Toyger Fiasco

Warning – mild cat-related rant follows:
I think I’ve seen it all now. A news clip from National Geographic says there’s a woman who is creating a new kind of cat, modeled after Bengal tigers – called a toyger.
According to this article, this woman thinks she’s helping wild tigers by creating a small housecat in their image [...]

Beaver Pond Sunset

Late this afternoon I decided to check out a secluded pond about 10 minutes from here in the hopes of maybe finding some ducks or something, and was most pleasantly surprised – beavers! I’ve visited this pond many times last fall, and never saw a beaver. There is no visible lodge – at least not [...]

Purple Somethings

It was just too nice this morning – even with the recent rain and threat of more to come, the temperatures were more to my liking and Boomer and I decided it was time to check the net lanes anyway in preparation for the coming banding season. Any excuse will do..
And one of the first [...]

Birds or Bears?

It seems that the state of NJ is about to take more drastic measures for controlling black bears which will include enforcement of “the bird feeding laws.”

Since it is illegal to feed black bears in NJ, and black bears will eat birdseed – it could become illegal to feed birds when black bears are up [...]

Ostara

Well it’s official as of around 6 pm tonight – Spring is here. Today is the Vernal Equinox, Spring Equinox, Ostara – when night and day are in perfect balance. Happy Spring! Life is good.

Take Two

Make that fifteen turkeys. While I was posting the “After the Storm” entry, this flock came in and spent most of the afternoon alternately feeding and sitting in the sun.

There were fifteen in all. Today, seven of them came back – several times – and again spent several undisturbed hours in the back yard. Their [...]

After the Storm

It’s all about food. The family of five deer continue to visit in the afternoon and again during the night. I know, they’re “just deer” but I never tire of watching them. I’m observing their behavior and can see that they have a very structured pecking order within the herd.

This one is the ‘watcher’ – [...]

Frozen Water

People are funny (hadn’t you noticed?). In the summer, they complain about heat and humidity. In the winter, they complain about cold and funky weather. A rainy day is “gloomy” and a major inconvenience. I’m guilty – as we all are – of similar complaints, though not very often.
Yesterday, we had a major snowstorm. Everyone [...]

Lost

I belong to a forum that discusses tracking, wildlife, and nature awareness, and was reading this morning about a woman who lost one of her dogs while hiking in the mountains. The story was from last spring, so I don’t know the outcome – but there was much discussion about whether or not the coyotes [...]

Sweet!

If your idea of maple syrup is the thick brown stuff that comes out of a plastic supermarket bottle, then clearly you’ve never enjoyed real maple syrup – the kind that comes from a sugar maple tree, not from corn syrup, molasses, and unpronounceable ingredients.
It’s a little bit late in the season to start this [...]