It's a Zoo!

Sitting out on the deck in the mornings, I can't help but think of that old line -- It's a zoo around here. Well, it's more than just a saying at this mountain place. Yesterday we had a blond black bear walk down the road in front of our house, cross our driveway, and stroll up between the house and the propane tank, just as if it owned the place. My SO walked to the end of the porch as the bear went by and spoke to it, he says, just to see the way the thing might react. It turned like it was going to come up on the porch and shake my SO's hand -- that was how it reacted. Not what I wanted at all. I was frantic and trying to locate the camera on my phone, which wasn't even turned on yet, to take a picture. Our neighbors across the street were yelling, "Bear!" It was a zoo.

I've already blogged about the black-tailed hare. We have also, in addition to a whole family of fox-eared squirrels,  a group of chipmunks that have moved in. They are driving the dog insane. She thinks of nothing else but those chipmunks. She isn't interested in other dogs that walk by, in the squirrels, in taking walks, in eating! She just wants to "dog" the chipmunks, galloping up and down the deck and porch each time one of them moves.

We also have birds galore -- our own aviary as my SO likes to say. We've been taking the hummingbird feeders in at night -- because of bears -- but as soon as we hang them out in the morning, the hummers attack them (and each other). We have a male rufous who is especially aggressive. I've never had a rufous at a feeder, and he's a joy to watch, like a orange-red flame buzzing past. We saw one of them poke its beak down in the fragile tomato blossoms yesterday. I'm hoping that it pollinated them.

Other birds we have in abundance are grosbeaks and nuthatches. The pygmy nuthatches are all over the place, spilling the seeds from the feeders in search of black oil sunflower seeds, which they take up onto the pine branches and hammer open. They also drink and bathe in the drip tray under the basil plant. That has gotten the kitty's attention. He stalks them and bats at them, but so far hasn't knocked one down. He tires easily of this, though, and after one or two attempts, goes back to the cushion in the lawn chairs for a nap. Occasional visitors to the feeders are redwing blackbirds, hairy woodpeckers, and stellar's jays.

It's the seeds on the ground, the rejected seeds that the pygmies fling down, that have attracted all this wildlife. Last night, before we took the dog out for her final latrine, I turned on the floodlights and there was a big skunk grazing in the rejected seeds. The skunks here have a wide white swath down their back, wider than Texas skunks, and they're fluffier. We made noises and shined a flashlight on it until it left the premises. We noted that it disappeared into the culvert under the driveway, which explains why the dog is always nosing around those culverts on our walks. The seeds are also the reason we have the squirrels and the chipmunks, and probably bears if we don't do something to clean the pile up. Think we'll get on that today. I don't mind the zoo, in fact, it makes life interesting, but I'd just as soon not walk out one day to find a black bear lounging in the chaise.

Last night as I was dozing off to sleep, I heard coyotes yodeling down in the valley. I swear, it's a zoo around this place!

Onward ....