Close Encounters of the Critter Kind

I came home from work today as usual - the end of the work week, thinking about plans for this weekend. I entered the house with the day's mail in one hand, and my backpack in the other, said hello to the cat waiting just inside, and proceeded into my kitchen. The mail had just been placed onto my kitchen table when I noticed something odd. There was definitely something different, and it only took me a few seconds to realize that I was the victim of a crime: breaking and entering.

My kitchen table is right next to a pair of windows, and while the windows were locked, they were also open a couple of inches. My windows have tabs you can extend on the inside that will prevent them from being opened any more than those few inches, and there is a screen on the outside to keep insects out. I stepped outside to inspect the screen, and found clear evidence of forced entry.

I also noted that the screen was folded towards the interior of the house. Something went through the screen, from outside to inside. Did it exit the same way?

Inside the house, the evidence mounted. On my kitchen table is a fruit bowl, with an apple and two bananas. Tempting fare, it appears, because one of the bananas was showing obvious signs of tampering.

This is where the trail went cold. I poked around the house a bit, looking for more evidence, but found none. The cat was his typical dopey self, following me about as if he was waiting for me to settle down into some pose suitable for him to use as a bed. Or maybe, now that I think about it, he was gloating. To us humans, dopey cats look the same as gloating cats, so I will never really know.

With the thought that the perpetrator might still be lurking somewhere, I set about to clean things up. Fast forward about an hour, and Tammy has arrived. She is on the couch in front of the TV, and I am in the kitchen, when I hear her say (with a slightly worried tone) "Um...Todd? The cat just looked under the TV stand in a weird way."

I crouched down and looked under the TV stand...it is dark under there...gads, look at the cat hair...need to vacuum...whoa, something moved! I had found my critter criminal - an Eastern Gray Squirrel. Tammy and I quickly put a plan in action: remove one cat, add two large pieces of fabric, mix in one wide open front door, and then let the hunt begin. Just a bit of coaxing later, the criminal bolted from under the TV stand, running away from my large piece of fabric, veering right to avoid Tammy's large piece of fabric, skidding across the tile in front of the door, and leaping to freedom.

Here is a photo, hastily taken after the successful hunt, to give you an idea of the setup. Tammy seems to be enjoying herself.

Snowbird

Yesterday was a travel day for me. I flew from Virginia out to Salt Lake City. Then I drove to Snowbird, home of this year's ABA Convention. I was fortunate to be able to check-in early, which allowed me to unpack and realize how tired I was. So, other than a short walk around Snowbird, I did not explore very much.

Snowbird is very picturesque. It is located in the Wasatch Mountains, just east of Salt Lake City. Lots of tall conifers, big rocky mountains, and the remains of last winter's snow. Here are a some photos from my short walk, including one of a squirrel who appears to be doing some renovations to his home.

Pikaboo!

I was expecting to eventually see a pika, but I really did not know what one looked like. I was thinking it was mouse-like (although it is more closely related to a rabbit), but really did not know how large one would be, nor whether it would be shy and run away, or just ignore me. When Tammy and I hiked around Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park, I got my answers.

When we startled this pika, it immediately ran for cover into the underbrush. And then immediately ran back out to the rock it was on when we first saw it. It would run and hide, and then just as quickly come back out. At one point I thought it might check out my boots. Unfortunately for this particular pika, he has a nice juicy tick right between his eyes. Maybe he kept running back out because he wanted me to pull that thing out?

Mr. Cuddly

Apparently I have this inclination to give animals cute names that are the exact opposite of their true nature. Earlier this summer I named a turtle "Mr. Speedy". Now I am calling a Grizzly Bear "Mr. Cuddly".

On Wednesday of last week, Tammy and I decided to drive out to Lamar Valley within Yellowstone National Park. The road within the park that leads to the park's northeast entrance takes you through Lamar Valley. Lamar Valley was billed as an excellent location to see wildlife, including bears and wolves. Since Tammy and I were staying in West Yellowstone, and Lamar Valley was on the opposite side of the park (about a 70 mile drive), and the wildlife in Lamar Valley is best found at sunrise, we had a very early start.

It was worth it. We did see a Grizzly Bear. I had to use my spotting scope, cranked up to 60x magnification, in order to get a good look. The other folks who were stopped at the same pull-out were thankful that I had my scope. I tried to digiscope a photo through my scope, but the light was just too low at 60x magnification. The first picture below was taken with my 100-400mm lens all the way out to 400mm. That little black dot in the center of the picture is the grizzly :-)

We also briefly saw a pair of wolves. They were present, right next to the grizzly, for just a few seconds, and then they disappeared. No one could relocate them after that, and there was no time at all to get a photo. That was the only wolf sighting I had during this trip. Other large mammals within Lamar Valley include the more abundant American Bison, and Pronghorn Antelope.

Ironically, as we were driving out of Lamar Valley, on our way to Mammoth for some lunch, we ran into a huge traffic jam. It was caused by another grizzly, who was very near the road. There were lots of stopped cars, and people out of their cars taking photos. We were lucky because we arrived at the traffic jam right behind a park ranger. The park ranger began telling people to move their cars, and to get back into their cars, and to use the official pull-outs instead of just stopping anywhere they pleased. This meant that we got to drive through the area immediately, as the traffic jam cleared, and Tammy got a couple choice photo opportunities from the passenger seat (including a couple with my camera...photo #2 below). We then pulled over at a nearby "official" pull-out, and I snapped a few more photos using my 100-400mm lens (photos #3 and #4).

[edit: corrected mileage for drive to Lamar and added link to Google map]

From the "Kicking Myself" department

Today Tammy and I took a short hike adjacent to Yellowstone Lake. The very beginning of the hike, however passed through a field of low scrub, and next to a small pond that contained a few rafts of ducks. After we were done with the hike, I grabbed my scope so that I could attempt to identify the ducks in that small pond, and Tammy waited for me in the car.

I had been puzzling over the ducks with no clear identification for about five minutes, when I looked back towards the car. That is when I saw two dogs running free, coming out of the small lot where our car (and several others) were parked. And then I realized that they were not some one's pets, but two Coyote. The two Coyote kept trotting toward me as I watched them with interest. One eventually angled off to the small pond I had been watching, while the other kept heading my way, apparently oblivious (or uncaring) to my presence. My curiosity actually shifted to a bit of concern as I imagined this wild dog discovering me and not liking me one bit. I actually clapped my hands to make sure the Coyote knew I was there, but he did not react at all.

Just before I had to worry about my next move, however, the closer of the two Coyote stopped and stared at the ground. He had detected something that caught his interest. He was probably 50 feet away from me. He eventually did this jump/dive move like he was pouncing on something. I remember the dog I had while growing up doing the exact same thing when he was pursuing a mole in our backyard. When the Coyote came up with some critter in his mouth that, two chomps later, was swallowed whole, I was kicking myself because my camera was in the car with Tammy. Note to self: always carry your camera in Yellowstone because you never know what you might see.

I was saved from having to worry about the Coyote being any closer because another person was walking about with their Chihuahua, and the Chihuahua was not on a leash. The two Coyote had come back together and both had noticed the Chihuahua, and were not happy. The man who owned the Chihuahua apparently realized his best friend was about to become a meal, because he quickly put his dog on a short leash.

Luckily, the Coyote both decided to move on, leaving me with a nice memory but no picture, and the Chihuahua owner the opportunity to ponder the virtues of keeping his pet on a leash.

Even though I did not capture a photo of this particular Coyote, and its quick meal, here is a photo that I managed to grab on Antelope Island of a Coyote as it ran into the cover of tall grass. The one on Antelope Island was much much farther away than the one I saw today.

Eastern Gray Squirrel

In addition to the birds, chipmunks and rabbits, I get lots of squirrels in my backyard. While I have successfully arranged my bird feeders so that the squirrels cannot feast directly on the seed, there is still plenty of stuff that falls to the ground to keep them content. On the other hand, I need to do something about my poor excuse for a bluebird house. Having the squirrels turn it on its side so that they can use it as a sunbathing spot is a tad annoying.

Chipmunk Action

A couple weekends back I enjoyed the show that Mother Nature put on in my little backyard. There were lots of birds gathering food for nestlings, or leading fledged birds around and feeding them. There were also plenty of critters out and about. The usual gang of squirrels were out munching, chasing and generally being squirrels. But I also have two chipmunks (I think they are Eastern Chipmunk) that like to gather food in my backyard. Whatever bird seed falls to the ground, the chipmunks are there to get their fair share. They like to poke around and fill their cheeks up with as much food as possible. Then they take it to their stash, unload those cheeks, and come back for some more.

Here are three photos I took of the chipmunk action. The first is with unfilled cheeks ready for some new gathering, the second is an action shot with the chipmunk actively filling up those big cheeks and the third is a somewhat blurry photo of a chipmunk whose pose seems to suggest that they may have over-filled those cheeks just a tad.

Baby Rabbit

Last weekend Tammy was helping me with some yard work. Part of the plan was to remove some English Ivy. This is an invasive species that is currently attempting to overgrow anything in its path on one side of my back yard. We had only removed a few feet of it when we noticed that there was something moving around underneath the ivy. Actually, multiple somethings.

We had only considered a couple possible causes for the movement when the answer came hopping out: rabbits. In this case, there were three baby rabbits, all heading in different directions. We ceased our efforts removing the English Ivy and I instead grabbed my camera.

Seeing baby rabbits was a tad ironic. I commented to Tammy on how only that morning I was wondering why I never saw any baby rabbits around. It is not uncommon to see adult rabbits in my yard, or other yards in the neighborhood. And where there are adult rabbits, it is extremely likely that there are also baby rabbits. Mystery solved.

Bear Sighting

It is fairly well known that Virginia has a nice population of American Black Bears, and that population tends to favor the habitat found in the western part of the state, including Shenandoah National Park. On the other hand, I have visited the western part of the state many times, including Shenandoah and the Appalachian Trail, and have only seen a bear one time. That one time was a fleeting glance of a very distant bear while hiking up White Oak Canyon Trail.

That is until my recent trip to South River Falls Trail.

I was taking my time hiking back up from the falls. My pace was what I call "bird watching speed" instead of "hiking speed". The total distance of the hike was somewhere around 3.5 miles, and I took 5 and a half hours to hike it. As I hiked, I would periodically stop when I heard or saw something that warranted some investigation. Other times I would just stop to listen and wait on the off chance that something would be moving through the trees and pass me. I was expecting that "something" to be avian. When I noticed movement down slope from me that was dark, furry and not small, I realized my interest in just birds was a tad too focused.

I was so excited about seeing a bear that my pictures suffered. The only photos where you can tell there is a bear are when the bear's head is behind a tree. The bear was probably only about 20 yards away, down slope from the trail. I had no indication that the bear ever took notice of me (which in hind sight is a good thing). My theory is that it had a den down there because it moved behind a pile of brush and fallen trees and it never came back into view over the next 15 minutes (when I decided to move along).

So, here is my lame bear picture. Hopefully you can tell there is a bear in the photo, even if it is headless. At the rate I am seeing bears in Shenandoah, I should see another one in about two years. I will be better prepared to get a good photo when that happens!

Squirrel Nest

I have a shed in my backyard that houses a few tools, a lawnmower, bird food and such. I keep it locked up just in case anyone feels like "inappropriately borrowing" something. While I am probably in there for some reason a couple times a week when it is warm out, the winter months usually see the shed lonely and locked up for several weeks at a time.

The last time I was in the shed was a few weeks back. I was in there to get at the bird food so I could refill my feeders. It had been quite a while since I had been in there. I noticed that there were lots of leaves in the back corner of the shed and I had a suspicion that the damage caused to the shed when Ernesto came through last summer was allowing squirrels to get in and out of the shed very easily. Since I keep my bird food safely stored in containers that the squirrels cannot get into, and there is really nothing else in the shed they can mess with (not since I returned Richie's lawnmower), all they are really doing is piling up the leaves.

Today I once again refilled the bird feeders. This required me to go into the shed. When I unlocked the door and opened it, I scared a whole flock of squirrels out of that big pile of leaves. I purposely made a bunch of noise when I stepped into the shed. One at a time, the squirrels came out of that pile of leaves and ran frantically up the wall and out their new special Ernesto-entrance. I could imagine one of them saying "I thought you said this place was safe?!?!?" as they ran up the inside wall of the shed.

I counted five squirrels in total running out of there. That was about four more than I was expecting. I think tomorrow I might go out there with my camera in hand, barge in on them again and see if I can capture the "Flight of the Squirrels" on film.

Tidepool

If you arrive at Cape Perpetua when the tide is low, you can explore their Marine Garden. What this means is that you can climb out on the coastal rocks far enough to see the things that are stuck in tide pools when the tide is out, but not actually be in the water yourself. The trick to this is that you need to watch your step so that you do not step on anything living, and watch the surf so that you do not get clobbered by a wave (which would probably be very life threatening if you got knocked into the ocean).

Plump

At the Devil's Punchbowl State Natural Area there was a very fat squirrel that was living in the park. He kept coming out of the bushes onto the paved path, obviously wanting to be photographed. Very fat.

Newport Afternoon

Newport is a beach town. But on the back side of the town there is this little section on a bay, with its own row of shops and restaurants. All through this section, the sides of buildings have murals painted on them. And, today at least, there were lots of sleepy dogs hanging out on the sidewalk.

Now That Is Tame

This stupid squirrel was hanging around the International Rose Test Garden. Actually, maybe he isn't all that stupid. I was tempted to grab him by the tail and fling him far, far away.

Squeak Toy

A couple years back, when I was hiking in Shenandoah, I was trying to figure out what kind of bird was making this loud squeak noise as I moved down the trail. The bird always seemed to be hidden and on the ground. But it made one heck of a loud squeak. Then I realized that it was not a bird that I was hearing, but chipmunks. I heard that sound in my backyard today. Here is the culprit. He was stuffing his cheeks full of the birdseed that fell to the ground under my bird feeder.

Either his tail has been through some trouble, or I did not realize how funky chipmunk tails really are in the first place.

Undead Devil Bunnies

These two were caught in my front yard this evening. A third was leaving the scene. I am sure it is just a matter of time before the entire neighborhood is beset upon by gazillions of undead devil bunnies.