Bolt Hole Wildlife

I didn't get outside much today. It was raining a good portion of the morning while I cleaned the fridge. Then after lunch I fixed the #)($&%$*@ sink. With the travel back and forth to the hardware store, that little chore took three hours.

Still I wasn't bereft of wildlife sightings. The blue jays around the yard seemed to have found their voices to protest something. The same goes for the local raven population. The local phoebe is still advertising for a mate. They've built a nest above one of the windows every year for the last four or five. They are fun to watch as they swoop out for a fly and then go back to their favorite perch. Two turkeys walked through the backyard this morning and three returned this evening. I hope they got a lot of the cluster flies that are starting to emerge. They'll be back for the hawkweed buds and wild strawberries when the lawn starts to grow. I did see even more turkeys walking up this way about a mile down the road at 1 o'clock. Considering the amount of snow and the 20 below winter temperatures, it always surprises me to see them around the Bolt Hole. A stupid grouse was crossing the road a short distance after I saw the turkeys. They seem to think they are porcupines or skunks and have little fear of a car or truck bearing down on them. Male grouse were druming in the woods much of yesterday. I couldn't hear them from inside but I'm sure they were at it again today. The grouse will be around looking for the strawberries and blueberries later in the summer. They'll also be here in the fall to scare the beejesus out of me as I still hunt. They explode from right under your feet and cause a brief heart stoppage. And robins, chickadees and juncos scattered whenever I walked between the truck and the cabin.

The only sign of mammal activity was the red squirrel nest I uncovered in the wood shed attached to the house. It wouldn't be so bad except it was constructed of a little grass and a lot of pink insulation. I hope that came from the plastic bag of the stuff in the shed and not from the walls.

A green frog continues to croak outside the window but he's being intimidated by the thunder off in the distance. Every time it rumbles he shuts up for a moment before he lets out a tentative croak. Perhaps he's in awe f the frog making such a loud noise.

Yeah, there's thunder out there. A cold front is moving through tonight and temperatures will drop into the 40s and low 50s for Wednesday and Thursday. Over the weekend it will be back up to the 70s which should trigger the black fly season. Hey, the sooner the better. If it starts now, and if the temperatures get up into the 80s (could happen, according to Saint Albert Gore) then the flies will disappear sooner.