CRITTER NOTES—

Max and I were lazying along the driveway recently and behind me I heard a BIG splash! I thought a large fish had jumped really close behind me. Then, I saw the origin of the noise. A large buck Whitetail Deer was swimming across the lagoon. It didn’t take him long to disappear in the northeast woods.

I mid October I saw a Garter snake on the west trail; the first one of those critters in a long time. In fact, the first snake period. Max and I gave the little fellow his space and we went on our way after thanking him for the visit.

On October 20th I saw my first Juncos of the winter. They spent their summer breeding season somewhere up in Canada between Newfoundland and Alaska. Many will spend the winter here but others will go on as far south as the Gulf Coast and Mexico for their winter. That’s probably their more geriatric crowd.

Last week I was giving the camper its pre-winter bath and got stung by a Yellow Jacket. I guess he didn’t know I was kind to a large nest of his buddies earlier this fall. (See Fogeyisms – Sunday, August 19th, 2007).

And, Thursday as dawn pushed early light across the pond I noticed a dead Whitetail Deer laying ½ in the water in the northeast corner. She was an adult doe with no obvious signs of trauma. I like to think she died of natural causes. By this weekend Turkey Vultures were paying close attention to the area. It has been my experience the carrion eaters tend to be quite efficient in matters such as this.