Captain's Log - The Predator Update

It is the annual predator edition of the Captain’s Log, and I thought the coyotes had been bad this year, but the owls are back. 

Directly above the front porch, outside my writing window, hooting away, talking to what sounds like a whole herd of Great Horned Owls scattered through the neighborhood, echoing back to each other in a cacophony of what only can be equated to what you would hear from a chorus of Christmas bells. 

They are quite a marvel.

The offending bird was so loud last night that I started to think there were neighborhood kids outside my door pranking me. Alas, as I stood outside waiting for my eyes to adjust, the realization came that she was perched in the cottonwood tree above the peacocks. Which explained why, at nine o’clock at night, they had begun honking. 

The peahens, to be more accurate, will not go in at night with the rest of the birds. They insist on roosting in the cottonwood tree above the bunny/chicken shed, waiting until everyone has gone in for the night before alighting in entertaining, incremental hops on the chicken tractor for a bit, then the shed for a bit, and then into their tree for a long winter’s nap.

A couple of nights ago, they were nowhere to be found, and I feared the worst. Until I noticed blobs in the trees above the goats. For some reason, they had switched trees, and I could not figure out why. And now, for the past two nights, they have been in the trees above the house. 

I am afraid the owls are why. 

A while ago, on some black Friday Amazon sale that Denice knew about, she recommended getting yard cameras to catch whatever offender had done in my Porcelain du’ Eccles. Alas, a set of high-tech game cameras remains in the box next to the front door because technology intimidates me. I have not had a free Saturday to read instructions and assemble tools, and we are all relying solely on Clio, the Great Dane-turned-livestock-guard-dog, to keep the bad guys away. 

So far, she is doing a remarkable job for someone meant to chase wild boar through German forests. 

So, while I document raccoon tracks, watch quail eat seeds out of the chicken scratch, and plan where to place game cameras, I will still be right here…

…Keeping you Posted

Rach