Enchanting Encounters

       Today I had an enchanting encounter...one of those you remember the rest of your life. This afternoon I met a mule deer face to face about 15 to 18 meters away!

      I have a piece of recreational property which has very little development on it. I have built a small garage which holds my holiday trailer. Other than that most of the lot is left as it was. Today I was out closing out my camp. It was the day to make a final grass cut and mulch leaves. I also cleaned leaves out of the eaves trough. It's a pleasant task which usually gets done on a fine fall day.

     So at 3:00 PM I was taking some material back to the car. As I turned to make my start I noticed something that was in an empty space of the driveway... a mule deer doe! She probably saw me at the same time I saw her. She stood still and gave me a disdainful stare. She was trying to go to my neighbors who feed birds and sometimes the deer. This doe was obviously going for a mid afternoon snack. She would look across at the neighbors and then back at me. I talked to her. Finally, she decided to take a more secure option and turned tail and left rapidly. So my magic meeting ended. It's always exciting to unexpectedly meet wildlife when they are very near.

     My neighbors have been telling me that deer visit their yard on a regular basis. They also know that these animals come through my yard. However, when I run into a deer like this it's always a thrill. Now some of you will wonder why I didn't get a picture. You know my excuse. I think I learned a lesson and will start carrying my camera more often.

Some Topics Keep Giving and Giving

        When I started my blog two years ago,  little did I realize that I would do five posts on the white tailed jack rabbit.   I did not intend to write about rabbits. Experiences have occurred which have lead to good stories.

        This urban area has a number of jack rabbits as a permanent population. Most days when I'm out I see a rabbit and sometimes three at a time. Just seeing a rabbit munching on grass or snoozing in some brush does not make a story. Since rabbits are somewhat numerous and very active they sometimes present stories. That is what has happened to me. Interesting happenings take place and I write about them. Now my neighbors are passing on stories and pictures. I've also had to do a little research so I learn some interesting things. It also helps that these animals are cute and move in huge leaps and bounds.     I see so many rabbits that I have jokingly appointed myself as the official rabbit watcher.

     So scroll back and look at some of the posts I've made on the white tailed jack rabbit.

Baby Jack Rabbit with an Attitude

         I received an email this morning which included a couple of pictures of a new born jack rabbit.

        

     My neighbors Mavis and Duane, happened to find this little critter toddling about on their lawn beside the shrubbery. Their first reaction was to get a picture and their second plan was to shoo the little guy back into the shrubbery for his own protection. When they attempted to guide the baby back to the protection of the shrubbery it hissed at them. More than that, it put a paw out as if to shoo them away. So they gave up trying to help and left him to his own design. They did the right thing to leave him alone. Many people pick these little fellows up thinking that they have been abandoned . Not so.

       The doe leaves the new born rabbits about an hour after their birth. The babies leave their birth place almost immediately and go in different directions. Even though they are tiny and young they are very mobile and can move easily. The doe comes back from time to time and finds them and nurses them. They do live a precarious life and a high percentage of them are preyed on by predators. The jack rabbit has come to know that there are fewer predators in an urban setting and the food is plentiful. Therefore we have an ever increasing population of jack rabbits in the city.

      So thanks Mavis and Duane for being alert and getting a picture and telling a story. This little creature displayed a very independent attitude for his age. It's rather amazing that this birth happened on Sept. 5 which is rather late in the season.

Official Jack Rabbit Watcher

         Since I seem to post a quite few things on jack rabbits(lepus townsendii) I feel like I'm watching them all the time and might as well claim the title of official jack rabbit watcher  for myself. There are quite few jack rabbits in my neighborhood so when I run across them there's usually something to say about them. They are always interesting. Since I was brought up on a prairie farm, I've been exposed to the jack rabbit for a long time. Since they are well camoflaged we would often scare them up from a close range. They probably alarmed us as much as we scared them. To see them bounding off with long leaps and at high speed always called for you to stop and watch.

        So today, on my early morning paper, route I saw one jack rabbit under a spruce tree. It was still completely white. All of our snow has melted except for a few snowbanks. This poor specimen was rather obvious although I'm sure he thought he was still well camoflaged. There is just a  tiny bit of dark fur showing through the white so it probably won't be long until they are in their summer coat. I'm sure one will pop up in the next few days to show me how the summer coat is progressing.

Silent Fellow Travellers

       I am always amused when I find that something else has travelled silently and unobserved in my territory.

      Last week as I was doing my paper route I suddenly noticed deer tracks down the sidewalk I was following. Yes, in the middle of a city residential area a deer had taken the sidewalk to go from someplace to somewhere else. I'm sure that it was seen by no one as it would have moved in the early morning hours. Interesting how we share our space with other creatures and few of us are aware of their presence. I wonder if they are aware of our presence or do they just ignore us? I some how doubt they ignore us as they have extremey keen senses of hearing and smell.

     So I enjoyed sharing my space with my unseen silent partner.

The Rabbits are Turning White

A few posts ago I wrote something on "Frost on the Pumpkin". Now, this was late September, and the frost was, shall we say, light. That is to say, there were one or two degrees of frost for a few hours in the morning.

Now we are at another level of frost. We've had lows close to -20C and days where the high was below freezing. With temperatures and daylight changing, there are obvious and not so obvious changes to plants, animals and birds.

One change which has always brought me some enjoyment is the rabbit changing to white. As a child there were often hundreds of jack rabbits (whitehttp://talkaboutwildlife.com/)where I lived, and their change in color was a highlight for a small child. It marked a very definite change in the seasons. It indicated that any time now, it could become very cold for prolonged periods of time and snow usually began to stay.

This week when I was delivering papers, I found a rabbit under a shrub just in front of a subscriber's door. I was less than a meter away from the rabbit and it did not flush. So I thought I'd have a little chat with the old boy. Still, he (or she) did not move. I put the paper in the mail box and left. This particular rabbit was just about all white. We don't have any snow cover yet, but he was still hard to see. In a few more days this particular animal will be completely white.

Once again, one of my favorite fall changes has given me its pleasure.

SKUNK VISITS ALF

     Alf and his Dad were away for three weeks . When they got back a wasp colony had firmly established itself under their back step . Gord (Dad) and Alf were trying to get rid of them as it made the back entrance of the house somewhat risky . The wasps came up out of the ground beside the steps so it was assumed they were a type of ground wasp . A system of spray and killing wasps with a trowel was used . Alf was collecting the wasps and put them in water to drown them.

      This morning Gord came out the back door to find the ground dug up beside the step. A wasp nest was lying beside the step. No wasps were around. I guess the skunk had a huge evening meal with all the adult wasps and larvae in the nest . Alf's eyes were as big as saucers . His Dad was not aware that skunks ate insects . Now the back step is safe from nasty surprises .

     Skunks main diet is from insect material .We often see little digs or scrapes were skunks have retrieved insects or larvae from just under the soil surface . There are more skunks around our yards than we are aware of unless we take note of the places the dig or scrape to uncover food .

photo by Judy Boyd

SUNNYBROOK BEAVER POND

Beaver photos by Judy Boyd

      Eager beaver ? I don't think so . Work like a beaver ? I can buy that .

      Since 1970 I have watched the Sunnybrook beaver pond. The dam across the creek has been active about 50% of the time . Beavers would operate the dam for three or four yours and then move to another area ...sometimes only 200 or 300 meters up or down stream .

      The Sunnybrook pond ,as usual , is in a very well chosen location . A seasonal drainage comes in from the left but it is deep and fairly wide so the beavers get two streams and banks with one dam. Water backs up in the main stream for about 400 meters and in the drainage channel about 200 meters. This gives the beavers a rather large area from which to gather food .

     The beavers work at the dam from mid summer to mid fall . Old dead tree trunks are put in the dam along with smaller brushy sized pieces . Much mud is also deposited in the dam . What we don't see are the many boulders which are in the dam . The boulders are noticed when the dam is abandoned and washed out . We start to wonder were did they find all the boulders as well as marvel at the strength they have to more the rocks .

      There is also evidence of tremendous effort in taking down very large aspens . Once the trees are felled they are cut up and moved to an under water storage area where the bark can be stripped and consumed over the winter.

      In this pond they never build a lodge but prefer to burrow into the bank to make a residence . As you can see the banks are well treed with spruce . The roots make a roof which doesn't cave in .

      So the beavers work hard to make a dam , lodge and plentiful supply of food . They tend to calmly go about their business with little excitement or fanfare . So they log many hours of work in building maintaining and repairing the dam , Many more hours are spent building up a year's supply of food . So I admire the beaver for not only his work ethic but his great ingenuity .

RUDE AWAKENING

     Sometimes rude awakenings happen at the most surprising times .


     I was delivering papers at 6 AM and was about a step and a half from the next mailbox when a jack rabbit jumped up . The rabbit had his butt up against the house foundation right under the mail box . He took a couple of little hops and then stopped and looked at me with an evil eye as if to say "You just woke me up ! " I was also wakened to some extent as delivering papers can be fairly subconscious . I was not expecting to find a rabbit under a mailbox.


     I told him I was sorry for disturbing him but it didn't seem to make him feel any better . It had rained so he was on a dry spot which had been sheltered under the eaves . So the spot was dry and comfortable .


     There are several rabbits which have a territory on my paper route and I see them most days . They keep their cover until you are almost up to them .So when they do move you are very close and it can startle you if you are daydreaming .


       They are beautiful creatures and very pleasant to have in the neighborhood .

My Jack Rabbit Start

       I was running the other morning at 7AM. Now don't get ahead of me on this story .


     I run through part of a neighborhood which has mature cottoneaster hedges which come down to the side walk. As I came up to one of the hedges, two Jack rabbits popped out from behind the hedge less than two meters from me. They caught my attention! I was startled and stopped . They took a couple of little bunny hops and sat on the road looking at me as if to say, "Sir, just what do you think you're doing ?" I stared back and admired their beauty at this close range.


     They became bored or maybe wanted to continue with their breakfast and they took several big bunny hops and crossed the street where one of them hopped up into a brick planter with new bedding plants and resumed eating breakfast . I said to them, "I don't think you guys are supposed to be eating that stuff." They totally ignored me .


      At that point I continued my run none the worse for my start(ling ) experience which made me jump.So a jack rabbit start at 7AM perks you up for the rest of the day.