And there was this, yesterday evening.

I was sat out in the hot afternoon stillness, reading, chilling in my firepit area under the trees at the end of the yard.... Suddenly, there was a "kerthunk" and a tree behind me shook, Bollywood sex-scene-style.

Then a squirrel darted up the trunk, went out on the first branch and.....

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It always makes me smile when I see squrls lazing around in that pose.

We have been watching a couple of parent catbirds raising their chicks that hatched two weeks ago in our rose bush. Right next to our garbage cans, about a yard off the ground. They started off really kind of gross looking, but now their feathers have really come in. And they look pretty damn cute.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f441f4bc55.jpg

...
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Well whatayaknow...

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Insted of burning or burying all these dead deer biologists let nature take its course and studied how that happens.
Dead plants feed back into the system so it makes sense that animals do too. But we don't know exactly how.

I have a spot on my little ranch, as remote as I can get, where I have left all dead animals including livestock (up to cow size) for almost 50 years.
They are not all still moldering and decomposing into the water table and have fed lots of birds and other critters.
It stinks some, but only for a while.
The spot is currently bare, clean, empty and waiting.

Do the critters carry off the bones?

Pretty much all but the larger skulls.
A while back, before he figured to make a fortune growing wine grapes, a neighbor had what he called his "gut tree" in a back pasture.
It was really just a pit he would fill and re-dig elsewhere every few years.
Everyone could use it and it was simple, except that Turkey Vultures (buzzards) don't like to feed below grade because they can't spot predators as well as needing a runway to get in the air.
Turned in to just being a hole full of offal.
Another tale is when I had a big cow die of old age and I dragged out to my spot. Thinking I would help the vultures and crows and such get into the goodies in her belly, I turned her on her back with her legs in the air.
Usually the sharp-eyed vultures are on carcasses right now (enough so that we joke about not taking a nap in the open), but mamma cow just lay there for days, unattended.
I finally figured out that the cleanup crew was not interested in a four-poster bed and pulled her back on her side. Took about a half hour for the usual proceedings to start. It was a 28-bird feeder at one point.

No shit, they couldn't ID it as a carcass legs up? I guess that's not a normal fall down dead position.

Not much of a cartoon watcher, are you?

Yeah, that seems to be the problem. Surprised me and a couple of farm adviser types I talked to.

BigV: You need to draw X's over their eyes to attract diners.

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Generally speaking, visiting Foxes and Badgers don't pay any attention to my camera but this one let his curiosity get the better of him.

I think it's one of two cubs, now well grown, that have been visiting for the last couple of months.

They're always welcome and I put out some dog food for them but they also seem to have developed a liking for the peanuts that I leave for the Badgers.

Well hello there!

Are they salted peanuts? Most critters will eat anything with salt.

No, they're the same as I feed to the birds (in suitable containers) but, of necessity, bought in bulk.

From the Woodland Trust website...

Not quite formation foraging but here's mum plus three sampling my largesse ten days ago.

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Link

I wonder if our raccoons and English badgers fill the same eco-slot.
There are badgers 50 miles or so south of me, but I don't think they are quite as omni as yours.
Raccoons eat everything.

Pete and I saw an Eastern Coyote yesterday. This is the best picture I could get. He was a very tall loping animal, filling that wolf niche...

I'd assume Badgers are not as graceful as our raccoons for dumpster diving etc?

Just looking at the Woodland Trust link in post #1695 it says that badgers will raid bins in times of food shortage.

I imagine they do this by pulling a bin over as they do not seem to be particularly agile or athletic.

They are opportunist feeders to an extent and will have what is seasonally available, but I think their opportunism falls into the 'when all else fails' category, earthworms being their first port of call.

I was going to complain about the pic until I realized that I have been surrounded by (western) coyotes for about fifty years and never taken a better one.
I hear them close by every night, but have seen only a dozen or so.
I will try my trail cam again tonight.

In our local paper there will be an article once in awhile about someone thought they found a puppy. It grows into a fox and is the family dog. Then some dik calls Wildlife and they come to get it for euthanasia. People here have skunks, racoons, flying squirrels, snakes and gawd knows what else, but owning a deer, bear or fox will get you in trouble. It is shameful to make the family cry.

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Shameful to give up the family "dog" without a fight.

No problem, that 350 lb bear is sound asleep, we'll just crawl in there, jab him with the needle, and change the collar batteries... piece of cake...

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We don't want to be hanging around...

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I've mentioned before that Benny spends a lot of time killing rodents which is useful since we have chickens and they attract a lot of nuisance critters. Recently, I saw Benny had caught another rabbit. He carried it around a fair amount during the day but settled in behind the house where he began to dissect it. He was joined by a chicken. The dog ripped the carcass apart leaving the head and front legs for the chicken to work on while he ate the rear legs. What a strange little dude he is.

Smart, he knows the chickens bring the toys to the yard so he pays a royalty. :thumb:

"Strange little dude"? I don't know about you but around here almost all of the squirrels come with front and back legs.

Hey Fargon, careful dangling your footsies off that boat.
This woman was standing in chest deep water when a Muskie grabbed her and pulled her under like a gator.

EEK!!!

Wild boar steals computer from nudist....

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53692475

A plethora of the porcine. ;)

Described by a vigorous vocabulary.

Generally our overnight visitors tend to ignore one another.

There's the occasional ill tempered 'exchange of views' but nothing very much.

However, I'd like to know what was going on in the minds of these two last night.

Apologies for the picture quality.

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Is that a Badger and 2 Cats?

No, just one sitting on the arm of the bench.

Point me in the direction of what might be causing some confusion and I'll attempt to shed some light on it.

In a manner of speaking! :)

Between the bucket and the bench it looks like the eyes of a Cat or other small creature.

There's a darker bucket there with some residual light reflecting off the rim.

Would that be it?

Now I see it. Thank You Sir.

Picture quality is just fine and the composition and story are both very good, thank you.


I do find interesting an effect I see across the whole image when zoomed in very tight. It's like a regular grid of distortion, like the picture was taken from behind a clear piece of plastic with a very slight pattern of raised lines at right angles.

Yes, I see what you mean. I haven't noticed that before.

I'm not very well informed about these matters but perhaps it relates to the structure of the component which captures the image.

I don't know if it is relevant but the original image was 4000 x 3000 pixels reduced in Paint to a more manageable 725 x 543.

Those suggestions provided very much on a 'food for thought' basis!

There are internet discussions about this. Seems it's likely to be a byproduct of camera sensors. NOTE: The quote's second enclosed link doesn't work. END NOTE.

Cat is thinking: "Well, there goes my might vision."
Except I think you mentioned IR, not visible light for your pics.
I was surprised that the badger is sitting (not setting). You don't seem to have posted this behavior in the past, though Google says it is common.

Yes, quite often I look out and see a Badger quite happily sitting while it works its way through the peanuts I leave out although, as you say, I haven't posted such behaviour in the past.

It was something of a surprise when I first saw it as it would seem to risk delaying a necessarily sudden departure.

Many thanks for unearthing that explanation, sexobon.

Might even call on cousin Honey Badger...

It's on...

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Fancy Strawberry Squid...

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Yeah it's real, 39 " long and what looks like jewels are photophores.

The Brits have a sneaky Lunar Hornet Moth that passes itself off as a hornet.
But the birds are catching on and now it's awfully hard to hide.

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Of course the Eagles ain't scared of no hornets...

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There goes Peter Cottontail...

We've seen lots of bunnies lately on our bike rides, this just adds to the backstory. Boom times atm.

Keep put your eye on the birdie!

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Taken from the driveway last week.

Good luck.

I found the miniature squirrel in the greenery first.

Your eyes are better than mine then!

I founded the birb (I think), but I didn't see me no minisqurls.

I don't see either one.

I got nothin

Top half of bird just left of center on the bottom.

Rodent at top 1/4 from left.

Zoom

I see a birb in the top left quadrant of the pic.

I see nothing at the bottom but leaves.

Zoomed 300%.

These??

Bird yes. Tail plain.
Little critter? may be brown spot in leaves right at top 1/4 way from left.
Did BigV give up on his own pic?

American Robin.

I thought Seattle was greener than that.