Winter rations?

The past few days we've been visited by two or three whitetail deer. They hang around the wood's edge at the top of the rise in the back yard. It looks as though they're still feeding, or trying to, on the acorn mast drop of last Autumn. Seeing them has been one of the few encouraging signs this Winter. We've seen no signs of turkeys nearby, although there's a large flock that we've seen a couple of times. They hang out near the western edge of Carlos Avery near the Wyoming - Stacy border.

whitetail deer searching for acorns?

Photo by J. Harrington

Last Winter we had a pair of whitetails, looked like a doe and yearling to us, nibbling at the front sunflower seed feeder for much of the Winter. We would have left the front feeder up again this Winter but the deer also found our chokeberry bushes too tasty to resist. The sunflower seeds seemed to draw the deer right past the chokeberry bushed and, as the bushes grew leaves, they were among the victims of deers' teeth. We ended up with no chokeberries. This year we're doing no feeding and will hang some repellant bags in a few weeks; and, cross our fingers.

last Winter at the front "bird" feeder, whitetails

Photo by J. Harrington

Driving home yesterday after a visit with our son, the Better Half pointed out a large flock of Canada geese headed in a Northerly direction as we headed East on I-694. That triggered anticipation for a couple of months from now when the migrators return. I suspect the geese find open water at the Mississippi River, but I've no idea where and how they're feeding with all the snow cover that's fallen the past week or so. That's probably a sign I've been spending too much time inside and not enough out poking around to see what's going on. Age and cold weather can do that to a guy.

Eating Words

By Katherine Hauth

When you know

that vore means eat,

you will know

that insectivores feed

            on grasshoppers, moths, and butterflies,

            mosquitoes, bees, and plain-old flies.

When you know

that carni means meat,

you will know

that carnivores eat

            snakes and lizards, deer and lamb,

            carrion, birds, fish, and ham.

When you know

that herb means plant,

you will know

that herbivores CAN'T

            eat anything that moves on a foot,

            just foods that spring up from a root.

When you know

that omni means all,

you will know

that omnivores call

Everything

            they can suck or chew—

            sometimes even me or you—

food.

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