Two rats down – how many left???

Another one bit the dust! Went up to check traps and one held a bounty – YES!  Tonight I will be listening for the pitter of little feet. I did call Massey for a free inspection, ‘guestimating’  how much do I estimate the service will be? Over $300 for the pest control and traps are ala carte — will let you know what the estimate is. Tomorrow I will put aluminum mesh over my plumbing stacks so things cannot get in and out. I don’t want to say I have won until I hear no running above me. Hopefully no weaned babies are up there.  So for now, I reset the Victor traps and let them sit in waiting. From my results, those traps are instant death!  
Since the daylight savings time went into effect, it has affected my sleep, I wake earlier, but go to bed the same. I have become lethargic around 10am, and have had to nap an hour for the past two days. This is not how I operate.
This morning I was up by 5:15am and of course it was actually getting light. I opened the back door and heard the heron close by wailing. He was sitting in one of my pines.
It actually stayed until after 8:30am. The cranes flew over for an early birdseed breakfast.  While I went out and cleared my lakefront of weeds. The water is going down so I can pull in some of the stuff clogging the shore line.   And maybe soon, that area can look like the part I was able to clear further along the lake.  The weeds are locked together like webbing and pull in in blocks.
You can see from this picture where my neighbor’s property still has the weeds next door.
The cranes came along and thought my weed pile was a play pile and pulled weeds out and tossed them about, dancing and jumping, they had a great time and I enjoyed watching them.
The baby had an itch  – the heron stayed out of their way safely in the tree.

That’s it so far on the Rat Wars,  Victor can call me any time for an endorsement…

Holey moley

I saw the cranes out there looking to make trouble.

They came on the porch knocking over the cat’s water and food, then they went outside and were rooting around in my garden. Then I saw them playing with something, tossing it and then running off. I went outside to see this adorable freshly killed mole.  It was so cute and very very soft and very dead with ants starting to climb all over it for dinner on the go.  So I picked it up and tossed it back to the cranes and the father crane had a ball throwing it all over the place. He even retrieved it twice from tossing it into the water. 

They had a lot of fun with mole toss. The male was so funny I made a little video and attached a link to it so you can see what I have to put up with all the time, and I love it…

Missing in Action

This is how the day began around 6am. The sky was beautifully lit with red clouds. It’s in the low 70’s, feels almost cool. I saw both moorhen parents swimming about, but not one baby sighting.   Yesterday my friends Christine and Richard came over to hang a duck box in hopes that the Black bellied whistling ducks might come back.  I showed Christine the moorhen nest and only an hour earlier there had been 3 eggs. As we stood there, all eggs were completely gone, not one broken shell in sight. Then we saw the culprit, a big black crow flew down and began pecking at the nest. Immediately we knew where the eggs had gone. I have not seen the baby in days, I hope it is hiding.   This is a picture on the day it hatched.
Now I am trying to figure why the baby and mama crane are coming without the father? For 5 days now they have come to eat birdseed and Papa crane is not with them which is very unusual. He has been a good daddy for the years I have lived here and NEVER left the baby and mother. This is highly suspect. Do you think maybe he flew to Argentina to find a soul-mate??? I am thinking the worst, that something has happened to him. The baby is taller than the mother. Last night he came and did his goofy dance before they fly across the lake for a good nights sleep.
I am hoping the father will find his way back soon. As for me, I am going back to bed, only slept 3 hours so far, time to get some shut eye. I am living in a vampire time zone, the sun comes up, I go back to get a couple hours of sleep…

The baby bath – sandhill crane baby bath

Woke up and the sandhill cranes had come for a visit. Keep in mind the baby is just about 12 weeks old and he is a monster!  (That’s him in the middle.)  His head is so funny as he is losing his baby fuzz.  He’s going to tower over the father. The funny thing was how he loves the water.  The baby crane saw the ducks at the lake,  and hurried in their direction to assert his machismo. He scattered them off and jumped in for a bath. I followed from behind and watched the baby as he had the best time waving his wings under the water and making the drops scatter. He would groom and then wave those wings and dunk his head. Then finally about ten minutes later he came ashore spreading his massive wings to dry.
For all the other babies we have had on the property over the years, not one would go in the water deeper than it’s knees if it did not have to. Usually just to drink and of course when they were too young to fly and would swim across the lake. but never have I seen one that spent time having fun like this. Plus he is already flying, it took the other baby cranes much longer to fly, a lot longer! But I will let the photos speak for themselves…

Woodpeckers galore

First of all, the lake is up another inch and 1/2, and I suppose it will continue to rise little by little as we are now having afternoon thunderstorms daily, the way it used to be in summer. It is very humid – like a steam bath today. I went to check the lake and saw the baby woodpecker sticking his face out of his hole, and of course I didn’t have a camera at that point. But I hear babies inside and there is also a Great crested flycatcher that has new babies. I have never noticed the  Flycrested  before.
There are lots of  woodpeckers lately, they are all over! As soon as I put seed out in the morning, my male woodpecker is right there always first! He does not seem that scared of me taking his photo anymore.
And it’s not just the small red bellied woodpeckers, it’s the pileated too.
The woodpeckers are all over jackhammering trees. The pileated are here in pairs, maybe looking for some real estate.
Another thing I noticed was a bee that had fat orange ‘barrels’ around it’s back legs. I have not seen a bee like that before and it is not bags of pollen, I don’t think anyway.
Yesterday put a humming bird feeder out, but have only seen one hummer the whole time I have lived here, so maybe, maybe not – I promise, you will be the first to know!!!
UT OH —
How fifteen minutes makes a difference, take a look – AND,
we have our first tropical depression forming in the gulf, YA WANNA KNOW TROPICAL DEPRESSION — YOU CAN”T FISH CAUSE IT”S LIGHTNING! Here we go again, will post a daily water meter reading…

Sunday and the folks brought the baby, baby crane

Here it is at 7 weeks and it is going to be the biggest crane I can think of – it is growing like a corn stalk in July!
So I will let the photos speak for themselves

The dilemma of having the kids at home – the great blue herons

The heron family is rather perplexing. The babies are still living with the folks even though they are able to fly. The question is why? A few days ago they seemed to be gone and the parents were up there alone and were actively searching for them amongst the branches of their tree. There was no noise and when the babies are up there, there is plenty of prehistoric noise emanating from that nest.

father in nest looking for kids

Normally the babies fledge, or learn to fly at 2 months, the two up in the nest have been there for  3 months and show no sign of wanting to leave. Why should they? They eat well and have good company and shelter. They are also huge.  Way too big for the nest itself.

Usually they herons breed in colonies. I have been here 5 years almost and the babies seem to leave and don’t come back. We are still lucky that we do have this couple that likes being here year after year. Maybe the new inhabitants will start a colony close by since they like it here. Maybe it’s because the mother feeds them so well? haha

But, why ponder? My female crane is walking up to go fishing – she will be near my door soon looking for me to get my rods. I’d ask her if she feels it a burden having the kids at home, but she doesn’t like to talk when we are fishing…

Waiting to get pounded

Waiting to get pounded – under tornado warnings. All around us are straight line winds and maybe some hail. Outside it is as dark as night almost.  

We are now getting pounded, lots of rain and wind battering down. No thunder, no lightning. The aluminum roof over the porch is singing with the rain. The heron was here earlier as I had mowed and I’m sure she thought I was going to fish also. She sat in a tree for a half hour grooming.

The woodpecker too is snug in his tree hole. earlier he was watching the sky. I fully expect to lose electricity anytime before I am through. I am hoping there is no tornado coming out of this, but maybe I should unpack the linen closet just in case, it’s our only safe room here that has no window or sky light.
Now the lightning has started. Ripples of competing thunder trailing close. The television news blaring reports.  Sounding like the war of the Gods out there! Lots of thunder in all directions, but rain has slacked off a bit.   Feel really bad for anyone in a car stuck in the middle of one of the cells they show on television. Funnel clouds have been sighted west of here. Will publish for now and hope to be back a little later, cause I’m not going anywhere unless I am blown away, literally…

P/S — It’s almost 11:am, the storm seems to be fizzling out, but can feel a slight coolness to the air. The bulk of storms are now headed east. Still have storms around us, but weather nothing like what is headed toward the east coast! The rain is falling at a  perfect rate for absorption and boy do we need it. Will do a comparison meter at very end of blog tonight!
I should take a cue from the cats and go take a nap, they are not the least concerned, and are still on the porch, don’t seem to care about coming in. Sometimes I think the wisdom of cats is a better predictor than the weatherman.

And of course, the damn Band of brothers is skirt chasing the Pekins at the lake.

Baby sandhill crane 12 days old and thriving

Finally, my neighbor called and said the cranes were visiting her. I drove over and there they were. The baby looks so big to me.
I took about 70 photos of the shy bird. The parents feed it well.
while I watched, it ate 5 worms!

They still have not come to visit me, though the father crane
will fly in and eat seed from the stump and then fly back to the family.

Enjoy the family, I sure do!

Maybe the baby heron can fly???

okay, how is this scenerio? Last night I was fishing with the mother heron. I had not seen the baby all day, nor had my neighbor and the young heron usually only stays in a 4 yard radius near to it’s tree with the family nest and because it has not been able to use it’s wings yet, it nests in the Norfolk pine on my property, but last night and the night before, it did not climb up there at night, so…listen to this…Last night I had the mother heron standing in the weeds next to me and there was a huge racket that came out of the family nest. It was so loud and boisterous, the female flew back home and that is a first, usually nothing at all disturbs her when I fish. Last night she heard all the noise and flew up to the nest. I went inside and got my binoculars and saw that both babies were up there versus the one sibling that has remained. Could it be the baby has found flight and went back home? It sounded like a reunion last night as there was all kinds of noises going on. The mother was up there flapping her wings and the babies big heads were bobbing up and down with their wings spread out also. I did not think there were 3 babies originally, it seemed like two were in that nest to begin with. Can someone tell me if one baby did fly down out of the nest, could it possibly go back there if it found how to use its’ wings? Why couldn’t it?  The babies, which actually are almost as large as the mother, were bobbing and screaming and wings were expanding and contracting, it was much louder than the normal, “feed me” noise they make. Anyway, I would like to think the baby heron had learned to use his wings and flew back home.

The mother stayed up there for at least twenty minutes, then flew back down to the weeds in the water again. I asked her point blank if that was the baby that had ‘flown the coup’, but she didn’t say, she only stared at the water waiting for the sound of the fish slapping the water as I pull them in. I think there is a story to be told in that nest!

New crane couple comes to visit

I got all excited late this morning as I was ready to run out, I noticed sandhill cranes walking up to the stump, walking as if they knew that bird seed was always there. I was so excited thinking finally the new baby is coming by for its first official visit. But upon looking at the pair, there was no baby and their color was not rusty and the male had a distinct shape to his head and a very crisp red top that was different from Papa crane.
This males red head was ‘humpier’ than papa crane. Trust me on this, there is a difference.
The pair stayed here all afternoon, taking time to sit in the shade
of the camphor tree and then at around 5pm, they got up and began to play and toss weeds about as they did their silly dancing.

They played for about fifteen minutes and then started their trumpeting. Loud and clear they trumpeted across the lake. I went inside and shortly after that my son told me we had 4 cranes in the yard. All the shouting had brought in the Mama and papa crane, without their baby. The new cranes looked unsure of what to do and the male moved away and left the female to deal with the locals.

My rusty cranes then chased off the new couple and when they knew the cranes were gone, they trumpeted their victory and took off and flew back to their nest where I suppose they left the baby.

Maybe they did not like the idea that another couple would try and move in during their absence. It
amazes me how territorial these birds become and yet, they still have not brought the new baby by. In fact
they did not even touch any of the bird seed on the stump, they came, kicked ass and left, all in a matter of about
ten minutes.  It makes me wonder if they think that since they have lived here so long, they can claim the whole
neighborhood as their own? Nothing bird brained about that!

Waterboarding among Pekin females

The female Pekin ducks have been hanging around
the males too long. Now they are emulating the same
behavior. This morning after the male mafia had been
on shore,

they all consorted with Elvis and followed the Pekin twins around, (no eggs so far this morning).
And after the males left, the girls were swimming and one  jumped on top of the other and
waterboarded her repeatedly for about a minute and then both came on shore and were BFF,
(best friends forever). This domination ‘game’ is crossing genders and I guess the females are
prone to acting out for showing who is boss of who just as the males do. I don’t know if Lily was
the boss or Daisy, but they have been corrupted by those mean mallard-mixes who use waterboarding
as normal domination we are discovering.
The baby heron was out this morning sitting on the trunk of my dead tree, I tried fishing a bit,
but he wandered off.
The day looks gloomy, supposed to make it to 90 degrees possibly. The humidity is already making my hair
frizz like the bride of Frankenstein, next thing I know there will be birds nesting in my hair as I fish!

Gotta go get ready to start the day….. Here’s a happy photo, a bee doing the right thing… not stinging me!

Duck rape

I found two more abandoned duck eggs in the lake this morning.  I figure they were just  more unfertilized eggs and put them by the stump for the blackbirds to enjoy.
The baby crane was on the island walking with her parents, but could not get a clear photo. The baby heron actually came across my lake front and perched next door on a downed limb overlooking the lake. I figured I would fish a while and maybe his mother would fly down and notice her missing baby. That didn’t happen. But I did catch a small bream and threw it within ten feet of him. The heron did not notice until the fish began struggling and the heron’s  whole body language changed; his neck elongated, he stood straight and rushed for the fish which tumbled forward back into the lake, he lost the fish, but did show a big interest. Maybe later when I fish I will but a bucket of fish under his norfolk pine so he can have a midnight snack!
The ducks were swimming around the water near the shore line when suddenly Crabs jumped on one of the twins.

He totally dominated her holding her lily-white neck with his beak and submerging her little Peking face over and over underwater. At one point it looked like he would drown her.

Poor little girl was so very distressed looking. Ducks are such
hardcore lovers! It did not last long, but the Peking duck left aside was so concerned, she quacked and was noticeably cognizant that something weird was going on and stayed as close to the pair as she could. It looked like a waterboarding technique as the poor Peking’s
face kept disappearing under the water. Finally he turned sideways and dismounted.
Daisy and Lily were then side by side and Carbs swam on shore and slept, (typical male). The girls swam around for awhile and did come on shore and walked around. I have those two other eggs I put on the porch yesterday and will see if they show signs of life in a couple days.
Once we had a poor female muscovy come visit a few years ago, she came on the property and at that time we had the ‘band of brothers’, three mixed mallard looking ducks that stayed together all the time. When they came ashore and saw the female, all three of them were trying to gang rape the poor duck. She was panicing and went into the corner of where my porch and house form and L and the males tried ravaging her. I took a broom and shooed them away and got her on the porch for a while until the males finally left, (the next day). The muscovy seemed fine away from the males and when I left the door back open, she looked hesitant upon leaving. Ducks “do it” with anger, the attitude of the male duck in mating mode is downright cruel. I am happy to say the girls seem no worse for the wear.
I suppose if Elvis visits tomorrow, Carbs can dish out his mating details. Dee, my neighbor might be right about inviting one muscovy and you get them all. I guess I could set up a duck egg stand every morning for fresh duck eggs- and a free duck to go with it…

A day of baby sightings

Today was a wonderful example of the kindness of nature with the birth of the new crane, and at the same time, the cruelty with the baby heron who must have fallen from that tall pine. Though at least I did see him make it to the water so I assume he at least had a drink of water and possibly ate some minnows. The baby heron remains quiet even when I hear one of the parents in the tree call out from the nest as I did tonight.  Though the mother still fished with me as if nothing was askew.  I noticed the baby heron both on the property where the tall pine is and hanging out next door, so he is sticking close to home, though I did not see him the whole time I was fishing.
Tonight for the third night he used his wings as arms climbing up the norfolk pine at the base. It pulls it self up to stay safe, at least it has good coping skills. Tomorrow I will fish and save a fish in a bucket for him. Ringo looked a bit too curious, but that heron is a lot taller than Ringo the cat!  The last I looked the heron looked tucked into the tree.
So here’s a good night from the babies of Loch Arbor in Sanford, Florida…

good night from the baby heron…

Baby heron back in sight

This morning Elvis and Carbs were yakking it up and then the Pekin twins swam over . They get so excited one or both of them layed an egg as there was one on shore and one in the water. I brought them both up to see what happens in 3 days, the candle test to see if they are fertile.
I doubt they are. Somehow, Carbs and Elvis seem to like each other more than they like the girls.
On my way to check out the crane progress, I noted one of the baby heron’s folks way up in the nest. (I had binoculars with me). I wondered if they had found the baby.  So I hurried to look at the crane, and Mama crane was sitting on the nest and indulged me as she stood and rolled the egg and sat back down.
Back home I went and walked into the backyard and who did I see peering over the seawall at the neighbors but the baby heron. He looks well, but still confused.

Tonight I hope he is still there as his mother will come down and I hope she will spot him. You can see he wants to get down to the water, but there is a 4 foot drop to the shoreline. If only he would walk over to my yard it has a natural slope down to the waters edge.  The baby could catch minnows then like this small gray heron.

Where’s Carbs

Woke up this morning and went out to feed critters and no Carbs. I didn’t see him anywhere around the lake. The girls came swimming up about fifteen minutes later, they did not see their man-duck and swam off. Yesterday Elvis had come to visit.
He and Carbs and the girls all yakked it up on the bank and then Elvis flew off and the girls left.

Carbs has taken to jumping up on the stump and eating the bird seed, he doesn’t care a ducks ass about Ringo hiding to sabbotage the birds.

Will let you know if he comes back, maybe he is visiting Elvis??? It’s only 10:am – Do you know where Carbs is???

Now it’s 5pm, Carbs has a hiding place underneath the fallen tree, I called and called and finally went to the waters edge and saw a little red duck head peek out when he heard me.

So he is still here, enjoying life in Abbesworld, and I’m
so happy he still likes it here, enough to hang out and be a duck model….