February flash, flung 1 day late =D

 He is glorious; she has the munchies.

It's that time of year, turkeys parading all over.

I LOVE the percussion males provide to accompany their dance. SO COOL!

Squirrel-y cunning leads to tasty breakfast.

Extremely impressive core strength in this creature.

BIG THING FOR FEBRUARY:

new-to-me species!

Common sharp-tailed snake (Contia tenuis) I found while raking around the grape arbor.

 Pretty gorgeous tummy, eh?

Those are pine needles, so you can see this is a SMALL snake.

It was kinda cold, so I righted the snake for a photo,

then returned it to its home under a bunch of leaf litter.

Such an exciting discovery, and I'm glad it was unharmed (far as I could tell).

For more info on this species, I highly recommend its page at Calherps.

Now that gardening activity is on the upswing (here in the northern hemisphere),

a friendly reminder to CHECK under your row covers

EACH a.m. & release anything trapped w/in. =)

Beautiful male wasp (ichneumon, I believe)

I found under my row cover and released. 

It was 0% aggressive and, btw, males don't have the

equipment to sting. Note LACK of pointy barb @ end. =)

From February 1st--note the snow on the ground.

Seems like FOREVER ago. =)

Super cool stuff soil does when the cold freezes the water out.

I didn't grow up in really cold places, so this is fascinating to me. 

One of the first macro photos I ever took was

of this non-native early bloomer, red-stemmed filaree.

Changed my view of the world.

I'm a sucker for visible pollen grains, especially on purple anthers! =)


A lovely little flower...

Gorgeous small beetle I saw clambering across the greenery as I photographed the above flower.

So glad I got to see it.

Wildlife prints I found at the work site:

best part is the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) print...

you can SEE the fur on the underside of the fox feet. SO cool!

K. That's some of the myriad delights that transpired in spring.

March onward!!! =)

xoxooxbb

My pulse is still racing...

  
Today, Christmas, started out mildly, with a beauty of a sunrise.

Very nice.

Later, I commence to cleaning (guests arriving). Taking a break at the kitchen table, I see through my window that the chickens are playing statue--they are all standing stock still.

Knowing this may mean there's a predator around, I go outside to take a look. I step out, barefoot (since was cleaning the floor), and walk out onto the grass, looking up into the trees for a raptor.

I notice our Rhode Island red, perched high on a cement block, staring west, is the one issuing the call for "statue." I follow her gaze.

A movement from underneath the huge oak tree 25 yards to my left catches my eye.

A gray cat.

I start running after it (yes, in bare feet). I make some distance, then I see it dash across grassy opening between the oak and the manzanita thicket that is the back of our property (i.e. "safe" for any wildlife I'm pursuing).

This time, in better light and in full profile, I realize, woah, that's no gray cat, that's a gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus)!

This increases my motivation, as our first chicken "loss" was due to same.

I run faster, but it disappears in the manzanita maze. I mock it, yelling "Yeah, right!" (creative, I know), and head back to the coop.

The time for chicken play in the outdoor chicken runs is over. I lock them up tight and take a picture of our hero, Fanny.

Incidentally, she FINALLY is molting. She's 2.5 years old and has never molted. And wow, now that she's begun, she's not foolin' around. This is the most naked I've seen a chicken. Here's her side of the coop, with the attendant red-feather explosion (pardon the poop).

Then, chickens secure, I walk back toward the house, and what do I see?

Apparently, the chickens and fox are not the only things experiencing turmoil, today...

=)

Who said life in the sticks is dull?

xoxobb

known visitor and unknown visitors...

First, the unknown...

So, looked through bugguide.net, got to Noctuinae (cutworm or dart moth), and feeling like it's along the lines of Lacinipolia, but I am NOT an entomologist. Pretty much going by the pictures (SO scientific, I know). The head seems less fuzzy than most I've seen among the types that look close, but I don't know if that's terribly significant.

Oh, but I can tell you as a gardener here, there's LOTS of cutworms around! (grr....)

Anyhow, these are my guesses re: this handsome creature.

Next up, the known. 3 or so days ago I found scat in the driveway that I checked out and concluded was fox (we have gray fox).

This is what biologists do. =) Squat on the ground and poke apart poop with random rocks or twigs. Charming, I'm sure.

Haven't seen or heard evidence of fox in the area for many months, so as a biologist and chicken-keeper, this is an interesting development.

Well, that guess was VERY much audibly confirmed last night about 10 minutes after lights out. That classic fox "bark" that's more like a scream/cry. I got out of bed and listened verrry quietly by the open window upstairs, scanned around the two coops for any sign of movement, and mentally reviewed how well I did or did not lock up the hens last night....

Happily, all 4 hens are here and accounted for in the morning, but I did NOT do a good job putting them up (not all security measures were in place), so it's time to crank up the security!

We lost our first chicken to a fox, and I have NO desire for a repeat. Foxes can EASILY climb up the 6-8 food wood posts lining my garden and do the same to get out. InSANEly nimble creatures.

Consider us warned and wary. But of course, ever-curious, too. =)

biobabbler

lovely bones

        
I was looking for still-open red maids, as promised. Daylight was fading, so was running around our property for any sunny patches, scanning for open red maids.

This is what I found:

                    the scene

         

                                      profile

                                    dorsal view

Looking at the mammal field guide, the sagittal crest (ridge starting behind the eyes, going to the back of the head) is pretty definitive, along with the other evidence, indicating that this was a gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus).

The gray fox is the first bold wild animal I ever encountered (not counting animals acclimated to people). Once I was walking along a trail at a park I worked at, looked up, and saw it standing on the pavement, staring at me. I stopped. It did not run. It didn't even look nervous. It just looked right at me and stood it's ground. This was a first. A brave, and interesting creature, not to mention very seriously beautiful. So, I though about it a bit, and went back the way I came. I figured I was a visitor in it's home, so it'd be the polite thing to do. 

It's the only canid in North America that can climb trees. They are gorgeous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_fox), and I've seen them stalking the neighborhoods of a posh neighborhood in San Diego at night. Seen from afar, it looks like a long cat with the biggest, fluffiest tail you've ever seen, held straight out behind. They are a stunning combination of grey and rust, with a black-tipped tail.

Today's find makes me wonder what happened. Since the skull and spine and pelvis, etc. were all there, I expect it died there, although I suppose something could have dragged it's carcass here from elsewhere. I wonder when it happened. When there was snow on the ground?

Anyhow, I went searching for signs of spring, and found evidence of a last winter.

xoxo the biobabbler