A Walk in the Forest

We went out to walk our property yesterday to see the state of the forest.  The summer had been so dry and hot this year that until last Tuesday there were fire bans everywhere and our lawn was brown and dormant.  Then, on Tuesday, we got 42 mm of rain.It did help, but we still have a long way to go to fully replenish the soil.

Our first pleasant surprise was there were lots of apples on our apple trees (or on the ground) which would have been good news for Mr. Bear who has plagued our back yard continuously this summer.  A sure sign of a red squirrel in the forest is a carefully stashed apple in a crook of a branch.

There were signs of Mr. Bear around as well.

I have probably never mentioned that our property was actually a farm at one time, with the back part used for crops or pasture.  The way the farmers marked the lines of their fields was partly with the big rocks they hauled out of the ground, partly with tree stumps and partly with maples that were planted.  We have several lines of maples in the back, and all of them are impressive size since they were planted well over a century ago.

With autumn approaching, the goldenrod has come into bloom and provides bright colour among the grasses.

I released the six baby squirrels I had under care and at least three of them have figured out that if you come to the back door, you will get treats like almonds.

Like any other squirrels, these guys are gathering nuts, but like many other babies they are somewhat unclear of the process.  Look at the nuts they have gathered below!

My rocket-science babies have harvested the plastic nut-covers on our lawn chairs!  This happened yesterday, and we replaced them all, only to find a similar story this morning.

We had another big wildlife drama, although I have only one very blurry picture to show for it.  We had a couple of juvenile Cooper's Hawks visiting our back yard on a regular basis to check out the bird feeders.  These guys were clearly unsophisticated babies as well.  One chased another, and to my horror the chasee hit a window screen, injuring itself.  I could see tissue injuries and so took it up to my wildlife vet, who determined that the bird had ruptured its crop, and needed surgery, which the vet promptly did.  Apparently, birds heal quickly, because it was released in our back yard 8 days later.  It partly needed a quick release because it was fighting the confined space required to let the wound heal, and if it ruined too many feathers it couldn't fly.

This is a very blurry picture of it springing out of the carrier.

All this had done is add a lethal mix to the back yard.  Coopers Hawks are supposed to chase birds,  like doves and blue jays.  However if you are young, hungry and inexperienced, you might try for squirrels instead.  This does not work when you weigh about 370 gm as this one did, and baby squirrels weigh at least 200 gm (adults weigh more).

Anyway, we now have a number of squirrels in the back yard with mysterious wounds on the top of their back.

Let's hope all these babies survive to adulthood despite themselves!