Ducks on the Pond

Brian,
We had wood ducks visit once. For  less than an hour It seems the ideal place for a wood duck house. But since I never see them in the area I never built a box.

And yes they are gorgeous. ML took this last early spring up at our camp.

Just beautiful!

Phil we have Fishers here in Maine, I have no doubt you do too. I have seen them and when they're seen you'll know what it is instantly. I had one many springs ago running around in the leaf litter below our home. Made one heck of a racket and impossible to ignore. I saw it run up an aspen 30 yards away, get to near the top and basically jump off back down to the ground. Maybe they go as nuts as snowshoe hares do in the spring.

Yes, they'll definitely eat cats that run loose. It's an easy meal and the cat doesn't stand a chance. Maybe if one was hungry enough it would try to get through a screen to grab a cat, especially if it ate cat in the past. There are all sorts of BS stories about all sorts of things. I was reminded of one today. Porcupines are a way of life in rural Maine. If one has dogs it's a constant effort to get rid of the porcupines in the area. There's only one way that works and it's death for the porcupine. Late last fall I shot one and didn't get it far enough over the bank for disposal. Digging was out of the question in frozen soil; most times I just bury them in the garden (they're 25% N2). Today the dogs decided to investigate the intoxicating aroma of rotting flesh and got quills in their mouths and lips. Locally the story is that if the quill is broken off it won't be a problem because it lets the air out of it. WRONG! They have barbs and as the flesh moves and contracts the quill just works its way through the animal. Quills need to be removed within 15 minutes before the barbs start to swell and they absolutely do need to be removed and not merely broken off. Local lore... Bah humbug! Yeah the dogs don't like the removal but dogs are uneducated. I was real impressed with their choice of scent too. They both got baths. They didn't like either the quill removal or the baths with cold water. I didn't much care for either as well, or changing my clothing afterward. I had better things to do today than to nursemaid 2 idiot dogs. Life in rural Maine.

Ahhh, dogs are pretty stupid sometimes aren't they?

Really nice to see animals in the wild that are not killed off by people encroaching on the wilderness then complaining about the animals.

Yes they are wyze0ne. I think we'll be taking one of them to the vet. I think she has a quill somewhere in her air tube. They'll need to put her to sleep to have a look.