Every year a female raccoon takes up residence in the hollow trunk of our white pine. This year is no different, and Rosie has returned. She will give birth real soon to her youngsters. Every night multiple times she visits my bird feeders (ssen via my trailcam), but thankfully the feeders are hung properly to protect them from Rosie. The raccoon just gets sloppy seconds from bird spillage!
From a few days ago … Rosie the Raccoon.
The past three days had quite the run in terms of finding owls … all the more amazing that the weather for the first two days were HORRIBLE (downpours and 40 mph wind gusts). However, these poor owls which normally never hunt much past sunrise for much of the year, must have owlets near by which mean they must hunt no matter the weather. There is zero reason for the the Great Gray Owls to be out hunting till 11:00 am in horrible downpours and winds.
MAKE certain you watch the video of the Great Gray Owl hunting. It was 11:00 am, almost six hours after sunrise which in itself is amazing, and then you add in the HORRIBLE weather … downpours and 40+ mph wind gusts. (video link of Great Gray Owl hunting for email subscribers)
And now here are some photographs of each of the six unique owls … three species.
Great Gray Owl … unique owl #1 (in the rain, but out of the wind)
Great Gray Owl … unique owl #2 (in the downpour and 40 mph wind gusts)
Barred Owl … unique owl #3 (video link for email subscribers)
Great Horned Owl … unique owl #4 (Momma)
Owlets … 63 days old!
Great Horned Owl … unique owl #5 (Owlet A)
Great Horned Owl … unique owl #6 (Owlet B)
It is always nice when plans work! I put up a trailcam only a few days ago along US Forest Road #813 (do not drive … ignore Google Maps, or you will get stuck) near a pond. The trailcam has already photographed Mr. Moose (wet from munching on water plants in a nearby pond)! Location of bird feeders … next to Lake County #2 (includes hiking information).
As a fyi, I had seen both Moose and Lynx tracks prior to putting up the trailcam. Best probability at seeing mammals will always be very close to sunrise or sunset.
