Category: Wildlife

Throwback Thursday: Memory slip

On By CarynIn Craft, Wildlife

As I was scrolling through old photos I came across a mystery in May 2016. My memory is full of holes, which is why I take pictures and write in a journal. I found a picture that I had no memory of taking, or why. Here is what I think happened in April 2016. I crocheted a basket with cotton variegated yarn around a rope core as an experiment.

Photo description: olive, teal, and white variegated cotton crocheted basket
Photo description: closeup of basket showing a rope core under the crochet stitches

Two weeks later I have a picture of this same basket lashed to a branch as a makeshift nest for baby birds.

Photo description: baby birds in a nest inside the same crocheted basket

I don’t recognize the car in the background. The tree is not a live oak, which was the only kind of tree we had at the time in our yard, but the grass is St Augustine which was common in our neighborhood. The side walk configuration suggests a front yard. I did not write about the basket or the birds in my journal. What? So maybe it is not my story. I’m thinking a neighbor had a bird nest fall down and I offered my basket as a substitute nest. Maybe?

I do wonder what happened to those young birds and if the nest repair was accepted by the parents. Hm.

White acorns

On By CarynIn Wildlife

I was out and about and came across large white acorns fallen from a tree in a parking lot. I picked up a few and brought them home to the squirrels. It didn’t take long before the nuts were discovered and carried off. I love the enthusiasm the squirrels have when I give them white acorns. We have post oak in the yard and the white oak acorns are ten times the size of the post oak acorns.

Photo description: squirrel resting on a knot on a post oak tree carrying a white acorns with cap in its mouth
Photo description: same squirrel higher in the tree stripping off the acorn cap by holding it in its front paws and using its teeth

Shower lurker

On By CarynIn Wildlife

I went to take a shower and someone was already in there. She was a small someone, a house gecko, but we were both surprised.

Photo description: house gecko “hiding” in my cupped hand

I assume a cat brought her in, but it is getting colder and she could have found her own way to the shower, since she seemed undamaged, just cold. The shower glass and tile were too slick for the gecko to climb, so she was stuck. I took her back outside and put her into the deck box, since it is a protected place where I’ve found geckos before. I give the pronoun “she”, but honestly I didn’t ask preference, or check. She was much too cooperative and polite to be an “it”.

Squirrel vs antler

On By CarynIn Wildlife

I read that squirrels will gnaw on antlers and bone, so I attached a deer antler to a tree. The squirrels love it, so much so that they chewed through it.

Photo description: deer antler with many, many squirrel teeth marks, especially at the top near the screw holding it to the tree and at the bend where they chewed completely through the antler

When I look out the window I’m just as likely to see a squirrel gnawing away at the antler as I am to see them eating corn or gathering peanuts.

I do regret not having a trail cam pointed at the antler for the moment the chewed through section fell off, since it was also a favorite squirrel perch.

National Bison Day

On By CarynIn Wildlife

Happy National Bison Day! As you are coming off the sugar high from yesterday, gear up for winter with some bison, because no one does winter better than our national mammal.

Photo description: white bison coming head on (not to butt, but to get treats) on the Buena Vista Wildlife Safari

Here is more about today from the National Bison Association.

https://nationalbison.org/celebrate-national-bison-day-honoring-americas-national-mammal-and-its-regenerative-legacy/

Here are some great products made of bison: https://thebuffalowoolco.com (not an affiliate link, I just love what they do and that they are local!)

So have some bison burgers, warm your fingers and toes with some buffalo wool knits, or treat your skin to some American made products today. Support local. Support the continuation of an American icon.