Morning coffee with wildlife
It was an amazing day to live alongside a creek. We see a lot of different wildlife but one day last week was special.
About 10 days prior it seemed the hummingbirds stopped using the feeders and the orioles slowed down quite a bit too. We even commented to each other about it.
On this day I did my morning routine of rising, starting the coffee, and icing my knee. When it got gray enough to see around the yard, I checked to see if any black creatures with white stripes were about. Keeping my eyes peeled might save a lot of work.
I noticed three hummingbirds at the feeders when I let the dogs out. They ran out looking for squirrels. I shut the door and walked to the coffee maker for a cup of java. I started hearing what sounded similar to a child crying outside so I hobbled back to the door PDQ. I stepped out to discover that this noise came from sandhill cranes standing 20 yards into the field behind the house, between the dogs and now me and they weren’t happy.
They made a lot of noise for a while and flew off. We’ve seen and heard cranes all summer for the last three years or so across the road. This was the first time behind the house and that close.
With the yard defended against all manner of vermin, the overpriced dogs came back in and I sat down to coffee and watch a little news; reaffirming my current principle of not visiting any city with a population greater than 50,000 people, and even those for only short periods of time. Just after the first sip of coffee I noticed the hummingbirds. Over five on the feeders at the same time and at one time during the day, there were over 15 hovering around and drinking from the feeders. Sometimes over six orioles were visible. Next I noticed a couple yearling does north of the house heading west, which isn’t out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary, was the small six point buck that materialized on the edge of the yard. He fed for a good 20 minutes. While he was out there a doe came from the west with her fawn and they fed in the field, then a second doe and fawn did the same just after the first pair left.
An hour later, two large toms crossed just off the yard along the same path of the young buck; with a window open they were within range from my recliner. I might rethink my spring turkey hunting strategy if this keeps upcomfortable chair, warm, and dry. . . .
Finches, grosbeaks, cardinals, indigo buntings, and purple finches were at the feeders from late afternoon to just before dusk. The hummingbirds and orioles kept visiting.
It’s always fascinated me what causes animals to move and increase activity or decrease activity. What causes them to move to one area and leave another beyond the obvious?
One dry year, I found a white oak in a sea of red oak. There were not a lot of acorns that year but this white oak was loaded. I must have sat by it about 10 evenings and never saw a deer. Down the hillside I would occasionally see a deer walk by 70 yards, but they never came for the acorns on this tree. After I had “tagged out”, as it’s called nowadays, at another stand; I hunted through that area for grouse a week before gun season. The fall rains had come and the deer were feeding at that oak heavily, and even the red oak acorns. I saw a few deer picking acorns until the dogs casted through. Why not when the acorns had just fallen like they normally do? It fascinates me – it was access to water.
This special day didn’t just stop, a third doe with two fawns that we see fleetingly, had her fawns feeding behind the house in that same field for over 30 minutes that evening. We’ve hardly seen a deer in the field since. There are also fewer hummingbirds and orioles. The cranes were back the next morning and that afternoon crows started landing in the yellow flowers that the deer and cranes were feeding around. The crows fed there for two days and since moved on.
Oh, we get to start hunting in less than a month.
THROUGH A
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CHUCK K OLAR LOCAL OUTDOORSMAN
