Oh deer

Living in a rural area, we frequently get deer visiting our property. I don’t take pictures of them all the time, but have accumulated a few, so I thought I’d post some recent ones.

(We used to get elk too, though they stopped when neighboring properties were developed.)

From a month ago, a deer munching grass in front of our beehives:

Deer

Near the apple trees behind the workshop:

Deer

You may have seen these on my personal blog, of a doe and a couple brand-new fawns:

Deer

From a couple of weeks ago, just hanging out by the aforementioned apple trees, watching me as I went past:

Deer

A few days ago, a nighttime graze right in front of the beehives cam:

Deer

A couple of days ago, grazing on plants in the traffic circle of our driveway:

Deer

And that’s why we don’t have tulips anymore. When choosing plants, deer resistance is always one of the criteria, though they don’t always read the labels.

Flock Friday for July 3

Let’s check on the chickens, Bert, and Jack. (Who is that? Read on.)

Chicken treats:

Chicken treats

Hey there, Bert:

Duck

Jack is, of course, the frog living in our pond deck box:

Frog

Another day, more chicken pictures:

Chickens

Chickens GIF

Chickens

Chickens GIF

Chickens

A couple more of Jack, sitting on top of the fish food container, and on the side of the box:

Frog

Flock Friday for June 19

It’s Friday, so let’s check on the adult birds, in a weekly series I call Flock Friday.

Let’s start with the chickens enjoying some kale treats, while Bert watches and waits for me outside the run:

Chickens enjoying treats while Bert watches

Bert then followed me across the lawn:

Bert on the lawn

And down the path:

Bert on the path

That was cute; let’s have an animated GIF of that:

GIF of Bert on the path

Bert watching the ducklings:

Bert watching ducklings

Another day, Bert meeting me by the compost bins again:

Duck and chickens

At the chicken coop:

Bert at coop

Bert watching the ducklings again:

Bert at duck house

Bert watching ducklings

And watching me:

Bert

A GIF of a couple birds flying over the pond:

GIF of birds over pond

And a still pic:

Birds over pond

Let’s finish as we started, with more chickens enjoying treats (kale and lettuce grown in our veggie garden):

Chickens enjoying treats

Flock Friday for June 12

This past week has been exciting with the baby ducklings, but I also got a bunch of pictures of the adult duck, Bert, and the chickens.

This post is about the adults, but let’s start with a check in on the ducklings; here’s them a week ago:

Ducklings

And yesterday; look how much they’ve grown already:

Ducklings

A picture of the ducklings and Bert:

Ducklings and duck

I feed him his breakfast in this spot, as the food sinks to the bottom, and there’s a shallow ledge there, as more visible in the previous picture, when the water level was lower; it’s easer for him to eat from the water than on land:

Duck

Some pictures of the chickens while I was installing the compost bins:

Chickens

Chickens and duck:

Chickens and duck

While I was refilling the feeder, Bert joined me:

Duck

Duck and chickens

Following me down the path to the duck house:

Duck

Breakfast next to the duck house:

Duck

An animated GIF of a heron taking off, when I went out there to chase it:

GIF of heron

Bert drinking water accumulated in the paint tray that will be used by the ducklings next week:

Duck

He went up the ramp and tapped on the pop door. Sorry, that’ll stay closed for several more weeks, until the ducklings are old enough to go into the pond (at about 8 weeks old):

Duck

Ducklings and duck

Duck

Eating again:

Duck

A bunch of pictures of the chickens:

Chickens

I moved the log, and they enjoyed some tasty worms underneath:

Chickens

A favorite dust bath spot under the pop door ramp:

Chickens

Another day, I offered fun apple peel treats:

Chickens

Bert was watching with interest outside the chicken run (I did offer some apple peel to him, but he didn’t want it):

Duck

Flock Friday for June 5

Yesterday I did a post about our new ducklings. I’ll no doubt do another post about them later today too. But in the meantime, a regular Flock Friday post about wild birds, chickens, and our adult duck.

Firstly, I saw what looks like a carrier pigeon on our driveway. It has leg bands, and didn’t seem afraid of me. I guess taking a pitstop:

Pigeon

While doing the gate post repair, I dug a couple of small holes in the new and old chicken runs, so the chickens could enjoy digging in the dirt:

Chickens

The heron visited again; the decoy heron doesn’t seem to deter it:

Heron

I chased it off again (though it had been there a while before I noticed it):

Heron

Got a dirty bill there Bert:

Duck

The chickens watching me most intently, waiting for me to give them treats:

Chickens

A couple of funny/interesting things in this shot: stretched neck, and eye in mid-blink (the chicken in the foreground) — fun fact, chickens have a third eyelid, a nictitating membrane, that protects and moistens the eye while still allowing them to see:

Chickens

Rice treat scramble:

Chickens

Buffy laying an egg:

Chicken

Bert:

Duck

You may have seen this on the What’s It Wednesday answer; a closeup of Bert’s foot:

Duck foot

Bert:

Duck

Head close-ups:

Duck

And a couple more shots of him:

Duck

Stay tuned for more duckling pics later.

Flock Friday for May 29

On this week’s Flock Friday, lots of pictures of chickens, a couple of GIFs, and a bonus frog.

The chickens hanging out by the old coop:

Chickens

Bert with a droplet on his bill:

Duck

Bert “helping” the koi eat their food:

Duck and fish

The chickens watching me expectantly just before I gave them their morning treats:

Chickens

An animated GIF of the chickens spinning around waiting for afternoon treats inside the new coop:

GIF of chickens

And waiting for treats again in the old coop:

Chickens

Broody chickens:

Chickens

Another broody chicken:

Chicken

You may have seen the pond deck box frog on my personal blog; here it’s on the edge of the box, just before hopping out:

Frog

Lonely duck. Hang in there Bert; new ducklings will arrive soon!

Duck

A bunch of pictures of chickens enjoying bonus water on a hot day:

Chickens

Chicken

Chickens

I also turned over some logs, revealing tasty bugs:

Chicken

Chickens

Finally, a GIF of a week on the pond:

GIF of a week on the pond

(You can see me cleaning out the duck house on the 23rd, and the heron on the 25th.)

The new ducklings should arrive sometime next week, so there may be some baby duckling pics in the next Flock Friday!

Cat update for week ending May 23

This week, a number of animated GIFs, including a 30-second summary of the last week inside the cat house, and more.

Let’s start with a GIF of Bella chasing and catching a bug in the feeder:

Bella chasing bug

And a GIF of her playing in the cat house:

Bella playing

A still of that:

Playful cat

Cats in cabins:

Cats in cabins

Poppa and Pommie in the breezeway:

Poppa and Pommie in breezeway

Three cats in the cat house:

Three cats in cat house

A screenshot of my cams app, showing four cats:

Screenshot of four cats

Refilling the cat food:

Refilling the cat food

Raccoon:

Raccoon

A few minutes later, the raccoon must have got close to the cabins, as Pommie emerged from a cabin and hissed before retreating, though I didn’t see the raccoon on the camera:

Cat hissing

Three cats inside:

Three cats inside

A screenshot my iPhone showing several cams:

Screenshot of cams

Cat house snuggles:

Cat house snuggles

Another day, a raccoon nabbed a bit of leftover food:

Raccoon

And a possum showed up, too late:

Possum

Up close and personal:

Possum

A GIF of the possum going inside the cat house with Porcini inside; fortunately it left without incident:

Possum inside cat house

Porcini reaction GIF:

Porcini

Poppy playing:

Playing

A GIF of Pommie and Porcini in the cabins, and Spud joining them and going into Porcini’s cabin:

Cabins

Three cats:

Three cats

A sped-up GIF of Poppa arriving at the cabins with Porcini and Pommie, and hanging out for five minutes; it continues to amaze me how much they accept him:

Poppa

Pansy in the back of the shop:

Pansy

Three cats for breakfast:

Three cats

Finally, a special GIF summarizing the last week inside the cat house:

Week inside cat house

Flock Friday for May 1

For Flock Friday this week, chickens and ducks, of course, plus a bathing bird, and a fake bird.

Chickens on the potato planters in the veggie garden. Enjoy it while you can, girls; you’ll be evicted soon, when we’re ready to start planting:

Chickens in veggie garden

Ducks on the back lawn:

Ducks

An animated GIF of a scrub jay having a bath in the stream:

GIF of bird in stream

I shared a picture of the chickens with drone frames in my recent bee post, with a followup in the subsequent post; here are a couple more photos of them not sure about the frames, before getting stuck in:

Chickens with drone frames

A crow by the cat house:

Crow

To help discourage visits by the heron, I added a fake one on the edge of the pond:

Fake heron

The ducks under the pond deck:

Ducks

A GIF of the chickens eating mealworms in the new coop:

GIF of chickens

Cat update for week ending April 18

This Caturday, various cute cats, various wildlife.

Three cats at breakfast time:

Three cats

Two cats inside their house:

Two cats inside

A GIF of Poppy drinking water and being startled by a cat climbing halfway up the pole behind the cat house then jumping down:

GIF of cat climbing pole

(Fun fact: the way Poppy raises one paw isn’t because it’s sore or something, it’s to be ready to lash out to defend herself if needed. Standard feral cat behavior for threats.)

A still of the cat pausing halfway up the pole:

Cat on pole

And jumping down:

Cat on pole

Porcini quickly exits a cabin as a coyote approaches:

Cat by cabins

It’s concerning that I’ve seen coyotes approaching the cat places recently:

Coyote by cabins

Three cats inside their house:

Three cats inside

An amusing side eye:

Side eye

Watching a bird overhead:

Cat watching bird

Since it’s no longer freezing overnight, I removed the heated water dish, and moved the water dispenser so I can see the level in the camera. It looks green mostly due to moss on the ground behind it; that is fresh water.

Dirty cat:

Dirty cat