Melting, Attacks, Migrants, and More - UPDATE April 11, 2023
Deer
With the temperature suddenly 69°, snow is disappearing from the beaver lodge and the ice is getting thinner—but not too thin for two deer who didn’t seem concerned.
Deer on woods lake
Deer on woods lake
Beaver lodge
Beaver lodge
Raven attacking eagle
Raven attacking eagle
Yesterday, I saw something I never thought I’d see—a raven in an all out attack on a mature eagle four times his weight. The eagle refused to leave his perch as the raven went around and around the eagle 3-4 feet away with its beak open ready to dash in (picture) whenever the eagle couldn’t turn fast enough to face the raven. I couldn’t see all that was happening, like who was biting who. The fast action was continuous from 6:47 until 7:01 PM when the raven flew down to right outside my desk window for a piece of meat.
Earlier, this same raven that is the most frequent raven visitor ever, nearly caught a red squirrel. There was contact, but the squirrel escaped. Also, only an hour later, a crow tried to chase down a chipmunk that was narrowly escaping across the snow and made it to cover. I hadn’t seen ravens or crows trying to catch prey before.
Yellow-rumped warbler
Yellow-rumped warbler
Starling male
Starling male
A yellow-rumped warbler was the first warbler of the year two days ago. Today, was something more unusual to see here—a starling. I know these are common across the country but not here in the woods, and he made it special by posing in the sun so I could clearly see that it was a male (yellow bill) in mating plumage.
Woodchuck
Woodchuck
The woodchuck stayed out of sight for about a week and then yesterday was around for much of the day. He is easily identifiable by his notched left ear and is the only one seen this spring.
Deer are still coming for their raw peanuts, looking beseechingly.
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
