Category: nature encounters

The crabapple tree is very popular throughout the day, and deer aren’t the only ones enjoying its ever oddly timed crop.

There’s a couple of baby coyotes hanging out all the time on the upper field. They take off whenever we show up.

Not to ruin a happy baby story, I think they are abandoned, have mange, and I’ve only seen one of them for the last few days :|.

It’s a bummer they’re having a hard time, I’ve rarely seen coyotes even though we hear them all the time, and I was happy to have a few encounters.

We couldn’t figure out how we kept losing eggs we temporary placed on the grain cans. The answer is that the chickens became acquainted with this raven. They usually make a ruckus when they’re around, but this guy gets a free pass even as he jumps around trying to make the egg fall.

Flying away, egg in beak

We thought a raven might be it, and so we kept bringing an egg every day around the same time until we could catch whatever it was in the act. We learned that it doesn’t like white eggs, only brown ones. No peanuts either. It really just wants 1 brown egg. For a bit I was dreaming of having a pet raven that would bring me shiny stuff in exchange for eggs, but it seems unreceptive to the idea, so we stopped the expensive daily tribute. I’m still hoping :).

Edit: Raven! it’s a raven not a crow :).

These guys are everywhere.

It’s rare to run into these guys during the day. Robin found it, kept it company, and brought us to it. The porcupine wasn’t too happy about the commotion and hid under a covered tractor implement.

It is but a popple but it stands tall. For a brief few minutes of a brief few days, only it gets the Sun’s full attention.

We are finding many chrysalises, and they are flying everywhere.

Fortunately, they are very good at escaping predators.

We’ve had several encounters with this deer over the Summer. It gets close to us and doesn’t run away when we move closer, talk, or even shoo it. Our default is to shoo since they will wreak havoc in the gardens, but this deer now gets an exception. We can talk with it for a while before it loses interest, you can tell it’s curious about humans. Having a literal eye to eye conversation with wild animals is a good reminder that despite our efforts to avoid each other, we share a common life experience.

Sometimes you look up and there’s a giant glowing orb in the sky. Between this and the fireflies, Vermont Summers are quite the show.

This was Esther’s first time seeing them, she couldn’t believe it. One of the great privileges of parenthood is to witness kids discover the world.

A Winter thaw seems to have awakened the squirrels. They first started going after the crabapple tree which has fruit at the oddest times of the year.

Then they got closer to the house and started raiding the bird feeders, as squirrels will do.

Never seen one of these before but it turns out it lives in every U.S. state.

We often have signs, rarely sightings. This guy’s been bold. Esther shooed it (from the house) with great vehemence.

An interesting thing about the birdfeeder is how birds species time share on it. Blue Jays, when they descend on it, will take over all the surrounding trees. Several dozens of them raiding the feeder for 20 minutes. None of them were there before, none left after. They act as a group, are punctual, and expedient.

In the Summer of 2014, when we took possession of our land, there were so many ruffed grouses thumping away that it sounded like old tractors were starting constantly. We were in fact puzzled for a long time as to what the sound was. We haven’t heard them since, and we never really saw them either. Until a few days ago, when we heard one, and then saw a female next to the house, and then a male in the forest. I can only hope it means they are back for good.