Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Critters
Yesterday, while we having tea and toast in the morning, a gray fox strolled through the backyard/woods and casually marked one of MY epimediums as HIS epimedium.
This morning, while I was having tea and toast, a rabbit made a quick tour through the backyard/woods. I hadn't seen any rabbits for a while, but I knew they were here. They seem to like crocus foliage.
Earlier, this morning, with the first cup of tea, I saw 6 (!) brown-headed cowbirds perched in a tree just outside the patio door, gleaning insects. Eating bugs is good, but I hope they're just tourists - I'd hate for them to parasitize a nest of some bird I really like.
And just now, while reading VA-bird, a startling news item crossed my computer screen - the ivory-billed woodpecker has been rediscovered in Arkansas. This seems to be for real.
2 Comments:
That is so interesting--we have a red fox we've seen quite a bit of recently. And we watched it mark a tree yesterday while we were all eating breakfast. Last Saturday morning I saw it hunt a squirrel; kind of gruesome but fascinating as well.
And that is so cool about the ivory-bills! Here's hoping its not a lone mail but at least a breeding couple.
Hmmm.....maybe it's territory-marking season? We see foxes occasionally, both red and gray, but backyard sightings are still uncommon enough here to remark on. I've never seen them catch anything, but saw one digging after a mouse/vole one time. As far as I could tell, he didn't get it.
Not long after I wrote the post about the ivory-billed woodpecker, there was a pileated woodpecker on a tree in back of the house. That's only the second time I've ever seen one close to the house. Ran to get the camera, but it was gone by the time I got back.
Post a Comment
<< Tangled Branches: Cultivated, main page