Eat or be Eaten

I finally took a long solo walk today, from my house in Apple Valley to a pond by a strip mall near the entrance to our development.

I watched birds and photographed butterflies and flowers along the way.   I found my way through woods to the pond and worked my way to my favorite spot, sitting on rocks near a channel of the pond.

There are rocks there that are easy to sit on, by the water's edge.  Dragonflies like to rest on these rocks too, especially the "common whitetail" male dragonflies.  I watched at least one patrol the shoreline for other males in its 30 feet of territory and for prey.

Prey seemed the name of the game on that pond, as bullfrogs and likely green frogs croaked as they waited for a meal of dragonflies or other bugs.  A red-tailed hawk sailed overhead looking for food, while two little birds harassed it, maybe to save their young from becoming a meal.  Two vultures soared too, one looking as those something had taken a bite out of one wing.  Two large fish cruised looking for food.   A muskrat or beaver swam by once.

A male "common whitetail" dragonfly characteristically resting on rocks near me today.   (Photo by Don Comis) 

On my way to the pond, I had seen a robin feed a young bird.

I soon became hungry myself and stopped at a general store at the mall and got something to eat!

Clouded Sulphur butterfly seen on my walk, in the grass by the Apple Valley Lake dam I believe.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Red Admiral butterfly--I think; I didn't get a good view unfortunately.  This was right near me as I rested on the rocks by the pone.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Red-tailed hawk like the one I saw at the pond today, but this photo was taken about 2 years ago, elsewhere in Apple Valley.  (Photo by Don Comis)

I believe these are frog eggs; they are in the channel of the pond, near where I sat and heard frogs.  (Photo by Don Comis)

One of two mystery fishes I see a lot n the pond, near the channel.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Two of the three shy turtles sunning themselves on the Apple Valley Lake spillway, until they spot me!  (Photo by Don Comis)

Last of the three turtles to dive back into the water after seeing me at a great distance.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Nature Changed Fast in my Absence

Whew--my computer broke down and so I had to stop posting for 10 days--just when Nature is really changing fast.


As I write this I can hear spring peepers through my open windows.   I recently heard a great horned owl calling from a white pine tree in our yard, and an answering call from a distance.  I had read that if you see red-tailed hawks in an area, there are probably also great horned owls.  They share the same habitat needs and great horned owls can kick red-tailed hawks out of a nest and take over.


I also read that great horned owls are the only predators that eat skunks.  I don't remember if the horned owl landed in the tree when there was a road-kill skunk nearby.  If so, it might have attracted the owl, but maybe the owls prefer killing things themselves.  But then if it smelled the dead skunk, how could it eat it?  I think I read they can't smell and that's why they can eat it.


Now I think vultures must have to smell since their prey never move.  But two vultures came in real low and close to examine the skunk.  But they left it alone as did the owl.  But why would the vultures be attracted to a smell even they can't stand?


And what or who took the skunk eventually?  I think it was a helpful neighbor.  The poor skunk got hit trying to cross over to eat at my bird feeders.


I'm also hearing more birds singing.


And there are more colors--green lawns and other vegetation and.white and yellow daffodils. 


I also saw my first butterfly today, one with blue wings called "summer azure".  Also, a spider recently set up shop on my rear porch light and survived a light 2-day snowfall.

Vultures are Latest Arrivals in Central Ohio

Turkey vulture.  (Photo by Debbie Hurlbert)

This robin has been in my yard just about daily.  Usually he's on the ground under my side yard feeders so I can't tell if he's eating seeds or finding worms and bugs in the dirt.  But on Feb. 28 I saw him on our wooden deck definitely eating seeds dropped from numerous feeders.  He's pretty bossy too with other birds and so tame and unafraid of people that I'm beginning to think he really is a too-early spring arrival.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Today on a warm day before a predicted storm, when I parked at the Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, I saw a male red-winged blackbird singing for a mate from the very top of a tree near my parking space.

The sight of me didn't deter him, nor did the coming storm.   This bird does seem to go by the calendar and not the weather, so it shouldn't surprise me that if this blackbird arrived on February 23, he knows the ladies will arrive the first week of March, so why not start right away on March 1, at least he'll be well practiced.

I also saw my first vulture this season, a turkey vulture soaring near the Center.  The talk at the Center is of the arrival of red-winged blackbirds and vultures.  Later in the day, the talk at the seed store was of robins and red-winged blackbirds.

I've seen recent "OHIO-BIRDS" e-mail postings about sightings of sandhill cranes.  One e-mail even reported chipmunks stirring out of their partial hibernation.  They're not true hibernators, but I've yet to see one in winter.

Much as I love winter, I do look forward to joining chipmunks in sunbathing in our yard!

Right now the only mammals I'm seeing are deer, opossums, skunks, raccoons, and one mouse that ran out of my garage.

I saw a skunk in the neighborhood on my way home this evening and an opossum when I pulled in my driveway.  My wife saw a deer across the street.  I can't help but wondering if it was the warm day or a sense of the pending storm that got these animals moving around earlier than usual--or am I not outside enough at 7:30 p.m. to see them?


As I wind down about 1 a.m., I checked outside--no snow, just a raccoon on the front deck, with no concern for the flashlight I shine on him or her.  The predictions of snow starting at 10 p.m. seem to have changed to overnight snow, with snow totals down from about 5 to 10 or 12 inches to 5 to 7 inches by Sunday night.