Category Archives: Animals
House Finch
I like to chatter in the trees,
And lecture those around,
But always end my talks with, “P-L-E-E-E-Z,
It’s not safe on the ground.”
Quail
My name is Quentin, I’m a quail,
As harmless as can be,
I come for breakfast without fail,
Those seeds are all for me.
I call, “Toh-BACK-oh,” but don’t smoke,
To bring my friends to me,
And when there’s danger, run for broke,
My call of, “CHIP!” means, “Flee!”
Hawk
I think this is a broad-winged hawk. If anyone knows for sure, I’d be interested in your opinion.
I’m sitting on the railing
To scour the place for prey,
Can’t risk my eyesight failing,
Or I won’t eat today.
What’s that? You think I’m lying?
I’ve eaten well today?
Just sitting ’round, not trying?
My beak gave me away?
…Oops!
Crossbills
With crossing bills, I crack a seed,
The sunflowers are best,
It’s easy for me, there’s no need
To put it to the test.
But did you see, my lady fair,
How I hang upside down?
Why don’t you smile then, if you dare?
It isn’t nice to frown.
Oh, now I see the game you play,
As if we’ve never met,
You hardly deign to say good day,
You’re playing hard to get.
A Rabbit at Easter
I wonder where I put those eggs?
I hid them much too well,
If only I had longer legs,
But then, what if I fell?
I thought I hid them over here,
Beneath that prickly vine,
But then I changed my mind for fear,
Of hurting friends of mine.
Oh there they are, already found,
And laid into a dish,
All types of eggs there do abound,
As fine as you could wish.
Some homemade eggs, some done by pros,
An alabaster prize,
And not to be outdone by those,
The quail egg’s tiny size.
I might just have to start again
And get some fresh farm eggs,
And even though I wish in vain,
I’d love to have long legs.
I simply can’t improve on these,
The hens’ eggs are so sweet,
Not done with paint, or laid with ease,
This lovely Easter treat.
Oysters, Clams, and Phony Money
An oyster bed near the shoreline is encouraging to see. If you like oysters, be sure you’ve checked your local website for updates on any shellfish contamination that may be happening in your area.
We saw tons of oysters, but our fishing licences only allowed 12 each. That is certainly enough for a meal.
Poor Emma. She ran over these oyster shells and was soon limping along with sore feet from the rough barnacles on the shells.
After that, she preferred to run over pure sand or maybe a clam bed, both of which were easier on her feet.
I found a bit of beach money to pay for the clams and oysters. See the sand dollars below? The whiter ones were dead and sun bleached; the yellower ones were probably not feeling well; and the darker purplish brown ones (not pictured) were quite alive. I didn’t get a picture of them because I didn’t find them until later when I figured out that they were a few inches below the surface of the sand.
Emma was interested in a lot of things on the beach. This oyster was by itself, away from the rest and was covered with big barnacles. It seemed out of place here among all the clam shells.
The beach had so much driftwood washed up that it was an endless job for Emma to explore for mice and other little creatures that left their telltale scents on or under the logs.
She finally decided to tackle that big job, one log at a time.
It kept her busy all day.
So much fresh air and a tiny bit of sunshine ensured that we all slept well that night.
Chicken Little’s Sky
When Chicken Little saw this sky, she knew there was trouble ahead, so she squawked her famous lines and said, as you know:
Bok-bok-bok!
The SKY is falling,
And WE must tell the KING!
BoddOCK bok!
Well, who would’ve thunk that a chicken could forecast this dramatic weather phenomenon?!
The very next day, the sky actually DID fall. That big dark cloud fell onto the ground and covered the whole valley.
And then, as Carl Sandburg said:
The fog comes in
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
They say that “No man is an island,” but these fir trees aren’t too sure about that.
Vandalism
It’s time for spring cleaning and I took a broom to sweep the deck. But whoa! What was this? Did I have a raccoon or a rat visiting at night? What a mess!
I found a clue. A fir cone left behind. But maybe it had just been blown there by the wind. We have had some very windy days….
But in the corner at the front of the deck, I found more clues. Again, it could have been blown there by the wind….
But a closer look told me that the vandal had taken time out to have a snack and even had plans to eat a second cone before something scared him away.
Busted!
“Hmm … what to do now?”
“I might just have to rethink this….”
“It’s a good thing she loves me so much!”
Northern Flicker
The northern red-shafted flicker is fairly common on Vancouver Island and I’m glad he is. He eats a lot of ants and beetles and even wasps. That suits me just fine.
Here is Mr. Flicker (notice his red cheek slash) trying to get the attention of Ms. Flicker to ask her for a date.
Turn on your sound to hear him drumming on my chimney and then calling to her. His grammar isn’t great but I don’t think it bothers him (or her).
With a rat-a-tat-tat,
I say, where are you at?
Ms. Flicker (no red cheek slash) misses his call but comes by to announce that she’s a bit late, but she’s here.
wordsfromanneli 