Friday bonus: koi and ducks

Some bonus pictures of the fish and ducks in our pond. The koi are starting to come out of hibernation, becoming more active as the weather warms up:

Fish

Fish

Of course, when I toss out fish food, the ducks scoop it up too:

Ducks and fish

Also, spotted a few of the smaller koi:

Fish and ducks

Fish and ducks

Fish and ducks

But wait, there’s more. Those pictures were from yesterday; today, I saw a bunch of the small koi (probably a couple of years old) and some of the older ones (about seven years old) amongst the grasses below the pond deck. I tossed in some fish food, which of course attracted the ducks:

Koi and duck

Fish and ducks

Fish and duck

Fish

Fish

Finally, GIF editions of a couple of those pictures:

Flock Friday for April 10

This week, we start with a GIF of frisky ducks, then a bunch more duck pictures, some token chicken pics, and finish with some misty ducks.

The aforementioned GIF (might take a minute to load):

GIF of frisky ducks

A frame of that GIF:

Ducks

Some more pictures of the ducks:

Ducks

Ducks

Ducks

Ducks

An aerial shot of the pond and ducks (see yesterday’s post for more):

Aerial ducks

Misty ducks:

Misty ducks

Chickens enjoying rice treats:

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Back to the ducks, coming to see me by the chicken coop:

Ducks

Ducks

A duck feather:

Duck feather

Some early morning pictures of the misty pond and ducks:

Misty ducks

Misty ducks

The ducks walking past the camera:

Ducks

Too many duck pictures? They’re just such fun. I should try to get more pictures of the chickens, though.

Cat update for week ending March 28

This week, some alien cat sightings, some GIFs comparing the twins, and some cat snuggles.

Two alien male cats in the breezeway; they exchanged words, then separated (none of our ferals were there):

Two alien cats

That new alien cat again:

Alien cat

Sleepy cat:

Sleepy cat

Three cats (can you see all three?):

Three cats

A two-frame animated GIF comparing the twins, Spud and Pommie; Spud is the larger one when Pommie is in the cabin. You can see why it’s hard to tell them apart; their markings are virtually identical, but comparing them like this helps to pick out some subtle differences:

GIF of Spud vs Pommie

Porcini and Pommie:

Porcini and Pommie

Another GIF, this time with Porcini in the left cabin, Pommie arriving and going into the right cabin, then Spud arriving and joining Porcini, then later leaving and sitting in front:

GIF of Porcini, Pommie, Spud

A two-frame excerpt from the above GIF, to again compare the markings of Spud and Pommie:

GIF of Spud vs Pommie

And a still of the three cats in the cabins:

Three cats

Porcini yawning:

Yawn

I was amused by this post-yawn face; looks like she’s about to sneeze:

Post-yawn face

Bella joins Poppy inside their house:

Two cats inside

Bella playing under the mat:

Two cats inside

Snuggling:

Two cats snuggling

Two cats snuggling

Finally, Poppy and Porcini inside this morning:

Two cats inside

Flock Friday for March 20

This week, the ducks walked across the back lawn to meet me a few times, the chickens got their favorite treat, the heron visited again, and more.

Oh, and for anyone who doesn’t follow my personal blog, Dejus: because everyone could use a bit more joy at present, I’m posting a moment of cuteness every day. Which will include additional duck and chicken pictures not posted here, plus feral and pet cats, our dog Rory, and other cute things from around the homestead. So you might enjoy following the Dejus blog, or its RSS feed, or cross-posts on Micro.blog, on Twitter, or on Facebook.

Anyway, on with today’s Flock Friday. Here are the ducks in their house:

Duck in duck house

Duck in duck house

The ducks on a frosty back lawn:

Ducks

Eating mealworms next to the duck house:

Ducks by duck house

Ducks by duck house

Chickens having a dust bath in the veggie garden:

Chickens having a dust bath

The ducks on the back lawn again:

Ducks

Quacking and walking back to their house:

Ducks

Ducks on path

A couple animated GIFs of the ducks on the path to the duck house (different than the one posted on my personal blog):

GIF of ducks on path

GIF of ducks on path

Chickens staring at me, waiting for treats:

Chickens waiting for treats

Chickens waiting for treats

It was worth the wait; rice is their all-time favorite treat, after mealworms:

Chickens enjoying rice

Chickens enjoying rice

Chickens enjoying rice

Chickens enjoying rice

Another frosty morning, and again the ducks running over the lawn to see me:

Ducks running over the lawn to see me

Ducks on back lawn

Quacking at me by the chicken runs:

Ducks by chicken runs

Ducks by chicken runs

Did you see the YouTube video of them following me to the duck house and getting treats?

A heron coming in for a landing:

Heron landing

Heron landing

Heron in the pond, watched by the ducks:

Heron in pond

Finally, since Jenn hasn’t been going to work due to COVID-19, and the chickens are laying about a dozen eggs per day at present, we’re accumulating lots of eggs. Here are four dozen, washed and ready to make into a heap of breakfast burritos this morning:

Four dozen eggs

We’ll work on thinking of other meals to eat up the eggs. Let me know if you have any recommendations.

Stay safe, stay home, everyone!

Cat update for week ending March 14

While you could all use cute pictures of ducks and chickens this week, everyone knows that cats rule the internet for cuteness. On to Caturday!

Three cats in front of the cat house:

Three cats

Poppy face:

Poppy

Three cats in the breezeway:

Three cats

Porcini and Pumpkin in the cabins:

Porcini and Pumpkin

An animated GIF of a bird landing:

GIF of bird landing

A new alien cat visited a few times, and menaced Pumpkin (giving him a taste of his own medicine):

Alien cat and Pumpkin

Alien cat and Pumpkin

He looks like one of our ferals, though larger, but doesn’t have the ear tip:

Alien cat and Pumpkin

Alien cat and Pumpkin

He went after Pumpkin in the shelter; Pumpkin stood his ground:

Alien cat and Pumpkin

Pumpkin was none the worse from that encounter:

Pumpkin

Porcini:

Porcini

A GIF of Pumpkin arriving, and pausing while another cat departed:

GIF of Pumpkin and another cat

GIF of Poppy slowly walking towards the feeder, only to be overtaken by two of her kits:

GIF of Poppy with two other cats

GIF of cats playing:

GIF of cats playing

Four cats outside; two in front of the bench, one only visible as a shadow behind the bench, and one by a rock:

Four cats

At the same instant as that photo, another cat in the feeder. I always enjoy seeing all five cats at the same time; a rather rare occurrence:

Cat in feeder

Pepper on her perch in the shop, watching me collapsing cardboard boxes:

Pepper in the shop

Porcini:

Porcini

Porcini under the deck, looking startled when I was refilling the bird feeders:

Porcini

Snow on a cat in the feeder:

Snow on cat

Two cats inside their house, taking advantage of the heating pads:

Two cats inside

Cat update for week ending March 7

This week, one GIF, some pictures with Pumpkin, a glimpse of my drone, etc.

Porcini and Pommie in the cabins:

Porcini and Pommie

Pumpkin arriving in the breezeway:

Pumpkin in the breezeway

The two cats in the cabin were not pleased to see him:

Pumpkin in the breezeway

“And stay away!”

Pumpkin in the breezeway

Pumpkin:

Pumpkin

A GIF of cats (and briefly a raccoon) in the cabins and house. Pumpkin just wants to hang out with them:

GIF of cats

A cat arriving at the feeder while Pumpkin was eating:

Arriving while Pumpkin was eating

Porcini:

Porcini

Two cats inside their house:

Two cats inside

Pansy on a chair in the back of the shop:

Pansy

Pumpkin looking very relaxed:

Pumpkin

Pumpkin and Poppy both arrive for breakfast at the same time:

Pumpkin and Poppy

Pumpkin went to drink some water, and Poppy was able to go in to eat:

Pumpkin and Poppy

Pumpkin peeking:

Pumpkin peeking

Two cats in the feeder:

Two cats

Pommie arrived at the cabins while Pumpkin was there:

Pommie and Pumpkin

A glimpse of my drone on the left of the picture, practicing low flying, when a couple of cats were eating:

Drone

Drone

Poppy asleep in the house:

Poppy

Another cat joined her:

Two cats inside

Three cats:

Three cats

Cat update for week ending February 22

This week, my first sighting of a coyote, plus some raccoons, and less Pumpkin than usual.

Pumpkin standing by the water dish:

Pumpkin standing

That was the last time I saw him for several days; but he did return. Made us wonder if he does have another home, and was kept inside to heal from his fight last week?

Double-decker breezeway cabin cats:

Breezeway cats

Breezeway cats:

Breezeway cats

A GIF of a cat carrying a prize; doing their job catching rodents:

GIF of cat with prize

Two cats near their house:

Two cats

A coyote visited the cat house. Although I’ve seen signs of them many times, this was the first time I’ve seen one on my cameras. This one is wounded; their front-left paw seems to be missing or mangled, so it was hopping around like Rory does. While I certainly don’t want to encourage coyotes, I do have some sympathy for this one:

Coyote

Coyote

Coyote

Coyote

Porcini:

Porcini

Bella:

Bella

Two cats on the empty fountain pool:

Two cats on fountain

Three cats in the breezeway:

Three cats in breezeway

Two cats in their house, taking advantage of it with Pumpkin away:

Two cats in house

Chasing a flying insect in the house:

Cat chasing fly

A few days later, the tripawd coyote returned, and this time ventured inside the feeder, though there wasn’t any food there:

Coyote

Coyote

Coyote

Coyote

Coyote

Coyote

Coyote

Our local feed store has a couple of roaming cats (useful to protect the supplies from rodents); this one has an ear-tip to mark it as a neutered feral cat, but is friendly:

Feed store cat

One of the twins:

Twin

With Pumpkin away, and some other cats not visiting, there has been an excess of food dispensed, leaving a bunch at night. A lucky raccoon had a feast:

Lucky raccoon

It was too much food even for the raccoon… though it (or another one) did come back later to finish it off:

Too much food even for the raccoon

I subsequently significantly cut back the amount of food being dispensed. I’d rather have to manually dispense food than leave some overnight, encouraging unauthorized wildlife visitors. (I can remotely manually dispense via the feeder’s app.)

A cropped screenshot of the two shop cats; Pansy using the heating pad, and Pepper eating:

Shop cats

Porcini:

Porcini

Porcini and Poppy playing:

Porcini and Poppy

Porcini and Poppy

Pausing while scratching the tree, with another cat drinking in the background:

Scratching tree

Poppy:

Poppy

I heard some quiet cat conversation on our front steps next to my desk, and turned on the light to see one of the twins on the steps, and another cat below the door (not visible here). Not fighting, just meowing at each other, which is a bit unusual for ferals. They didn’t run away when they saw me, either, though I’m sure would have if I had opened the door:

Cat on front steps

Three cats in the breezeway again:

Three cats in breezeway

After most of the week away, Pumpkin returned yesterday. I didn’t see any sign of treatment, but I didn’t get a very good look. He may have just been roaming. Though I haven’t seen him yet today, so if he does have a human home, maybe he slipped out:

Pumpkin returns

A Steller’s Jay:

Steller's Jay

Robin:

Robin

The robin having a bath in the water dispenser; I’m sure the cats enjoyed the bird flavor in their water:

Bird bath

A cute trash panda face, I mean raccoon, with no food this time:

Raccoon

Cat update for week ending February 8

This week, more snow and more GIFs, though half as many as last time.

Here are Bella and Poppy sitting by the breezeway cabin, from two angles:

Bella and Poppy

Bella and Poppy

You may recall that Pumpkin dislodged the decorative barrel on the cat house deck a couple of weeks ago; I re-glued it back in place:

Replaced barrel

Here’s a shot from a bit further back, including the door to the cat house:

Replaced barrel

Poppy hiding under the stacked furniture on our deck gazebo:

Poppy

Porcini and Poppy:

Porcini and Poppy

Paladout:

Paladout

Porcini pole dancing:

Porcini pole dancing

Derpy Porciini:

Derpy Porciini

Porcini looking at a bird:

Porcini

GIF of Porcini playing, watched by another couple of cats:

GIF of Porcini playing

Three cats:

Three cats

Pumpkin (looking rather evil, but really just sleepy) watching the snow come down:

Pumpkin watching snow

Pumpkin walking in the snow:

Pumpkin in snow

Another cat in the snow:

Cat in snow

Cat prints in the snow on our driveway:

Cat prints in snow

The cat house in the snow:

Cat house in snow

Cat house in snow

Cats in snow:

Cats in snow

Pumpkin:

Pumpkin in snow

Watch a GIF of cats with melting snow:

GIF of cats with melting snow

Bella in the breezeway at dusk:

Bella in breezeway

GIF of Pumpkin arriving and startling Porcini; I think he was just as startled:

GIF of Porcini and Pumpkin

Breezeway snuggles:

Breezeway snuggles

GIF of a raccoon grabbing a few crumbs of food:

GIF of a raccoon grabbing food

Daytime in the breezeway; quite a contrast between the bright light outside and the dark of the shelves:

Daytime breezeway

Pansy reaching for food:

Pansy reaching for food

Bella:

Bella

GIF of licks in the breezeway cabin:

GIF of licks in breezeway cabin

GIF of Bella rolling around in the cat house:

GIF of Bella in cat house

A twin on the kitchen lawn (I think Spud):

Twin on kitchen lawn

Twin on kitchen lawn

Porcini by the cabins:

Porcini

One of the twins; I think this is Pommie:

Pommie?

This is definitely Spud (I saw his rear end, the only definitive way to tell them apart).  I can’t tell any difference in markings between the two twins, but Spud is a little skinnier:

Spud

Pumpkin hadn’t been hanging around for the last two days, so we were starting to worry something had happened to him, but he turned up again this morning:

Pumpkin