Originally published on December 3rd, 2014
A crippled crow. Maybe not really crippled, but unkempt looking. Sort of cocked sideways, left wing dragging lightly, neck twisted, right eye looking up, left down, feathers somewhat ruffled. Two other crows nearby looked normal, but leery, maybe avoiding the strange one. All were gathered under Big House’s front yard bird feeder. Freshly filled yesterday with a mix of seeds, crows were attracted to the snow covered ground under it for leavings scratched out by doves on feeder floor above. Other days I’ve seen two or three big shiny black crows in the feeder chasing all other birds away, but this day they seemed content to pick fallen feed. Plenty of Blue Jays this year. Not as many jays as there are doves, but still a fair bunch. Feisty jays. A tossup between them and the doves when it comes to ruling the roost. A big jay can chase most other birds. Last year Blue Jays were scarce. Rarely saw one come in to feed. No idea what happened to them. This year they are back bigger and more aggressive than ever. Doves seem to be constant. Always around. I don’t remember much about them when I was a boy. Seemed not to be so many then, but now they come earlier and stay later than most other feeder patrons. Little birds seem fewer now and I’ve seen only one pair of Cardinals so far. I’ve thought present snow cover might bring out more small birds, but thus far there seems to be little change in numbers. I’ve always wondered at changes in animal populations. This year has been full of food for such thoughts. Perhaps overall numbers of wild animals don’t change. Perhaps simple redistribution explains rising and falling numbers in given locations. Last year, late Summer and into Fall, I was reporting large numbers of deer around Big House. Normal evening numbers ran twenty five to forty deer in the alfalfa field out front. Several times I counted over sixty visible in all the fields nearby. This year I counted about twenty-five in one area, one time. Rest of the Fall I was lucky to see a half dozen, never more than that between Big House and highway. Acorns? Same numbers of whitetails except off in wooded areas eating mast? I don’t spend much time in woods anymore, so I can’t attest to that, but maybe. Maybe some sort of die off, reproductive interruption, or migration? What happened to mice and rats this year? I’ve had bait out around farm house and buildings for a couple of months. First bait I put out needs changing for freshness, not replaced as is the normal case. Good sharp cheddar cheese has dried hard in Doghouse’s mouse traps with nary a tooth mark, let alone reset. I’ve seen no mouse fecal deposits (Mom called them “mouse tracks”) around Doghouse, or Big House kitchen/ dining room this winter and it’s almost impossible to exclude them entirely from old structures. On the other hand, groundhogs, largely absent from farm buildings last year, were back in force this year. I rolled six with my 12 gauge past summer, largest count in years. Such success maybe due to switch in firearms to better accommodate snap shots at running pigs. A couple weeks ago I wrote about the great jump in skunk numbers this year. I changed the count the other day. A dose of number four shot from the same 12 gauge rolled the big white one I talked about. He’d taken up residence under Big House’s front porch With visiting hunters coming for deer season, I worried they might use it for target practice in the front yard. Skunk’s evening hunt took some distance North out into a larger alfalfa field where prevailing winds are more likely to carry its scent away from Big House. I let it out there as a meal for whatever eats skunk carrion. I think Mother Nature regulates animal numbers and relationships to suit herself using whatever means she chooses. We humans are natural animals she regulates in the same way she does skunks, deer or doves. Our superior intelligence is one major tool she uses to make those adjustments through such means as wars, crime and pestilence control.
