The Wild Things that Abound Everywhere

Dear Bentley B, (Caution: this may be too long for some bloggers)

Rachel, Josie and I had a great time in Utah with the family. I especially liked climbing and flying in my mountains. It was really fun. Keena on the other hand, has seen better days. She did not eat anything the entire time we were gone. But she sure was happy when we got home. She even tried to cuddle up to Rachel, who she has learned to be wary of mostly because Rachel is convinced Keena is out to get her place in the family. Right now, Keena and I are alone as Rachel decided to go back to Utah with her family for a cousin's reunion. It worked out well because I start my class this week and will be very busy.

One thing I enjoy about living up here in Oregon is the abundance of wildlife that surrounds out little cottage home. I would like to tell you about it. We have a resident red-tailed hawk who patrols our mountain ranch in search of rabbits and squirrels. He is quite handsome and I like to watch him out the window as he sits on the same limb every afternoon in his never ending search for food. He makes a lot of chatter. I don't know who he is talking to as I don't think anyone can understand his language and can't see any other red-tails around. Additionally, there are 4 or 5 coveys of quail, each with around 15 chicks all hiding in the bushes around the ranch. Its fun to see them scatter as I approach them. There is always one adult who is put in charge of watching for predators as the others rummage around for food. Large gray squirrels, chipmunks and cottontail rabbits abound here, because of this I'm rather surprised that we don't have more coyotes and foxes of which we know are around, but never see. We hear them somewhat frequently down the hill and across the way yapping and howling back and forth at each other. Keena and I sometimes join in! I would love to know what she says to them. Or what I am saying to them for that matter when I howl. It is not uncommon to stumble upon small garter snakes and lizards. I've seen skinks and salamanders as I've roamed around as well.

On special occasions I've caught forest falcons darting across the driveway in hot pursuit of unfortunate squirrels or songbirds. These are mostly sharp-shinned hawks, but once I was certain that I saw an elusive goshawk. Turkey vultures sometimes use the thermals generated on our mountain as a launching pad for cruising the upper airways. Ravens frequent our hill, especially in the winter. In fact they congregate every afternoon, sometimes 60 at a time down in the back of the ranch. We can see them interact from our back window. It is a curious thing to see and something I never was taught about when I studied corvids (the crow family) in school. Blacktail deer have been less frequent visitors this year, but we know we have one young buck who's mother and twin sister tragicly were hit by cars out on the highway. I've spotted him very early in the morning stealing the pasture from the sleepy cows, but he remains very shy. The trout in our pond are quite friendly. There are two or three of them that live in the 80 ft. long river between the spring and above the waterfall. They have no where to go, but to hide under rocks like ostriches, unaware (probably) that their tails are fully exposed. Its fun to watch them move from place to place and try to guess why they behave the way they do. In the pond we have a 90 lb. Columbia River sturgeon who is about 6 feet long. You can see how ancient he is. In fact, he's probably been here on Earth twice as long as me! He doesn't move very fast, but his facial expression is one of contentment and even happiness. As if he was smiling cause he knows he's not going to be dinner.

Creating the pond has brought a surprising amount of wildlife to our ranch. Ospreys frequently take a glance and have probably stolen a few fish. I spied one hovering 50 feet above the pond waiting for a meal. I had to think fast of what to say when my father-in-law also found him and raced at him with his truck honking. Asking me why I didn't deter the bird from stealing his fish, I told him that I was waiting to see if he'd fully submerge like they say they do and then I was going to hit him with a rock! (Actually, I would have gladly paid the man the $.50 per fish he paid for them to watch the show play out to its fullest extent. Its with joy that I see all of this that the Almighty has blessed me with. I challenge you all to take the time to find something wild and see what benefits come from pondering it.

With love,

Danimal Frank