Discovering the world around me.
We don’t have a lawn per se on Owl Acres. We have a yard. The difference I suppose is that we aren’t trying to create that lush green uniform and aesthetically pleasing golf-course monoculture. Instead, we are celebrating the diversity of creatures and plants that live in that space. To that end, Bryan set the […]
Continue reading Digging Machines: Plains Pocket Gophers
Owl Acres is a busy place after the sun goes down. Owls and skunks are out hunting, raccoons are out foraging, and mice and rabbits are out and about looking for supper. All this activity goes more or less unnoticed most of the year, but when there’s a new snowfall, suddenly there’s a whole story […]
Continue reading Ferocious Hunter: Least Weasel
One morning when the sun was just coming up, a red fox strolled across the driveway near the road on Owl Acres. In the time that we’ve lived here, that’s the only sighting we’ve had of Mr. Fox. That’s not too surprising really. Foxes are generally nocturnal and will claim and defend an area of […]
Continue reading Ever So Clever: Red Fox
One sunny day in mid-October, we watched a little critter sitting up in the yard inspecting its domain. When it noticed us, it scurried through the grass to disappear under a washed-out section of the sidewalk. It was about eight inches long not counting its two and a half-inch tail, and sported black and tan […]
Continue reading Squinnies: Thirteen-line Ground Squirrels
On Owl Acres, we have a chainsaw carving of a barred owl. Captured in her talons is a mouse-sized critter whose short tail suggests a vole rather than a mouse. Mother Nature seems to have several niches for little mammals like mice whose main job is to convert plant material to meat for a whole […]
Continue reading Not Mice: Meadow Voles
There’s nothing better than a personal, physical experience to help me see something new. That’s why, on our walk the other day with both Dave and Clancy, Bryan put a dead, but intact, northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) into the palm of my hand. The soft furry body of the tiny mammal just covered my […]
Continue reading Untamable: Northern Short-Tailed Shrew
After I bought Owl Acres, I loved to come out to the country and enjoy the soundscape, barbecue over a fire in an old washing machine tub we found in the fence row, and think about the house I would build. On one of those beautiful summer evenings I invited the kids to come out […]
Continue reading Things That Go Zoom in the Night: Little Brown Bats
When I was a little girl, I wore Coke-bottle-lens glasses. They were heavy, and often made my nose sore where they rested on the nose pieces. To make them more comfortable, my father put moleskin pads on the nose pieces to cushion them. This helped until the little pads inevitably fell off and had to […]
Continue reading Earth Thrower: Moles
“There’s a dead skunk in the middle of the road, stinkin’ to high heaven.” Isn’t that a song from the 70s? This real-life skunk was probably out hunting last night, crossing the road looking for supper, when it was hit by a car. It will be surrounded by that unmistakable skunk perfume for days. It […]
Continue reading American Sable, Anyone?: Striped Skunk
On a February day, there’s a fresh coat of snow on the ground. About four inches of new snow fell overnight, leaving the world bright and clean. The surface of the snow contains the records of last night’s activity. Every creature that was out and about left its tracks for us to see. Raccoons, birds, […]
Continue reading We Are Not Rodents: Eastern Cottontail Rabbits