What Did You See In Your Yard Today?

[ksnow]

Saw a nice healthy doe (whitetail) by the pond. Have had them on the cameras the last few days, VERY pregnant. This one looks like it may have dropped its fawn finally. Been cold and wet here. Tough on the little guys.

[TonyK]

I was out feeding the squirrels and noticed one of the young ones has a bit of nylon netting around his neck and front leg. Getting around just fine but wonder as he gets older how tight it might get. Can already see a crease around the neck so......  First thing I thought of was how can I catch it and clip the net which would be impossible. Also noticed a squirrel hopping like a rabbit since his rear legs seem a bit unstable. Hate seeing these things but the wife reminds me they can't all live forever. Sad as I've got to know different ones with different personalities and how they approach me and aren't afraid when I'm working in the yard.

Still have the large mouse/small rat critter hanging out with the squirrels during feeding time and randomly running around. Have a small bird with a damaged wing hanging around the last 2 weeks. He can fly a small distance horizontally but can't get any height so he's here to stay. He gets food from the seeds I feed the squirrels so he stays alive but for how long?

[A modeler named mike]

1 hour ago, TonyK said:

I was out feeding the squirrels and noticed one of the young ones has a bit of nylon netting around his neck and front leg. Getting around just fine but wonder as he gets older how tight it might get. Can already see a crease around the neck so......  First thing I thought of was how can I catch it and clip the net which would be impossible. Also noticed a squirrel hopping like a rabbit since his rear legs seem a bit unstable. Hate seeing these things but the wife reminds me they can't all live forever. Sad as I've got to know different ones with different personalities and how they approach me and aren't afraid when I'm working in the yard.

Still have the large mouse/small rat critter hanging out with the squirrels during feeding time and randomly running around. Have a small bird with a damaged wing hanging around the last 2 weeks. He can fly a small distance horizontally but can't get any height so he's here to stay. He gets food from the seeds I feed the squirrels so he stays alive but for how long?

You sound like me with my little critters. I have have a squirrel with a front leg that looks as if was caught in something. He was a bit gimpy for a while but is doing much better. The only suggestion I have for the fellow with the netting is to try to catch it in a live trap and use "heavy" gloves to hold him while carefully cutting the netting. I sure it wouldn't be an easy task and you could end up accidentally cutting his skin in the process. Some of my family members refer to me as Doctor doolittle.. I'm cool with that title. Good luck if you decide too.

[Falcon Ranchero]

6 hours ago, bobss396 said:

Crows are notorious for stealing hatchling from nests. I saw 2 cardinals going after one some years ago that just stole a chicken from them.

There's a pair of grackles with a nest the the big cedar in front of our back patio; as far as I know that crow hasn't found them there yet, but I noticed when one parent brings food, they perch elswhere, like on the garage roof, or on the deck and look around before actually heading into the nest. I know back in 2022, a pair of robins had a nest in that same tree, and a crow found them. Woke up at 6am on a saturday in the middle of July to look out my bedroom window to see a crow pickin' away at a chick on our back lawn, being harassed by the robins and some grackles too. Rushed out there in my pajamas and shooed the crow away, but by the time I got there the chick was shuddering and then died. Turned around and saw, coming out from under the deck, a disoriented but very much alive robin chick that must've fell out of the nest in all the confusion. Ended up taking care of it for a day or two before the parents took him back; it was on the edge of being a fledgling at the time I found it. Named it "Bagu" after the clementine crate I had him in. Put an old nest in it and had the robin chick stay out there in the garage.  

[bobss396]

Nature can be quite brutal. Last year I started spring with 6 squirrels, then I was down to 3, now I have 4 or 5. So I must have little ones mixed in. They don't have a very long life span. I had one with a partial tail, something happened to that one.