R.I.P.

As soon as I opened the front door yesterday morning, I saw a turkey buzzard having breakfast in our driveway. From where I stood, the bird's breakfast appeared to be either a light-colored cat or an opossum. If Mikey had spent the night outdoors, I would have been frantically running toward the buzzard, since the dead animal's coloring looked like that of a Himalayan cat. But Mikey had just walked out the door with Rebel and me. Naturally, Rebel started barking, which caused the buzzard to fly to the nearest tree, where it stayed, observing us, before moving to a higher limb, and soon afterwards it decided that it would be neither safe nor pleasant to continue dining in our yard with noisy Rebel.

I discovered that nature's undertaker had already started his autopsy, so to speak, on a female opossum, which looked like roadkill in the driveway. Unless somebody had driven down our driveway during the night and had run over the poor creature, I suspect the opossum had been struck on the road and had attempted to make it back to her sleeping quarters under our deck. Another possibility, of course, is that a predator had attacked the opossum, but she had somehow managed to escape before dying.

I do not know whether or not this opossum was the one I had named Eggroll, who had been friends with Ponzo and one of the neighbors' black cats. I had only seen Eggroll as a youngster, playing with Ponzo and the other cat. Well, while Mikey sniffed the opossum's body from a distance of about six inches, I watched the neighbor's black cat sniff and gently touch the body with his nose. Perhaps it was Eggroll; may she rest in peace.

Blurry Photos of Pileated Woodpeckers

Missing Suet Cake Basket

A week or so ago, I attached a small hook on the other side of this post and, using a red ribbon, I tied a suet cake basket to it. I placed a homemade cake of peanut butter and birdseed in the basket, and it attracted quite a number of interesting birds, including a red-headed woodpecker, for the entertainment of Mark Twain, who enjoyed looking at the winged diners through the living room windows. Well, that entertainment lasted only a few days. Honestly, I am surprised it lasted that long, because the basket and red ribbon disappeared one night without a trace. Since the black bears should be in hibernation already, I suspect that perhaps it could have been a dog. I would have guessed a raccoon to be the culprit, but there is not even the hint of a scratch on the wood, so I believe the animal must have jumped up to take down the basket. Maybe I shall try hanging pine cones covered in peanut butter and birdseed next time.

Turkey Buzzards

A week ago, I had three turkey buzzards on my property. That is, they flew into the trees when I approached them to take a photo. They had actually been tending to their duties as nature's undertakers. Unfortunately, a poor opossum had been killed on my road. Anyway, the vulture whose picture I took from a distance did not rejoin his two friends, who returned to their dining experience. But even those two vultures soon gave up, since their meal kept being interrupted by traffic. As I watched drivers brake for the birds in the middle of the road, I wondered if vultures ever become roadkill--and if so, who are their undertakers, so to speak? By the way, I had a close encounter with a turkey buzzard on my road a couple of years ago. I have to say, they have an impressive wingspan, especially when they appear to be flying head-on into one's windshield!