new neighbors

[Rainey]

Some things about spring that I tend to forget when looking forward to it--like the starlings getting into any tiny opening and having brood after brood of noisy messy babies.
Yesterday my son thought they had a nest in the top of the sawmill barn when he heard babies fussing. But turns out it was baby opossums instead. Our first time with a family in residence that we've known about. Don't think they're good neighbors for our chickens. And I somehow have a more negative visceral reaction to possums than even to rats. Not feeling like rolling out the welcome wagon for them.
And we've been hearing ravens more regularly this spring--have just had them occasionally moving through before but this year we have a pair setting up a territory based on a pine plantation. They make such a racket chasing off hawks that I look up from my gardening to watch the show. All that wheeling and diving and then the raven taking a victory lap once the hawk is driven off, doing fancy rolls and loops. Also notice this is the first April when we haven't heard barred owls regularly and wonder if the ravens could/would drive them off. And I wonder how the woodcocks and ruffed grouse will fare in a raven pair's territory.

 

[Miss M]

:lol: Yeah, I think I wouldn't be welcoming the opossums either. Funny about the ravens, though. We get ravens and eagles -- one day we saw a three-generation eagle family wheeling about the sky.

Oh, goodness, I sure hope that dratted armadillo doesn't come back this year! :x

So far this spring, all of our new neighbors are fire ants.

 

[MaggieJ]

We don't seem to have ravens here, but we sure get lots of crows. I'm rather fond of them, the big, sassy, noisy things! They sure do keep the hawks away and will also torment any owls they find roosting during the daytime. It's amazing the way they call in other crows from neighbouring areas and they all congregate to harass the owls.

My bit of Ontario is almost an island with only a couple of bridges joining us to the mainland. Up until now, we had no possums on this side of the bridge, but just a week or two ago someone posted a picture of one that had been visiting his backyard. That's only a few miles down the road from here, so we'll have them before long.

The rat population is on the rise here and we're stepping up the war on them. Lots of cottontails about and chipmunks, but that's just fine with us. Love the little critters.

 

[Zass]

Possums can be a problem only if you are really unguarded.
They aren't quite as difficult to live next too as say...rats or coons. Opossums are incredibly primitive. They have TINY little brains when compared to similar animals.

Here is a badly damaged raccoon skull on the left next to a similarly sized opossum. I find the difference almost astounding, especially considering they are similarly sized, have similar diets, and habitats.


Here are two possums, one that belonged to a huge old male (that actually died of natural causes), and a smaller fox skull.

 

[Miss M]

Well, we just discovered a new neighbor! Galadriel and Bunny-Wan Kenobi were just finishing up some outside chores when a fledgling sparrow flew into the rabbitry and got lost. It hit the wall and fell to the floor, where one of the chickens caught it. The kids managed to rescue it uninjured from the chickens, and then it was a matter of trying to find where it came from.

We thought we had a nest under the stairs, but couldn't find one. We couldn't see any birdie parents around. Finally (after about 10 minutes), we did notice one and then a second bird flitting about nervously around the shed, then over to a pine, then back to the shed.

Galadriel released the little bird near the pine, and the parents were reunited with the pitiful little thing.

 

[Rainey]

I found the ravens' nest in one of the red pines. Back in Maine the ravens we knew nested on cliffs, but I knew from reading that they'll build in evergreens if there aren't any cliffs available. Saw one bird on the nest. I think they're still working on it, seemed to be arranging the sticks. Now I just need not to go check on them too often and drive them away.
Zach got rid of the baby possums. Hope that will discourage the adults and that they'll move on down the road. We have raccoons that have a den in a big old maple. I know they can take chickens (and probably rabbits) but we haven't lost any to them yet and I still enjoy seeing the young coons exploring along the brook.

 

[karebru]

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary"............ :reading2:

 

[Celice]

I have ravens galore here. They do an awesome job of keeping an eye on things when I can't or making a racket when something is up. They don't bother the rabbits any which is a really good thing 'cause I've seen the ravens get down into the colony hutch to eat the pellets the rabbits don't seem to be bothered by them. I've also got a goose that dose a good job of keeping a lot of others thing away too, plus cats that keep the rat and mice population down.

Personally I'd do away with them Opossums can be a problem and that's the main thing. I've had problems with foxes and if I ever catch them I do away with them some how.