It Flakes One to Snow One
December 20, 2021 by Anthony -
The Pacific Northwest is projected to experience a snowy La Niña winter, but I personally wasn’t expecting to have this much snowfall so early. Today’s local forecast predicted only a couple inches of precipitation yet we just shoveled at least triple that amount from the same sidewalks we just cleared yesterday evening.
The chimps are warm, cozy and entertained (hanging out in their heated indoor areas by choice), the cattle are fed and dry in their winter paddock and barn, and the other caregivers are busy finishing up the daily tasks. There’s also a formidable amount of shoveling and plowing to do outside so today’s blog is unapologetically brief!
As much as I love plowing the driveway with the new tractor, the brightest moment of my week actually occurred yesterday afternoon while doing farm chores. As I drove out to muck the cattle barn, I spotted a distinct trail of animal footprints crossing the pasture. The tracks had the telltale shape and gait of a coyote’s, registering four clawed digits from each paw. Of all the region’s native carnivores, coyotes are perhaps the best suited for living in proximity to humans; their adaptability makes them one of my favorite animals to observe and learn from. I followed the creature’s path across the driveway and stopped where its trail plunged into the brush, eventually crossing the nearby highway and descending towards the wooded riverbank below. As I tend to do, I took a photograph to share with you all.
A close-up of a coyote print
Here are a couple more shots from yesterday:
Meredith
Nearby mountains as seen from the winter barn
23 Comments
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Love the photos Anthony. Thank you!
Thanks, Pamela!
Haha. Anthony, you’re in the mountains, and you see ONE! Newport’s got a PACK of 4-5 wandering the streets lately! (my last neighborhood). Of course there are more packs on the island, we just usually don’t see them in packs. Island population is about 100 these days.
On a happier note, the holiday card and calendars arrived today! Right side up! I’m amazed that you manage to get most of the chimps in there, and bovines, too!
Has Willy B watched “Ice Age 2” yet? Who seems to be his favorite character?
Haha, well, we have lots of coyotes and their tracks pop up frequently, but they tend to be more solitary out here. The cougars and wolves keep them in their usual niche as a mesopredator and scavenger. My understanding is that the coyotes in the northeast tend to be larger and more social (probably due to the greater percentage of gray wolf DNA and a lack of competition for larger prey). They’re amazingly adaptable and are one of my favorite animals to track, observe and learn about.
I’ll tell Diana that you were raving about the holiday cards and calendars! Willy has watched all the Ice Age flicks a few times this year (along with Shrek and a few other favorites). It’s tough to tell what he’s thinking about the events and characters on screen, so we just assume he’s entertained if he’s sitting in front of the TV cart and paying attention. If the weather was nice, I’m sure he’d rather be outside yelling at the neighbors. 🙂
I also enjoy tracking the visitors that cross through my area…..flipped on the front light and a fox was eating the food I had put out a little earlier….we have recoons by the truckload….and a herd of skunks live over across the road…they don’t bother me, and my pets have all learned the hard way about chasing them….
Urban and suburban wildlife are so cool! Their adaptability to human presence is remarkable. As for the skunks, you can only imagine how intense that odor is to a dog’s sense of smell! I’m sure they don’t forget that experience!
I have three gifts arriving:christmas_tree:….. I have a feeling they’ll be arriving late…. :disappointed: they can be considered a New Year’s gift:relieved:
Yes, I had a problem with Amazon and that wish list. Amazon was sending everything to my house! So I had to cancel everything and reorder, and of course, many of the things that I had ordered by then had been sent by someone else. It said that the treat bags would be there by the 18th when I ordered them– then, after I paid, it moved it to the 23rd to the 30th. Now I’m not sure if those burlap treat bags for the forage will be there on time. As far as the rest of the toys and blankets go, as well as the ones that I sent myself, I know that eventually they will get used, and the chimps won’t know if they came on Christmas or New Year’s. All they will know is that they came!
Marie and Linda – I’m sure you’ll be getting confirmations soon if you haven’t already! The burlap treat bags were a hit, Linda!
Thanks Anthony for the lovely pictures and narrative of the snowy days. I’m glad everyone is staying warm and cozy.
Thank you, Jeani! 🙂
Beautiful Anthony 🙂 Thank you!
Thanks, Judy!
Looking at the prints again, Anthony, are you sure it’s a coyote and not a coywolf?
Haha, there’s a chance it has some wolf DNA (many coyotes do, even this far west) but I think the prints would be indistinguishable either way!
While the new tractor looks like a dream, shoveling is time consuming no matter how you do it. And shoveling is never one-and-done, seems once you finish you need to start all over again. I feel for you! Along with your driveways, you must keep those “Chase Paths” alongside the greenhouses clear and free so you caregivers can race along them safely. 🙂
As always, thank you for your photogrpahs. Meredith looks magnificent, her coat looks thick and wooly.
Thanks, Kathleen! We’ve been plowing and shoveling multiple times a day, but the snowfall just won’t stop. Even when it does, we’ll have to keep the paths clear from all the snow and ice that sloughs off the roof. At this rate, we’ll be at it through April.
I’ll tell Meredith that you complimented her coat! 😉
Meredith seems to be posing for her photo, she looks beautiful. Thanks for including the shot of the paw print, it’s interesting.
I received my calendar today and the pictures are spectacular. The cover with Foxie and her babies melts my heart. ?
I’m glad you liked the photos and the calendar, Nancy!
Oh Meredith is just Fabulous!
Just in case you don’t blog again until after Christmas, have a Happy Hopeful Christmas Anthony!
Sorry it took me so long to return to this post for comments!
I hope your holidays were great, too! Happy 2022, Paulette!
Hope my Amazon gift card got there on timeThank youbAnthony for pics.Merry Christmas to all,special kiss to Jamie:christmas_tree::santa:
Thank you so much, Carol!!! I hope you had a Merry christmas and happy new year!