Entries tagged with wildlife

Current Mood: amused

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Intruders

Something's Afoot

Monday (or maybe Tuesday) morning, as I walked in from the parking lot on campus through the light fluffy snow, I noticed a couple of pile of poops on the sidewalk. It was large and greenish. Was someone walking a hay eating Great Dane? Giant Killer Rabbits? I wasn't sure.

That afternoon as I came out, I saw a Canadian goose walking around on the sidewalk and the little grassy strips between Everett Tower and Lot 61. Mystery solved.

This morning, Friday, as I pulled into a handicapped spot, I noticed a pair of geese next to the sidewalk. You can't quite tell with the shadows from the tall buildings, but it was a bright and sunny day. For a change. Still below freezing, and the geese kept on getting up and wandering around.

They were gone this afternoon.

Didn't want to disturb them, so I used the little Sony from the driver's seat of the Blazer before I went to work this morning. (Click on photo for larger.)
©2013 Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon (All Rights Reserved)

Hope they don't try to nest by the building. The suckers are BIG and can be quite aggressive if challenged. Like walking near them. (grin)

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: amused

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Suddenly Spring

80°F?

Monday it rained. Mrs. Dr. Phil saw wormsign on the sidewalks -- normal earthworm type, not Dune type. (grin) Tuesday night there were peepers in the distance -- tonight the peepers were deafening at the 84th Avenue cedar swamp.

And with a forecast high of 77°F today, it may have hit eighty. At least according to one sign along US-131 that's pretty reliable.

Oh, and though I didn't see them in time to slow down or get a camera out, along one of the 70mph curves on the M-6 this morning, there were three large wild turkeys strutting along the edge of the gravel.

Spring. Brings out the wildlife.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: enthralled

Entry tags:

allendale,
wildlife

Wild Tur-keys In Flight, Afternoon Delight!

Drove Off To Holland This Afternoon

It was beautiful clear blue skies this morning, high in the mid-40s. By 3:30pm, it was still 42°F, but scattered clouds and high wispy haze made it semi-overcast. Over on 104th Avenue some northbound yutz flashed his headlights rapidly on and off towards me for more than half a mile. Is there a problem? Ten foot flames shooting out from under the Bravada? He waved as he drove past -- no one I've ever seen. A short while later I spotted the sheriff's car parked on a cross road. Nice, but really -- he's out there looking for people who are`a hazardous nuisance on the road and Mr. Flashy Lights, you're not really helping, are you?

Much more interesting was somewhat further down, as I approached the first of two large dips in the road by stream beds. Something large seemed to have fluttered down by the road, partially hidden by the dip -- then another head. Vultures? No...

Wild Turkeys

We've seen wild turkeys around here before (DW). But this looked like a New York City light change and a glot of pedestrians crossing the road as the turkeys began to cross. And not one or two, but bunches.

I slowed down and pulled over. I had the Nikon D1X camera bag with me, but wasn't able to get out and get the camera out from the back seat in time.

Meanwhile the turkeys kept coming. And while I had been stopping they began taking flight, heading left to right, east to west. Soon they were launching into the sky from the other side of the road. All told we probably saw three dozen or more turkeys, flying up into the trees and settling on bare branches twenty to thirty feet off the ground. I didn't know wild turkeys did that.

Within moments the trees cleared of their large dark loads and they landed in a yard off to the west beyond the big stand of trees. I wasn't going to get any pictures. (sigh)

But it was a beautiful and lovely sight.

Low Odds

At least I had one of the Nikons with me. If I had the little Sony. it takes time to power on, then you have to farble with the zoom, then deal with the delays of shooting with a point-and-shoot. And I probably wouldn't have gotten the picture.

But you didn't get the picture, I hear you say. Yup. It happens. I'd say that trying to get shots of things like this is less than a 1-in-10 proposition. You just aren't going to get a lot of these shots. Not if you're practicing safe driving. So I understand.

But in my mind I see this glorious photo of this rising diagonal of these large birds taking flight and heading for the tress. You'd have liked it. (sad grin)

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: calm

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Argh... Bastard... Stupid... Idiots... Ahhh...

You Can't Get There From Here

Ah, Michigan. Such seasons. Early winter, mid-winter, late winter and construction. (grin) The latest for my commute has been the closing of the back route onto WMU's campus. In the morning I can head down Drake to W. Michigan Avenue and take the roundabout (traffic circle) on campus to get into Lot 61 from the other direction. But in the afternoon I don't like taking Drake because the left turn onto W. Main/M-43 is awkward with people stopping in the middle of the left turn lane to either cut in line into the main traffic or dive across several lanes into small shopping centers on either side of the highway.

So I've been taking Howard down to Stadium Drive and getting onto US-131 North one exit south of normal. Alas, on Monday construction on Stadium has closed the ramps onto US-131 North.

One Yahoo After Another

Heading north on Drake this evening I could hear and then see an ambulance coming towards us. So most of us pulled over to the right as one is supposed to. But this Bastard Bus -- a private full-size bus which ferries students to some off-campus apartment complex called The Centre -- decided that a speeding ambulance heading our way and vehicles ahead of him pulling over meant he could gun it and start weaving in and out of the cars pulling over so he could sprint ahead. Really? He practically forced a gap to open between two slowing cars so he could bull his way forward. I sure hope he pulls this nonsense in front of a cop some day.

But while I was still on Drake, some woman in a small subcompact tore out of the mall lot on the left, cutting across multiple lanes of traffic to end up sitting stopped right in the entrance to the left turn lane. Eventually, with traffic backing up behind her, she decided to just go ahead and stay in the left turn lane, turning left in the last second of the green-turned-yellow left turn arrow -- having not let anyone in to take the left turn arrow. Thanks. Real kind of you, in a Stupid kind of flavor.

Out on the 131, we picked up a smattering of rain. This is when a couple of pickups and a Jeep SUV decide it's time to play NASCAR on the four-lane. And dive in and out of the traffic, even though both lanes are reasonably full and all moving at the posted 70 mph. Idiots.

And Then A Moment Of Zen

When the drive starts getting longer than usual, there are a couple of places where I can pull over and get out and stretch my back. One of those is in the back parking lot at the Standale Meijers. After getting the kinks out, I rounded the little access road on the west side, which is next to a newly planted field.

And that's when I saw a couple of ~~herons~~ sandhill cranes wading through the rows picking at tasty grubs or something, backlit by the late summer afternoon sun.

Pulled over and put the four-way flashers on while I dug out the Sony W170 and set the zoom lens for the maximum optical setting of 5x.

Waited for a car to pass and then for one of the birds to show off its long neck.

Pretty. And decent payment on a long commute surrounded by idiots. (grin)

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: enthralled

Entry tags:

allendale,
wildlife

Turkeys

Goblins? No, Gobbles!

In the previous post I wrote about the Jim C. Hines reading and signing for the third Goblins book on Thursday. On Sunday, we had a different brush with things Gobbish: During the long soaking afternoon rain, I noticed that near the low spot in the gravel driveway, pecking about, was a huge wild tom turkey. We've known there have been wild turkeys in the area since we've got here, but this may be only the second time I ever recall seeing one near, if not on, our property. Then he disappeared into our stand of jack pines.

Then at the other end of the trees a female turkey emerged, strolling along, eventually followed by the male, who kept a respectful distance of 10-20 feet away at all times. As they both passed between our house and neighbor to the west, the male was quite close. But I didn't want to spook them and besides, the windows on the south and west sides have screens, making it difficult to shoot pictures. I settled for the kitchen where there was a closed window without a screen and used the HP camera with the modest zoom lens.

We wonder if they were already a mated couple or whether this was still spring courtship, because the male would stop and slowly spread his tail display about every minute.

Eventually the pair wandered off unmolested. Didn't hear any shotgun blasts from the firearms crew behind us that likes to blow things up, so they didn't see the turkeys -- I think there's a spring season right now, though there'd be the issue of distance to houses, of course. And the west neighbor's dogs were not outside.

Very amazing thing on an otherwise dreary soggy Sunday afternoon.

Dr. Phil

ADDENDUM: Oh, forgot to mention that as I was getting the garbage can ready to take to the road this morning, Mrs. Dr. Phil spotted a lady turkey -- same one or not, who can tell? -- over in the weeds at the other end of the east neighbor's property. Could do worse than having turkeys as neighbors, you know. (grin)