The Wildlife, that surrounds us:

[Mi-Shell]

I thought we might have a thread about Wildlife;
I decided, to put it into this forum, instead into “Chat”, because to see a Wild One is usually a quite special occasion reminding us that we are not alone but merely a small part of Great Mystery.
I invite you to share your encounters with our Wild Brothers and Sisters.

If you talk about an animal, please put it into the title of the post - that helps, iffff ever we want to index this thread....

 

[Mi-Shell]

Beavers in trouble:

As you may know, I live way out in the bush in Central Ontario, Canada.
We have 106 acres of land, with mixed boreal forest, towering pines, Maple Sugar Maples, a small cave, natural quartz crystal rocks, marshes with a small lake, a midsize creek with several beaver lodges and several dams.
We are surrounded by more of this habitat and it is teaming with wildlife.
Bear, Wolf, Moose, Deer, Fox, Bobcat, Cougar, Birds, Raptors, Waterfowl, Turtles, Frogs... you name it, it probably was in front of our living room window at one time or another.
Some of them show up daily, others on their regular routine visits every couple of days , most of them have gotten used to us and allow us to gawk at them and talk to them or even come over for a little treat....
Here I will report about some of them and what is going on.....

I always thought, I would start such a thread by talking about Kuukuukuu’h Our Barred Owl; Owl being one of my Miahanits - but “Kuukie” just sits droopy and wet-feathered in the pine tree across from me and sleeps.....
Something else needs to be reported first:

For the last 2 1/2 days we were cut of from the rest of the world. A ferocious windstorm howled across central Ontario and downed trees and with it, power and phone lines. We lost several large trees along our driveway, 2 of them twisted of in 3 to 5 meter height like broken matchsticks.
With the wind then came torrential rains and +11 degree temperatures, that melted all our snow, caused rivers and creeks to swell and widespread flooding was the result.
Our road to town is flooded and washed out, in part becoming a riverbed......
But we are fine, if need be, we can run the house on a large generator, that gives power for the essentials and heat comes via our toasty wood stove anyway.
Others however did not fare so well:
See; our next door neighbour, visible from the living room window, is a family of Beavers. Now, with the creek being so high, their lodge is flooded and they are sitting on the slushy ice, freezing and muttering to themselves and oiling their fur with the fatty substance (castorium) from glands on their rear to make it more waterproof.
We would invite them over, but.....
I hope, that the flood recedes soon and that it does not flash freeze, they would not survive that.
And we need our neighbours in good health and good spirits. They regulate the water levels of the whole area with their dams.
No Beavers means deteriorating dams, that will fail eventually and that, after initial flooding means no more marshy habitat for Muskrats, Otter, Mink, Waterfowl, Herons, Kingfishers, Turtles, Frogs, Dragonflies
as well as a wide variety of plant life.......

Find out more about Beavers here:
http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/animals/bvr1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver
Native Ojibwa respect Aamik, the Beaver and see him as the giver of ingenuity and creativity, flexibility and community.
Oglala see Beaver as female Power, representing work, family, domestic comforts and fidelity.

 

[HearthCricket]

Well, here we have deer, moose, bear, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, hawks, owls, fox, birds, skunks, squirrels, mice, you name it!!

A few mornings ago we have a pack of coyotes howling and yelping in our backyard at 4am. The lights went on in houses in the area, wondering where they were. You couldn't see them at the end of the yard, as we have brush there, but I did open the window and when they were done I could hear them squishing through the slushy snow, going in various directions!

A few days before that we had 2 Barred Owls having a hooting duel in the wetlands, across the street. When I chimed in they were silent for a moment, wondering "Who is that??" Apparently one should not interrupt owl chatter! They begun again after I closed the window and minded my own business!

We must have a mole/vole in our backyard. I can see the trails tracing all over the place in the melting snow. It looks and feels like March, but don't be fooled little animals! We may have a large storm come Monday!!

 

[mingbop]

kestrels

We have a lot of very hungry kestrels and buzzards...

 

[The crowned one]

We have a lot of deer, (beautiful pests) cougar,quail,owls,eagles, and migratory birds that are very easy to see with just a look around on the land and on our property. Whales,(gray and killer are most common) otters and seal are very common off and close to shore.

If anyone wants to see pictures let me know! I carry a camera everywhere!

 

[Star-Willow]

Australian Animals

What a great idea for a thread Mi-Shell! Why am I not surprised that it was you who started it You are right in saying that seeing wild life can bring about a spiritual experience, I for one find it very uplifting everytime I have some sort of an encounter with a wild animal..... be it feathered, furred or otherwise

We live on a small acerage block, 2&1/2 acres.... most of it is native australian gums, as straight and as tall as city skyscrappers but far more appealing to the eye..... in these gums we have many birds that fly in and out all through the day and of course this changes with the seasons..... we get white cockatoos, they can screech you out of your bed at 3 in the morning or hearald the end of the day.... the kookaburras are the same, they will greet the dawn or they will farewell the day, raucously so! the crows sit high in the gums and will have their say.... as I type I can hear magpies, King parrots, noisey minors and pale-faced parrots....there are rainbow lorrikeets that will visit during the day aswell... tawny frogmouths, eastern curlews,roufous whistlers, pheasants and more....

The trees are shared with Koalas, Possums, sugar gliders and at times flying foxes. The koalas outside of their mating season are pretty quiet and we have to seek them out if we want to see them.... when it is mating season they can be very vocal and it is mostly at night, it can be distressing at times because they fight until the female *gives-in* and allows the male to do what comes naturally.

The possums are not as loud as the koalas but they have their moments.... like when they have races up and down our front verandah or across our roof and yes, this of course takes place at night.

Then on the ground we have bandicoots, cutest little criters you have ever seen but they can be destructive to a garden, unfortunately.

The wallabies and kangaroos are a beautiful sight to see every morning, grazing in the paddock. Before we got our dog they were always in the yard but unfortuately we don't have that pleasure nowadays..... the dog is good though, he will watch them through the fence but doesn't bark at them. He gets locked away every night as the koalas, possums and bandicoots are all nocturnal.

Snakes, we have a few species of snakes.... eastern carpet pythons, these guys have the most beautiful patterns on their bodies and when they have just shed they are almost irridescent.... an abundance of green tree snakes, I find their shedded skin around the gardens at this time of year.... we get some venomous ones aswell such as red-bellied blacks, their venom can kill but fortunatley there is antivenom that is available...

I have more to share but have to leave it at this for now......

 

[ravenest]

Water Dragon

[Great! I love threads like this]

I had an interesting day at work on Thursday, first of all I heard this screeching sound and two kites (I think they were) were circling low over the yard. Then As I drove out, just down the road there is a creek and something was on the road, i slowed down to look, There were two ducks doing some strange little dance or something, bobbing up and down, As I got closer I realised there was a water dragon on the road too, They were all forming a triangle and 'up to something' together. Not sure what, they seemed to be communicating or dancing together in some way. Then they saw me and 'went back to being normal', scarpered and jumped over the side into the creek.

What were they up to?

http://www.australianreptilepark.com.au/animals.asp?catID=11&ID=83

 

[Lillie]

Slugs.

This is a weird thing I noticed once a long time ago, but have never forgot.

I was walking along a road in the lake district, at the side of the road a hillside came down right to the road edge where i was walking.
It was raining.

I started to notice that about every five paces there was a slug going along the road in the same direction as me.

Then about every five slugs or so there was a slug meeting. About half a dozen of them gathered together in a star shape like they were talking.

Then another five slugs moving along individually, then another slug meeting.

And this was going on all the way down the road.

It took a while for me to realise that I kept seeing the same thing over and over again.

What were they doing?
What were they talking about?

I felt I had this glimpse into this slug universe where they had their own lives and their own ways and their own society.

It was odd.

Currently we have the attack of the starlings in the garden on the feeders.
And collared doves, and jackdaws, robins and other small birds.

They queue up on the washing line for their turn at the feeders.

 

[lunalafey]

Mountain Lions & Bald Eagles

I don't think it is coincidence that I come across the animals that are my Totems (Medicine Cards) often.
One of the most impressionable times was with a Mountain Lion.
At the time, I worked night shift at a bar so I was always traveling home during late-night/early-morning hours.
I had been in a bit of a stalemate in the way of love, happy and content being single & independent, yet alone and in need of emotional interactions.
One day I put my Mountain Lion necklace on as a token to aid me through this 'troubled' time.
That night at work I met a very interesting person, someone who intrigued me and no-one had done that in quite some time. We chatted a little after work and the parallels where beyond belief. We parted and I went home.
The last turn before my driveway, a Mountain Lion came down the bank and crossed the road right in front of me.

The most recent was when I was doing some stone medicine and I had just finished and looked up to give thanks to the Great Spirit and a Bald Eagle flew over me from behind and flew straight with the direction I faced.

In telling of these two incidents, I just realized both animals where traveling directly towards water. The lion was headed to the river and the eagle to the bay, maybe as far as the ocean.

 

[Sheri]

Eagles, Coyotes, Deer, Porcupines, and more

Here at the house, we have quail, squirrels, green snakes (not this time of year though ), and used to hear coyotes before the area was developed.

As far as the undeveloped areas, there are mountain lions, bobcats, elk, a moose, river otters, muskrats, beavers, bats, and all sorts of owls and other birds of prey. Tons of birds, too.

My husband sent these pictures to me yesterday - we actually got a few inches of snow and some people on my husband's project took these pictures as they went about their work. My husband and I work at the same site, but for different companies.

The first is a porcupine in a tree.
The second & 3rd are of mule deer.
The 4th is of a pair of coyotes.
The last is my favorite, a bald eagle landing on a tree near the river. We have bald eagles here between November and March.

valeria