Wildlife

We are seeing wildlife on our Arlo camera along the back fence line to our pastures.  Here is a coyote peeing.

And a deer.

I caught this barn swallow hanging out on the fence.

And a butterfly fluttering in front of the barn.

Our beagle got quite excited the other day.  She was quietly barking on the back porch.  I let Tom know, and they walked out to the back yard near the garden.  Ryeleigh’s hair stood up on her back, and she was pointing and quietly growling.  I have never seen all of this behavior together before.  She was showing Tom where to go.  There he found deer hoof prints.  I was impressed by our beagle’s skills.

But know I now I need to face deer as well as the usual suspects in eating my garden this year.  I am think I will put a higher wire up on the garden fence.  Not sure if it is enough though.

But the wildlife are a constant threat to our domesticated animals.  And on Thursday when I was at work Tom found one of our geese dead behind the barn. The killer had got the goose in what we call the alleyway and then progressively drug her body further away in the alleyway.  You can see the initial pile of feathers behind the goats.

The next photo if gruesome so those that do not want to see ugly dead animals should leave this post now.  But I am posting it to try to gather information from other farmers as to what predator might have cause this damage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom thinks it was an owl.  I am suspecting an eagle.  But I am not sure since there were two other male geese with her, and they have vicariously attacked eagles in the past.  But a larger animal like a coyote or bobcat would have drug the body away farther and eaten more of it in my opinion. What do you think?

In much better news, I have been enjoying a book I bought called “Drink Your Garden”.  I made a Sparkling Rosé Wine Spritzer. I used the Lilac Cordial I had made previously.  But I also have been growing edible flowers for the first time so included a nasturtium.  It was refreshing and pretty.

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4 Responses to Wildlife

  1. Barbara Anne says:

    Hi – So sorry about your poor goose and hope you find what kind of culprit to guard against.
    As for deer and others who want to eat your garden, we wove rubber snakes at different heights in our 6′ fencing. The snakes were from an on-line school supply site and came in a box of about 30. Ick! We had no animals in our garden at all.
    We also dug down about 5′ and installed small hole hardware cloth under the fence so no critter could dig under! Both measures worked well.

  2. Jeanne says:

    I’m sorry for being so slow in making a comment. I’ve read your post at least twice, maybe three times. It’s well written, as always.

    I’m so sorry about the loss of your goose. It seems odd that the predator didn’t eat more of the kill, or drag it further away. Did Tom pick it up and dispose of it?

    As to the coyote and deer at the beginning of your post, it seems like the deer walked around where the coyote peed. I found that interesting.

    I found Ryeleigh’s alert to the scent of deer close by, very neat. The soft barking and growling, and leading Tom to what she smelled, are so neat!

    Have a good weekend!

    • Donna says:

      Thanks Jeanne! The fact that the predator didn’t take the goose away makes me think it was small. Tom did dispose of her. Ryeleigh did a good job finding the deer for Tom.

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