Trego's Mountain Ear

On the first of August, Gander returned to the field – not with his flock, but with his flight.  He now has a flight of 34 lesser Canadian geese following him, training for the Fall migration.  This time, the landing was on the mowed field, not on the water.  We still have 2 adult geese with the four last hatched goslings just beginning short flights, and one courting couple without goslings. 

It looks like we would have a good place for the turkey hens to raise their chicks, but the woods conceal the raven nests.  While the ravens are no threat to an adult turkey, their size and intelligence adapts them to raid the nests of eggs, and the small birds on the ground are easy victims to their flying skills.  At the north end of the place the young turkeys fare better.

The little orphan yearling that hung out by the sawmill became the little doe, and she continues to hang out near the house and sawmill.  The fawn shows its amazing speed along the driveway and trails.  Our new coyote shows up much closer to the house than the old pair did.  So far, it has been a year without seeing bears on the place.

With the hay all up, it’s time to start working the trees and the sawmill again.  I keep getting reminders of how much work the sawmill is – but its a different story when you’re retired and milling lumber as part of thinning and cleaning up the woods. 

We have wound up with some decent rains over the past couple of days – not enough to take the fire danger down for the rest of the Summer, but at least a couple days break.