Leslie Patten Books: Wild Places, Sacred Spaces

Last years box; this year's first inhabitants

Last year I made this blue bird box but no birds liked it.  Then I heard that it takes a year before they’ll use it.  And, voila, some birds came and are nesting.

Bluebird clutch of eggs

That was several weeks ago.  Just a few days ago, I heard some little ‘peeps’ and thought ‘They’ve hatched!’ I built the box as an observation box so I waited till momma and daddy left, then peeked in.

The babies

Sooo cute!

Well, they’re only cute because they are so little.  Actually they are funny looking without any feathers yet.  I was told that I should knock before entering.  That way if there’s a bird in there, they will leave.  But a few times I’ve knocked and then opened the top and there’s momma sitting on either the eggs or now the babies.

Mom and Dad are such good parents, watchful all the time and constantly getting bugs for the babies.

Momma

The other day I had a weird thing happen.  Early one morning I heard a crashing in the forest, lots of squirrel alarms go off, then nothing.  I thought maybe it was a bear.  I looked up at my fence line up the hill moments later, and there stood a young buck.

‘Strange’ I thought.  Deer don’t usually crash through the woods.  Maybe he was being chased.

Later, around 2 pm, I looked up towards the same area I saw the deer in the morning and noticed some large animal lying in the grass.

“Strange’ I thought again.  “Its too hot for an animal to be lying in the sun mid-day”.  I went up to look and there was my young buck, dead.  He hadn’t been killed by an animal, he hadn’t gotten tangled in my fence.  Only his eye was bloodied.

I called the game warden.  He needs to know these things and besides, I don’t want a bear in my yard tonight.  He examined the deer and also had no idea how or why he died.  He took the buck, along with my trail camera, to a remote area.  We thought we’d get some good grizzly pictures, or maybe wolves, but instead got coyotes on the deer.  Here’s a clip from my trail camera:

“A hike is just a walk in a place where you can pee”  Demetri Martin

Filed under: Bluebirds, Coyotes |