Critters

On Sunday, just as Mrs Vache Folle stepped outside to take a turn in the garden, a hawk snatched a jay off the feeder and made off with it before our very eyes. I had seen the same hawk a few days earlier make a move on a jay on the woodpecker feeder out back. I tentatively identify it as a Swainson's hawk.

Yesterday, two turkeys jumped the fence and wandered around by the outlet to the water supply land next door. Jasper did not know what to make of them and held back. I commanded him to "leave it" until the turkeys got up on the fence rail and then I cut him loose. I want the turkeys to learn to be wary of the premises since I don't want to clean up dead turkeys from all over the yard.

We have sighted downy woodpeckers on the hummingbird feeders lately as well as hummers and bees. This is a new phenomenon for us.

The neighbor's cat practically lives at our house. She keeps me company when I garden and occasionally startles the shit out of me by hiding under a shrub and pouncing on me all unawares. She drives the squirrels away from the feeder sometimes and waits for them in ambush under the peonies. She can't seem to catch a bird, though, so we don't mind her presence.

Crows seem to like bagels and will fly off with a half bagel with ease. You have to throw them pretty far from the house as the crows are very skittish and fly off at the slightest movement even from inside the house.

If the nursery labels a plant as deer resistant, it ain't necessarly so. That's what we found out. The deer ate the hostas this year but have so far avoided the lilies.