A walk around the place

I've pretty much given up on seeing a mallard hen with her ducklings on the pond this year. The frantic flyovers while quacking up a storm by both her and the drake last month told me something was amiss. Likely a skunk.

I thought about this loss last night when the wife called me on the intercom to tell me a pack of coyotes were yapping it up not fifty yards east of our bedroom window. Out by where the two turkey hens had their nests. I went upstairs and out the back door to give the canines hell. But they were already gone. No eyes shone back in the light of my flashlight.

The turkey hens were walking around the property this morning, so I'm going to hope we see some little ones pretty soon, provided there are still eggs. Yet, the big tom is still hanging around as well, fluffing himself up whenever he sees me, so if the nests are destroyed, there may be a second chance at a clutch (if that's what turkeys have).

And I would be remiss if I did not mention the Barn Owl. Except we cannot be certain there is a chick in the box. The wife says she may have seen a ball of down. If I have heard a soft squeak for food, it did not last long. All the better, a low profile, for there is a Great Horned hanging in the hood.

Meanwhile, I'm trapping a lot of gophers.