Monday, October 11, 2010

My new best friend...

Chipmunk Chaser!!

Oh yeah...a NEW best friend! And Bobb better be on his best behavior...or he'll have a new play mate...

A few months ago, after a "delightful" , uh, procedure as an out patient, I came home and spied what I thought was a Weasel in our small pond. Now being a bit on the medicated side, the Doodles thought I was hallucinating. Not this time! While we were cleaning up the gardens after being at the BirdMobile all summer (yoiks!), Doodles spotted this furry fella in our driveway.

I ran inside to get the camera hoping against hope that he wouldn't move, ha. When I came out he was in the neighbors garden chasing a Chipmunk around in circles. I thought to myself "Myself, that little Mink is a carnivore!" AND he likes to get them little @#%&*@ Chipmunks!

Those Chipmunks were getting a little too fat and need the exercise. By the way, no Chipmunks were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.

I shall call him Manny the Mink, and we shall be friends.

Isn't Manny a real cutie?
If it wasn't for those sharp little teeth, I would give him some nice petties on his heady.


...In other Garden news...

We had visits from hoards of Ruby-crowned Kinglets!
We also had a few Golden-crowns thrown in for good measure!


Where's Waldo?
Those Brown Creepers are still giving my auto focus a hard time!
Not to mention my faulty focusing eyes...

I know, stop shooting through screens!
The only way I could get a shot of the White-crowned Sparrows was by staying in the kitchen.
There's about a dozen under the feeder as I write this. How cool is that?!

The White-throated Sparrows aren't as bothered by my presence...kinda like the Doodles...

Warbly things in the yard are ALWAYS a good thing!
Sunday we had visits from a number of Yellow-rumped Warblys.
One of my favorite bird names...


I owe a lot of thank you's
... and apologies to all of the great birders that viewed my last blog post of this mystery fledgling warbly at the OOS conference.
It is indeed, a Common Yellowthroat.
Listening to all of the discussions was great!


...Mystery Bird of the Week!...

As usual, all I got was this butt shot of this mystery bird going into our Eastern Screech Owl box.
It's tail feathers seem to resemble fur, and note the odd foot and talons gripping the top of the box.
Any ideas on the identity of this would be greatly appreciated.

9 comments:

  1. ...a dozen White-crowned Sparrows under your feeder already? You lucky duck! I hope we get a few this winter. How cool to have a resident mink. I can't wait to see more photos of Manny. I think I might be a bit jealous down here in Cincy...

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  2. Manni is a very nice fellow. you know we have them over here but they are really hard to see... I love the last shot of the squirrel... I did not know you had wood house for squirrel in your area ;-)

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  3. Good photos, especially White-crowned Sparrow.

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  4. Hi Kelly! I'm not sure about being lucky, I think all the sparrows means a rough winter is in store for us...ick.
    Bobb is not excited about more pics of Manny...

    Hi Chris, I think I'm the only nut in our area that has a squirrel box in his garden...

    Thanks Bob! I love hearing those sparrows singing everyday.

    (It's not really Clearsonic, it's me, Dave!)

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  5. All hail Manny! Give those chipmunks hail-

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  6. Isn't it great to see a Mink? I've seen a couple at Long Point Marsh here in Ontario, very entertaining.

    Excellent images.

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  7. Oh my Cheryl...you're so punny!

    Thanks Harold. I was so excited for the Doodles to see the Mink, now she knows I wasn't hallucinating!

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  8. I used to have a full-length mink coat in freezer storage. Unfortunately it was full-sized on the dead mink that Tom found on the side of the road--still warm. Kept it until the power went off for a couple of daze... ewwww......

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