was. I couldn't see what he had, but after he flew off I went to the area, but only saw two small white feathers.  So I'm not sure if the bird he caught was a blue jay.  I suspect it was just from the noise level of the jays, who stayed nearby with their non-stop chatter.



 Here you can at least see the telltale bands of the cooper hawks tail.

He left for awhile but came back, landing in a tree across the stream to consume some prey.  I need to start taking my binoculars outside with me! 

It was getting late in the day and there was little light left.  It's very frustrating when all I have is a point and shoot. Some day I'll have that better camera :D  So I gave up and left the yard to the critters.

A few hours later at work, I saw something moving about in the yard. Using a flashlight I was able to illuminate the skunk that was probably digging up grubs.  Since I was on a second floor balcony he wasn't concerned about me (thankfully!) .  I wish I could have gotten a better photo of it. He had interesting and well placed markings.  The skunks huge full tail is amazing though, isn't it? 

Today we are getting some much needed rain! So I'll have to get done some indoor chores...finally :) 
Have a great day everyone!

looks like the heat wave has taken a hike.  Hopefully that is the last of the season.  92 F is just too hot for September, and we've had no rain. A few places had some storms recently but we got barely a few drops of water here. 
Next week they are predicting a few rainy days.  In the middle of the week, which would be perfect!.

Sister and I made another trip to Meadowood Nursery, that only carries native plants. Got my Dutchman Pipe vine.   I'm going to try to grow it up the bird feeder (the patio umbrella skeleton) and see what happens.  I contemplated some plants specifically for shaded areas, but I'd have to clear out one more section of the bank...and I already know I'm not going to get that done this fall.  There's always next Spring....right?

We got to see a spicebush caterpillar on their spice bush.  In their water plant area we were watching a snake who was very happily chasing around some small frogs.  He didn't appreciate our intrusion and would stick his head up high to check us out, flicking his tongue all the while.
The woman that runs the nursery was telling us of her son (I think) who is part of the monarch watch at the bird observatory in  Cape May NJ and that they are reporting epic numbers of monarch butterflies! I guess all the hype about the dangers the monarchs faced this past year paid off.  Out of curiosity I did go to their website and they reported that week two of the Monarch Monitoring Project has been off the charts. Counted 145.76 Monarchs/hour! The previous week 2 census data from ALL years averaged 34.02 Monarchs/hour. And they reportedly tagged 1800 monarchs. Can you imagine?? 

If you ever see a Monarch with a tag, it actually has an email address and phone number on it so the ID number can be reported.

An interesting fact I took from their website:

The arrival of the Monarchs in Mexico coincides with the Day of the Dead, a holiday honoring family and ancestors in Mexico. Monarchs are believed to be the spirits of the ancestors returning on the Day of the Dead.

It looks like the chipmunk had gone back to work covering up the hole I made, because it was completely filled in!  I'd left the shovel there, and even the head of that was covered.  So I uncovered the hole again, just to see what would happen. LOL  Am I bad, teasing the chipmunk? 

The other day when I got home, he was on my porch railing standing up, stretching as high as he could go. That's not high of course. I've no idea what he was trying to do or where he thought he was going to go.  There is a bird feeder hanging off the roof a few feet to his left, so that may be what he had in mind.  Hate to break it to him, but I don't think he's going to make it up there. Then again, if he would follow the squirrels he would know to go to the end, climb the tree and jump onto the roof.   It's startling if you don't know it's squirrels because it sounds inside like they weight about 50 pounds as they land and run across the metal roof!
It's a shortcut to their favorite tree, where their corn cob is put out for them.

The other day I saw a full sized snapping turtle.  Which means it was HUGE. It's not one of the ones I usually see. He appeared to be flawless. No scrapes, holes, bruises on his shell.  I tried to get a photo of him but when he saw me he ducked down into the water and pushed himself under some debris and pressed against the bank.  I tried to pry him loose with a piece of tree branch but he's rather strong and dug his back legs in. I could barely budge him. I really wanted a good look at him too.  He was going upstream, so I assume he was heading for the fish that hang out in the deeper corner.
I wonder if the babies survived him.

the small birds have been very active and I'm seeing more fights at the feeders.  You'd think it was winter the way they are behaving!
Here's a male house finch and a black capped chickadee.  The house finch is a relative newcomer to Pennsylvania, first sighted here in the 1950's. (it originated from western America.

silly chipmunk!

I just took this video.  I had started to dig up my hosta plants. This chipmunk discovered it while I was in the house and started to fill the hole back in!  LOL  Maybe he thought he would be blamed?!  But as chipmunks are prone to do, he got distracted when he realized there was food across the yard.

baby turtles emerging video

Here are the clips I put together from watching the snapping turtle babies emerge. I loved seeing all the little things they do. Every so often they are trying to rub the dirt off their face. And they are very determined to get to the stream asap! The one that goes in the water, if you watch when he gets out, you can see his eye looks like it's bulging, until he blinks and you realize there was a protective covering over it while he was in the water. I hadn't noticed this before with the full grown turtles. The little things sure are hardy as they would fall over stones and have to right themselves, some would even roll down the hill. But nothing stopped them!

Little Dude's Video

Here's Little Dude visiting the porch. You can see he is starting to fill out. He can't seem to make up his mind how much he should fear me.

I'm afraid that I'll look out some day and see a line of critters waiting their turn, now that a chipmunk has also discovered the box. So we've had the squirrel, groundhog and chipmunk. At least while I'm at home. Who knows what might be visiting at night!

the stories continue

I knew I was forgetting something.

Sister visited Saturday afternoon to see what I'd gotten at the plant sale. She brought along the dog, Snoopy.  Such a sweetie. He is part beagle and loves all the different smells here, and is always trying to get to any of the groundhog burrows. His nose is always to the ground! Even though he is only part beagle he certainly has all the beagle traits.

(If you are easily upset or sensitive about death in nature, you may want to skip this paragraph)

We went on top of the bank to look at some of my plants, and snoopy almost immediately was rooting around in some brush and came up with a bird. He quickly trotted off the bank and went to the other side of the yard.   I was taken aback by how quickly and quietly it happened.   While not something I want to see, I was impressed with his quickness and dexterity in dispatching the dove to its death.  Unlike many house pets that will 'play' an animal to the point of injury and walk away.  Not Snoopy.  Not only did he quickly kill it, he also quickly consumed it.  That really surprised me.  He left nothing behind save for a few feathers.  I was concerned that the 'death scene' would freak out the other birds, but it was very clean.  a couple summers ago a coopers hawk killed a duck and made quite a mess of it, including leaving most of the duck. I disposed of the duck but there was blood on the ground, etc and it took many days before the ducks would congregate in that area, let alone use their path to come across the stream. The bigger hawks usually don't mess with the mallards.  I've seen the mallards splash at any hawk that would swoop over them as if to say oh go away you annoy us!

(ok it's safe to read now!)

While I was following the turtles around, one of the ducks visited. I think she was satisfied that I was sufficiently distracted!

Little Dude continues to visit the porch now, enjoying all the sunflower seeds.  I notice he seems to finally be filling out.
The photos are a little grainy since it was taken through the screens of the door and window.

He hears me

contemplating whether to stay or go!

I wish this would have turned out better...as he looked in the door.

I tried to upload a video of him but there was a problem...I'll have to give it a try later!