Arriving at the Wildlife Research Institute at 4:38 AM to get a good undisturbed start, I looked up from my computer a half hour later to see this young raccoon watching me as we edged into the predawn light. I clicked. He or she heard the clicks, looked attentive, and then decided it was safe to go back to eating raw peanuts that had no shell. I was distracted the next 40 minutes or so, seeing what I’ve been missing by coming in at a more normal time. It was nice to see his or her reactions to me, to other sounds, and finally leaving when the first birds, a flock of juncos, arrived at 5:44 AM.
Pileated Pair
A little after 10 AM, the male pileated woodpecker landed. Then his mate flew in. I thought, how nice, they’re going to share. But then he (the one on the right) looked kind of possessive of the suet. She looked like she was asking permission to join him. Then, as if he suddenly remembered, “Happy wife, happy life,” he flew off and let her have the suet all to herself. I don’t know if she said thank you, or would say it later, but she hopped on top of the suet and pecked like she was hungry.
Pine siskin male
As the day wore on, I realized I wasn’t seeing any pine siskins or goldfinches. Was this 50° day with a gentle tail wind out of the south the day they were resuming their journey north? At 5:21 PM, this lone male appeared and I took his picture in case he was the last bird of his kind I was going to see this spring. A few minutes later, there were eight of them but no goldfinches. If they are on their way north, it’s going to be much different view out the window. Today it was mostly juncos and crows with the big head of a raven once peeking around the trunk of a tree to see if I was guarding the fox and raccoon food that remained. I was, and he flew off, although I wished he would come close and show me that he didn’t think of me as a mean guy.
Beaver
Yesterday morning early, a nice sight was a beaver in water opening up at the outlet of Woods Lake eating a twig that it was holding in his or her left hand.
A bear has now been sighted only two miles away, but none here yet. That will be the moment!
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center