Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Critters and such

OK, what kind of critters, birds, bugs and such have you seen around your particular rural living area now that Spring has sprung? What are they doing?

Birds:

No recent pics, but the coveys of quail are starting to break up a little bit and they're pairing up too. Yesterday I watched a cock quail try to steal a female from his buddy, she was having none of it and ran over to her mate after fighting him for a couple of minutes. Who needs a cock fighting ring when you have quail fights to enjoy?

The rooster pheasants are dressed in their finest raiment and crowing and showing off for the ladies. Two were in the field by the mailbox "strutting" such as it may be, and another came by to eat some of the scratch I put out for the quail and sparrows. He shows off a bit too, but he had two hens with him so he's not getting too far from them.

The American White Pelicans have shown up in force, the first few showed up a week or so ago. Friggen gulls too, and Caspian terns.

A kestrel that comes back each year was sitting in a tree in the yard today with a vole or mouse, calling "come and get it" to his mate. It was a tree by my garden so I wish him happy hunting and raise up a bunch of hungry youngsters to feed.

There's a house wren hanging around also. I can't figure out whether it's trying to nest or if it's just looking for food. It's been between and under the potted plants and the pallets I keep them on, under the shed, and under the RV too. I don't mind for as long as he's hanging around here he's eating bugs that could be getting my plants.

Critter:

Here's a good example of why there's a term "dumb bunny", sat near the neighbor's trailer until I pushed my mower to within 3 feet or so, then ran across the driveway and sat there "hiding". Good thing I wasn't in the mood for hasenpfeffer.

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Now for the bugs,

First, a crappy photo of a "sage" or "iodine" bug on the inside of my window screen. Little bastards are coming out of overwintering in the RV. They're small enough they get in everywhere. Best I can do online is to get them id'ed as some sort of seed bug, perhaps a Mediterranean. They are a nuisance, huge (as the Donald would say) nuisance.

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Then there's these boxelder bugs. not as bad for getting into the RV, but they overwinter behind the siding on the outbuildings, bark of the trees, piles of leaves blown up against stuff. There's got to be a "bajillion" of the darn things. These had woken up from in the bark of a locust tree and were doing the mating thing on the driveway.

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That was just a relatively small pile of them.

Now ...............your turn to show us what Spring in your area is doing to the fauna in your locale. Flora can be another post.

Geno