Bobcats Among us! 2, Not for the Squeamish

Yesterday while on my morning walk with Evvy, I found this doe.   Right off the bat I thought, "it must be dogs".  The deer looked to be in good condition, no sign of injury from a car.  No obvious injury, until I turned it over.   A huge gaping wound on its neck.  I also noticed that its teets indicated the doe had been nursing.  I certain any fawn with the doe was also a victim.

The doe appeared to have been dragged into the deep grass at the edge of an overgrown beaver pond.  I returned home and called Fish and Game.  I spoke to a Conservation Officer, telling him about the scene, and condition of the doe.  He told me he believed the doe was killed by a Bobcat.  He said the Bobcats wrap their front legs around the neck, and bite hard until the doe dies.  This doe was less than 100#, and more than 50#. She was quite small, and probably easy prey for the Bobcat.  The CO came out later and checked the deer, presumably to make sure this WAS an animal kill.

Later I ran into my neighbor, told him the story.  He said he had seen a Bobcat in his yard just days before.  I had seen a Bobcat myself some time ago.  Now I am thinking it could be the same cat.  I read they can have a range of 16 square miles.  Though they rarely go for deer, Bobcat will do it if the preferred prey, Eastern Cottontail, are scarce.   The cats will drag their prey to a spot and try to hide it.  They return to the kill again and again.  So do I.  I went back to it today to note any changes, evidence of other animals, and the progress of decomp.   The deer had not been eaten further by animals.  But insects were plentiful on this carcass.   The carcass was just beginning to smell, the abdomen grossly bloated and green.  There were some interesting black beetles.  They were about 3/4" long, black with two horizontal orange lines across their posteriors.   

I know, how morbid right?  I have always been interested in various processes in animals and human life and death.  So this is just another chapter in that book.  I will return to the dead deer daily and report my findings....you have been warned :-)

Meanwhile....who'll stop the raaaaaain???
I don't who'll stop it, I just want it stopped.  The brooks near my house are now rivers.  I have considered "tubing" down them, but there are low fallen trees across the water.   Not as pleasant as the Withlascotee River(FL).  There are ponds where there never were, cascades tripping and falling down moss covered rock walls. Beautiful, and green.  

Twyla my black and white cat, has been quite the rascal lately.  She found a way to push the kitchen window screen out, then she gets out.  My neighbor reported that Twyla was sighted being chased by their dog, "Sheba".  Twyla climbed up the side of a barn, and into the second floor window.  She emerged a while later, climbed back down and ran back home.   I was driving in.  When I got inside, there Twyla was just climbing back into the kitchen!  It made me think of a teenager sneaking back into the house after a late night romp.

Back to the Past

I've had my BMW F650 CS motorcycle for sale at the end of my driveway for several days now.  Not so much as a bite.  So I decided to take her out for a spin.  I rode down to Richmond, and then to my family's ancestral farm.  The last relative to live there was my Uncle Frank McCann. He and his family stayed there many summers.  There is a brook fed pond that Frank created.  The water is sooooo cold, but I hear there are "Brookies" in there.   There are over 400 acres of woods, and hay fields out there.  When my uncle died years ago, my aunt sold the place for $250,000.  What a shame the beautiful could not stay in the family.  Whoever lives there now has made this warm little cape even more picturesque.  The house is still perfectly straight and square.

Nearly across the drive from the farm there is a stone chamber similar to the chambers I saw at "America's Stonehenge".   I can't say if the Richmond chamber is related, but the construction is identical in shape, height and depth.  I've always known about this chamber.  There have been theories about it's use throughout family history. I'd heard it was a place to hide from indians, or just a play fort for kids, or maybe a root cellar?  The chamber is far enough away from the house, that one might not want to use it for a root cellar really.  So I'm puzzled.

Up the road which immediately becomes an OHRV trail, I located the old cemetery.   Most of the occupants died in the early 1800's.  Among them, my ancestors Zimri and Polly Bowen.  I'm intrigued about their lives, but know nothing of it.  There is a large crypt toward the entrance of the cemetery.  A large mended marble head stone leans againsth the opening. Several steps lead down into the "beyond" that you can't see.  Inside the crypt, darkness, a cool, dampish weirdness surrounded me the minute my foot touch the dirt floor.   I didn't have a flash light.

But I took several photos inside, illuminating anything that could be lurking.  I found no crawling hands, or unidentified skull.  But there was  definitely something funky on the ceiling.

The ceiling glistened, many white shimmering reflections on the ceiling alone, nowhere else in the crypt.  

After allowing my mind to open to creepiness, I tried to imagine everyone who had been buried here.  Some of these people died so young, survived by their mothers.  There were stones in the corners of the cemetery, that seems unidentifiable.  Lichen and low bush blueberries have blanked the entire cemetery.  I'm glad that someone took the time to cut down all the saplings that grown up between the graves.  Last time I was here, there were trees growing throughout the cemetery.

Merlin? or Kestrel?

Last Saturday, I drove my mom up to Perley Swett's old place.  The Hermit of Taylor Pond is what he called himself.  There was a brief talk at the home, followed by tours of Perley's house, the new Barn House, Perley's grave, and Taylor Pond.  The weather was perfect and one of the rare sunny days this summer.   As we drove up the long driveway to Perley's we noticed a small falcon perched in a branch just above the road.  First I thought it might be a Peregrine, because he seemed too big to be a Kestrel.  But now as I look at the picture, I'm wondering if this bird isn't a Merlin, a.k.a. Marsh Hawk.  He is a juvenile falcon at any rate.  We could have stopped to watch him for several minutes, but believe it or not, we were holding up traffic!  Way out there in the woods.  I couldn't believe it.  

I've written about Perley Swett's place before, so  I won't go into it again.  But I will say, that having been inside the "Shinbone Shack", the shinbones that had been set into the hearth, are not Moose bones.  The bones are much too short, and I believe they are really human tibia.....my opinion.   The bones have been removed, but a well defined pattern remains.

My Evvy has been battling a nasty infected toe the last week, so we have been taking much shorter walks lately.  The toe is much better now, so I have allowed her off her lead to run and swim.  Evvy is so much happier.   And as for me, I'm glad because we can venture away from the pavement and return to the woods I love.   I've always found the biggest natural treasures are found away from the trail.  Each time we leave the trail, we see something we might otherwise not see.  Yesterday for example, I saw an Indigo Bunting along a field, at woods edge.   I happened upon a monster Oak that had fallen earlier in the spring.  I imagined how majestic the big old Oak must have been.  Now the tree had become a maze of burrows, and piles of the best humus for plants.  I'm tempted to go back there and collect some for my house plants! Among the roots I pictured a perfect place for a den of some kind, maybe for a fox, or skunk.

The enormity of the old relic was awesome at first glance.  But like a big kid, I had to climb all over it.  It was like a jungle gym.....in the jungle!

Baby Loons On Granite Lake

How exciting to tell you that for the first time, there is a nesting pair of Loons on Granite Lake. They chose to nest on the east side of the only island at the lake.  Floating signs were put up to keep people from disturbing the birds.  Finally, two beautiful black fuzz balls hatched!  Now the whole Loon family often floats about right in front of our cottage.  We can watch mom and dad feeding the  two little ones.  Both adults will dive down, leaving the two babies bobbing in the waves.  I worry about their safety as boats fly by carelessly.  One time the mother saw, or heard a boat coming.  She made a sound, then she and the babies dove down beneath the water to avoid being run over by the boat.  I just breathed a sigh of relief when they all popped right back up.

The night of the 4th of July, was especially stressful because there were numerous fireworks going off all around the lake.  I could see one adult Loon swimming out front of the camp, and moving toward Ewing's old place.  I never saw the other Loon, or the babies.  I thought for sure they had been frightened to calamity.  The next day, my mom called me to say they were all fine.  I was so happy to hear that.  I went up later on the 5th, and watched the Loons endlessly.

Mom and dad are wonderful parents, very protective and ever watchful.  I hope they return to Granite Lake for years to come.