The Rabbit's Nest

This was fun for a couple weeks. Even though the ending is a tad disappointing, which is my fault.

My wife saw an eastern cottontail in our back yard about the first of June. It appeared to be digging a nest.

I put a camera in the yard and captured several photographs of the rabbit.

As you can see, the rabbit is over the nest at various times through the day and night. Petty cool. The nest is about 4 inches deep, with an entrance hole perhaps two inches in diameter. It's lined with fur that the mother takes from her belly. To tell you the truth, it looks to me an awful lot like dryer lint. 

And then I captured something that seemed scary at the time. Several birds raided the nest and took fur, presumably to use in their own nests.

I thought this might mean that the rabbits were dead for some reason. But I was wrong. The mother continued to nurse her young for several days. They nurse only once a day, and at various times. I presume this is to make it harder for predators to track and find the nest; what humans call operational security. 

Nursing takes several minutes, and looks like this....

And now for the disappointing part. Sorry. 

That is the last event I captured of the mother feeding. I never did capture the babies; I think because the camera batteries were getting to weak to operate the camera. Oops. Sorry. 

Anyway, there is no evidence that the babies were predated, so I assume they successfully fledged, and are out being rabbits somewhere in Rodgers Forge. 

This is what the nest looks like after being abandoned. Please note that I pulled the grass back from the hole so you can see it better. When it was in use, the mother kept the grass pulled together tightly over the nest, making it harder to see.

And I have noticed more rabbits out and about in the neighborhood this year than usual. I assume the hawks will soon make the same observation. Could be a decent fall for hawks in the area. More later.

Don't forget to go outside and play.

There's a rabbit nest in the middle of my back yard

You can barely see the nest in the lower center or this photograph

Yep, right smack in the middle of my yard, a rabbit chose to build a nest.

You can barely see it in the photograph to the right.

In the videos you can see some interesting behavior over the nest.

More later.

This could be fun, couldn't it?

A red fox learning to hunt

While the camera captured several animals again this week, I was especially struck by a red fox that seemed to visit the area several times. At least, I assume it's the same fox, There are several fox in Cromwell Valley Park so it is possible that more than one frequents this area along Minebank Run.

Early in the week, I captured the fox making its rounds, such as in this video.

A couple days later the camera captured this interesting behavior. The fox has killed what appears to be a mouse, perhaps a vole. And it's playing with it. For a long time. The first video was filmed at 05:58 and the third at 08:25. That's over two hours of this behavior. I've no way of knowing how many breaks the fox may have taken in its play. 

And while I call this play, I do realize that it is more than simple play. The fox is practicing and refining its hunting skills. 

Speaking of hunting skills--some owls and hawks are able to kill and eat red foxes. Wow.

It's a beautiful spring. Go outside and enjoy some of it.

Nothing Special, but that's Beautiful too....

I had a chance to check the camera last weekend.  I didn't capture any beaver, or coyote.

But that's OK, isn't it?

Enjoy the videos.

Don't forget to go outside and play.

Coyotes, and lots of other animals, all in Cromwell Valley Park

So, many of you probably know this, but the coyote population has been growing in Maryland as the animals expand their range from west to east. They now are certainly in Cromwell Valley Park.

Indeed, this migration is a fascinating thing. Taking advantage of the changes to their environment made by human activity, the coyotes have moved east--and they've bred with wolves while doing that. (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0806_020806_coyote.html)

http://www.nature.com/news/rise-of-the-coyote-the-new-top-dog-1.10635

This is bad news for the red fox population, as coyotes tend to take over the habitat, and force the foxes to the fringes of their territory.  (http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=coyotesw. https://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/f2013/eidensch_matt/interactions.htm)

And as you can see from the photographs below, there is now at least one coyote in Cromwell Valley Park. These photographs were captured on the west side of Minebank Run, about 120 meters north of the Sherwood Farm Bridge.

There is a report of another coyote sighting recently in the park. If any of you have any photographs or sighting reports, I'd like to see them. Perhaps we can get some idea of the population numbers, and whether or not there is breeding activity  occurring.

It's going to be fascinating to see what happens in the future.

Coyote's aren't the only animals active in the park. There also are red fox, raccoon, deer, squirrels, rabbits, robins, northern flickers, and mourning doves.

Enjoy the pictures.

And don't forget to go outside and play.

Invasion of the squirrels

You will recall that we had photographs of an Eastern Screech Owl in its box. Sadly, a squirrel, undoubtedly a Grey Squirrel, has moved in and displaced the owl.

In the photograph below you can see what has happened. The squirrel has stuffed the box full of leaves; so many leaves that the front of the box has burst open. It's hard to discern from these photographs but the squirrel has actually turned the entire mounting pole and  box about 90 degrees. That's a lot of force.

Meanwhile, back at the stream....

A beaver was sited in Minebank Run recently. It will be fun to see if it takes up residence. And the bluebird boxes are ready to go for another season of nesting. That's always fun.

Soon the Orioles will be here--human and avian.

Go outside and play.

Our owl friend is still there, and he had a visitor.

I had the opportunity to check the camera yesterday, so I took it.

It appears that the owl is still there, unperturbed by the snow that some of us found so disturbing.

It's still sunning itself at regular intervals. I made a time-lapse of one such event. Here it is.

Going through the pictures, I also found this one of another bird poking its beak in the owl's box. 

Boy, I sure wish I knew what they said to each other.....

Spring promises to be lovely this year.
Don't forget to go outside and play.