Osprey

We recently put up an Osprey platform hoping we could attract some to breed in our wetlands. We only had to wait a few months. Today we had 3 flying in the area and eventually one landed on the platform and perched on it for hours calling to the others. We think this bird is a female. Unfortunately it is VERY early for them to be thinking about breeding. We can only hope they stick around through the winter. This platform is about 20 feet high and overlooks our largest pond. They feed exclusively on fish.

Rodents

When we are trapping for reptiles we often get an assortment of rodents in the traps. Here we have a shrew (they bite), a deermouse, and a pocketmouse. The shrew is easy to spot with its long nose. We had to keep him in the bag since they can be aggressive. We place them in the bag to weigh them. After we have identified and measured them they were placed safely in a nearby bush.