Wednesday, June 13, 2007

not my bag baby

so precision is not my bag baby. i discovered this (yet again) when i looked up muskrat, which is what i've been calling the little fat ROUSs that frequent the roadsides out here. they are, in fact, wood chucks. i shall mistake them no more.

monday morning in the garden, i heard a warbling little banter, and saw two blue jays darting around. i sit very still and notice some fluttering in the branches, a soft yellow beak, stubby mostly white tail, wings jutted out to the side. parent bent and regugitating in warbling mouth (that keeps warbling as it's being stuffed).

i went and stood beside the tree (yes, i've now been warned not to do that, as i will get a mighty peck from a blue jay), and looked at the little fledgling for a while. then went in to get some tea.

when i returned, not only did that wobbly little jay fly over to where i was, tumbling in the grass on landing (so cute), but two other fledglings were in neighboring trees. all vying for curds from parents dashing about.

i return with my fledgling in tow, but she won't settle on a bench and wanders abou the yard. the fledgies are pretty far from us (at the closest they were probably 3-5 ft.) they moved a comfortable 10-15 ft away.

my daughter keeps saying,
so lazy. they just wait to be fed.


tell me about it.
i say.

moooomm!


just a bit ago, i responded to an alarm from my girl.
mom, come look.


and lo and behold, a little wood chuck is cruising through our yard.

there was a rather large burrow dug some time recently. we couldn't figure out what it was. thought our rabbit was doing it.

but mr. woodchuck is down parked in our bunny's spot. fortunately, bunny is in a cage. (hopefully safe, at least that is the idea).

so i am hucking peanuts at the little guy and peg him on the nose. i later read, they don't eat peanuts.

so now, we're waiting for the battery of the camera to charge (preparedness isn't my bag either baby), so we can get a shot of him.

perhaps we'll share it.

No comments: