add your winter wildlife pics in here

and include a narrative. Or any interesting winter scene will do, thanks.


Imprint of a bird resting in the snow.
It was about 40* today so I took the dog out for a walk and saw this...it was a sunny day and thanks to Flicka editing I was able to adjust the contrast. btw I'm standing on what use to be an uncrossable part of our swamp.

Here are a few, also in central New York near Cooperstown (Otsego County).

My little kid and dog (border collie) tracking a porcupine. Got a few photos but porky didn't want to show his face. Also a flying squirrel that lives inside our house. Also my lab-mix enjoying the snow and scenery.

I have to know more about the flying squirrel who resides inside your house

We've had a family (one or more) of flying squirrels living upstairs for 20 years. Many generations I guess. I assume their actual nesting place is in our attic. But, they sometimes pop out and come into our living space - often in a panic once they see our cats and dogs. Every spring when they have babies, there are always one or two that find their way downstairs, running all over the place. They are very hard to catch and can flatten out and fit into some amazingly small spaces. The babies that come downstairs just about always get killed by the cats. I've tried to catch them before the cats get them, but that's just about impossible.

The squirrel in the photo is an adult. He(or she?) was in our bedroom one morning. I chased it for hours and finally got it before the cats did. Took it outside in the field behind the house and let it go. Guess what it did? It scooted across the top of the snow, got by my house, climbed a big spruce tree - and then leaped/glided through the air and landed on the attic vent. Then crawled back into the our house.

We don't mind, they don't bother anything as long as they mostly try to stay in the attic.

R

I would suggest taking rat traps and screwing them to the floor and along the walls in the attic and baiting them with big sunflower seeds. Works like a dream! I then recommend you seal-up wherever they're getting in from.
If anyone has too many chipmumks outside I can offer some advice on that too :lol:

Why would I want to do that? I like the squirrels and they haven't bothere a thing. Last thing I want to do is kill them. I assume they've been in this house longer than I have and I've been here 20 years.

Chipmunks are a different story, they pick all our blueberries and we have many chimpunks all over our rock walls. They also tend to build tunnels through our foundation. We used to have two barn cats that really did a number on them, but I got fed up with it after awhile. Got so the cats were bored, and instead of killing the chipmumnks, they were torturing them instead. Cats were also killing or maiming many birds, and even bull frogs from our pond. Funny thing is though - the cats couldn't get a flying squirrel when outside. For years, we were finding little grey tails laying around the yard and fields, not knowing what they were. Finally found it's a defense mechanism the flying squirrels use. Cats (and other predators) grab them by the tail - and the tail pulls right off (just the outide furry sheath). Squirrel then gets away and the tail quickly grows back.

I know how to kill, shoot, trap, etc. I spent my early life doing a lot of coyote, beaver, fox, coon, mink, fisher, and muskrat trapping. No more for me. In most cases, I enjoy animals more alive then dead. In some ways, it more work to live WITH them, then to kill them, but like I said - we prefer most animals alive.

here's one from KRISTIANSTAD SWEDEN,gee i would like to know what speies of bird that is ? got any info?



this is in south sweden around christmas time 2008

^^Nice birds fyrwoodguy...I was up in Alberta a few years back and commented favorable on a bird similar to that. for the next 45 minutes all we heard were horror stories on what rat bastards those birds were...

...and good report on those long term residents jdemaris...that's very special.

Thinking maybe in the magpie family. Hard to tell how big they are and ours don't have as much white on them. My 'Peterson's Field Guide' just covers western birds.

A squirrel is nothing more than a rat with a furry tail but I do love singing chipmunks.
In Niagara Falls they have black squirrels. I've never seen them anywhere else but I haven't been everywhere yet.

I am 2 hours south of the falls and i have tons of them here. They do however make a great stew.....

There are some black squirrels here. Their not abundant but have seen quite a few over the years.

Towhee
Titmouse
Cardinal
Red Bellied Woodpecker


Permanent resident

These never leave either

It's not easy to get a pic of this guy

Doves and other hungry birdys the morning after a heavy freezing fog.

Jack frost even makes this cottonwood look good!

Here's one heathen coyote of a group of 4 that killed a couple pet labs in the neighborhood recently. We sent the hounds after em. Nothin' better than a mid winter fox or yote chase to break up the monotony!

The coyotes have been getting pretty bold around here lately. A couple weeks ago, I was in the back yard at night and one came trotting by, about 40' away. Saw one on the edge of the woods, behind the house, just the other day and it was mid-afternoon.
Umma hafta trim the herd if this behavior continues.

Nice ice pics mobetter. It's difficult to capture the actual beauty with a camera.

We get 'em around here too. We can hear them barking and howling and carrying on in the middle of the night, sometimes in the field right behind our house.

To make it worse, my beagle/lab mix and lab/chessie mix go nuts when they hear the coyotes. I can't tell you how many times I've been yanked out of a sound sleep by the sounds of my dogs springing to life on the bedroom floor, "screaming" at the top of their doggie lungs, and tripping all over themselves as they race downstairs to the sliding back door to try and see what's going on outside.

Pisses me of, ya know?

My neighbor was telling me that he was a little worried. One of the coyotes was in his yard one night last summer. It just stood there watching him, like it wasn't even afraid of my neighbor. He asked me "Mind if I shoot it if I see it again?" I told him "I'll only mind that I didn't get to have the fun."

-SF

I accidentally ran over a wild rabbit last night on my sled . . . but I figured folks would rather not see a dead rabbit posted here . . . and yes, I'm an animal lover at heart and I felt bad . . . at least it was a quick death.

Yes.The Swedish name is SKATA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Magpie

Good harvest LEE...good luck with the other 3. The days fast approaching when they'll take our children just like those dingos in Australia.

thanks hansson,for the info. you nailed it for me!

I guess these guys live lots of places. I know ours got hit pretty hard with the West Nile virus several years ago and only now are making a slow come back. They are very pretty birds but can be terrific bullies to the little guys.

super job! we have em here but very hard hunting.