Jul 2007

Dec 5, 2006.... Hawks Targeting Chickens

We've lost another chicken two days ago when the weather got down into the 20's. It warmed up yesterday and I spotted a squirrel in the southermost pecan tree....I walked up on (close) to a skunk last night 100 yards from the house. It moved fast away from me. I had a flashlight but no camera.

Dec 8th, 2006.... Bald Eagle spotted

This is the first time this season I've spotted a bald eagle perched looking for movement of rabbits and small game 100 yards beyond the house. I'm not sure if it hasn't been the eagle killing some of my chickens though in the past I've seen hawks getting their meals from my chicken yard. They first dismember the head and then the innards.

Dec 18th, 2006.... Great Horned Owl spotted and heatwave.

Great horned owl spotted on driveway at night....I have had many fewer cardinals this year at my feeder....I have eliminated several male pollinating junipers fairly close to the feeder which they may have been using for nesting or for hiding from the hawks...fewer cottontail rabbits lately as well....the neighbors corn fields have just been plowed under and the rats have lost some forage and visual protection....The cat "George" found a rat in the kitchen this week, the first one I ever remember in the old farmhouse downstairs. Our indoor cat "Fredo" keeps the varmits out. I really should have taken a photo of the face off. I leave the door cracked to the attic in temperate weather to allow Fredo's access there. Critters can get into the attic through the hollow walls at times. There is some insulation in certain walls I have worked on in the past...It probably serves to make more comfortable bedding for the occasional varmit before being found out by Fredo.

The weather here is one or two degrees from the all time highs....we have been around 80 degrees F for most of the afternoons this week...scary weather...