By Gary Lee
The weather was a little better around here this week but some folks got hit with some very violent weather. Cyclone Pam in the Pacific hit shore with winds over 180 mph and more than ten inches of rain.
It doesn’t take much more than that to blow your house down.
Sap collectors in the area didn’t get more than a few drops in their buckets as the cold winter weather has frozen the trees. It’s going to take a few warm days to get that sap flowing.
It doesn’t look like that is going to happen this week as temperatures are going to hover right around freezing all week.
We had a hard rain shower Saturday night (March 14) but come Sunday morning there was a little more snow to look at out the window.
Despite the cold weather and snow cover a few people have reported some red-winged blackbirds at their feeders along with other birds moving north.
The only thing I’ve had was a starling and an influx of crows.
I banded several new black capped chickadees over the weekend, four new hairy woodpeckers and two downy woodpeckers.
I still have a pile of redpolls hanging around.
I had a barred owl come on the carcass on the pond during the night that stayed until 11 a.m. the next day.
It was harassed by the crows and ravens but it didn’t budge.
I had seen it during the night in the moonlight a few times before but this is the first time it stayed during the daylight.
Several other people in the area have reported barred, screech and saw whet owls around their feeders looking for food.
Some owls were killed when they bopped windows in their search.
One time I was up on Twitchell Creek I caught a beaver and skinned it right on the spot.
When I came in a couple days later I saw where critters had been eating on the carcass.
The third time I went I found the remains of a barred owl that the coyotes caught on the carcass.
An owl doesn’t make much of a meal but they weren’t going to let it at their food supply.
I set my trail camera and put out a beaver carcass and saw some marten and mink tracks.
It only took the marten a couple days to find it, then a male fisher showed up too.
They worked the carcass for four days before the ravens came along and tore it to pieces in one day.
I saw where the fisher dug holes in the snow to bury his stash for future eats. The two mammals worked the carcass day and night.
I even saw a snowshoe hare going by one night. He had to be careful or he would have been a hot lunch for the other two working the area. I never did get any shots of mink.
This is the time of year that muskrats are breeding. They travel great distances looking for receptive females.
They cross highways and other open areas during their search and many get hit by cars or caught by predators.
If they run into another male there may be a fight and they bite into each other’s hide.
Beaver do the same thing on big rivers when the water opens up. I could only imagine a bite by one of these big guys.
Many Moose River beaver I catch have big scars from fights or from battles when the parents kick the two year olds out of the house and they don’t want to go.
The females are already bred and carrying kits that will be born in late April or early May.
These little ones are born furred, like a dog or cat, and ready to eat from mom.
They aren’t very big before they take their first swim as they have to get out of the house by going underwater.
Other signs of spring have been snow fleas which gather in depressions or footprints in the snow.
I’ve also seen some midges on the sunny side of the garage door.
Some folks think they are mosquitoes but they aren’t.
I stirred up the gravel bottom of a stream the other day with my boots and a couple salamanders swam by.
They could have been small mud puppies but I didn’t catch them to see them up close.
Lots of frozen pipes this year…but that’s another story. See ya.