BIG Owl on my Trail

[TheWaterbug]

Courting Coyotes on Thoroughbred Trail? 02/01/26



That little tail flip from the lead coyote at the beginning--is that courting behavior? Looks like it to me, but I'm no expert.

If it is courting, behavior, then this is the first confirmation in a year's time that we have a potential mateable pair, after the death of an adult coyote back in late February, 2025. We had a litter of pups later in 2025, but the mating to produce that litter probably happened earlier than late February.

 

[johnfitz]

cutie pies

 

[TheWaterbug]

2025 Ioniq 5 XRT Delivering Manure Down Thoroughbred Trail



Every year I deliver a couple of SUV loads of bagged manure to my garden, which is 1/4 mile down an equestrian trail. It has some steep spots, some tilted spots, some ruts from the rain, and some rocks. It was dry today, but sometimes it's quite muddy, too.

This is my first year driving my spiffy new 2025 Ioniq 5 XRT, with AWD, all-season tires, a slightly lifted suspension, and "terrain modes" for snow/sand/mud vs. the normal Ioniq 5 trims. Today's load was 36 bags of 1 cu. ft each, or roughly 1,000 lbs, plus a 250 lb. driver.

I definitely felt more comfortable in the XRT than I did in my 2011 Lexus RX450h. The AWD and traction control in the old RX was pretty useless, and I often felt like I had to "rock" the car out of ruts and/or get a running start to get out of my garden. Not confidence inspiring in a place where it would very difficult to get a tow truck!

The XRT handled it with plenty of power, traction, and aplomb. Not as good as a true 4 x 4 pickup, but I didn't buy it for that. I bought it for snowy trips to Mammoth/Tahoe and for schlepping manure into my garden, and it seems like a good choice for those duties.

I attempted to spin the tires a bit, as you can see, but failed. I think I tried Sand and Mud modes. I should have tried Snow mode. I'll be back in May with manure for the corn patch.

 

[TheWaterbug]

Bunny Goes BOING



Not sure if this is cavorting, playing, or just reacting to nothing.

 

[Parley]

Courting Coyotes on Thoroughbred Trail? 02/01/26



That little tail flip from the lead coyote at the beginning--is that courting behavior? Looks like it to me, but I'm no expert.

If it is courting, behavior, then this is the first confirmation in a year's time that we have a potential mateable pair, after the death of an adult coyote back in late February, 2025. We had a litter of pups later in 2025, but the mating to produce that litter probably happened earlier than late February.

It is mating season for the Coyotes. Pups will be born late this spring.

 

[TheWaterbug]

Rabbits and Coyotes in the Upper Garden 02/10/26



I took some license in the editing, and the coyote shows up 2 hours after the rabbits. But they're there all night long, and alternating appearances on the cameras, so it wouldn't surprise me if I catch a Nat Geo clip sometime soon.

 

[TheWaterbug]

Opossum and Coyote in the Upper Garden, 02/12/26



As with the last rabbits & coyotes video, these two events were a few hours apart, and edited together. But these critters cross paths all night long, every night.

 

[TheWaterbug]

Strike The Pose:



Who says 1080p ain't enough pixels?

 

[johnfitz]

All critters are cute

 

[TheWaterbug]

Two Finch Couples Nesting at Painted Peacock Manor



I now have two House Finch nests on opposite sides of my house, so I put up a second camera to watch them both. For about a week I'd watched finches appear on either camera, but not both, so I wasn't sure if it was one couple shopping both sites, or two different couples shopping simultaneously.

Today is the first time I have confirmation that I have two separate couples looking to move it! Both are bringing in nesting material, so it looks like we might have a bumper crop this year.

And both nests are better protected against crows this season.

Left camera is a Tapo C103. Right camera is a Wyze 2 with ancient RTSP perpetually beta firmware. Video recorded 24/7 in Blue Iris and then composited in DaVinci Resolve, for free!

 

[TonyR]

Ever since late December I've had a male amd a female Eastern Bluebird visit my box 3 or 4 times a day, 5 or 6 times a week, the female sometimes carrying a stick or straw. It's like they can hardly wait to nest, even though they haven't built in before mid-March since 2022 and it's been it the 30's here.

This is the male from 2 days ago.

 

[TheWaterbug]

Who Will Lay an Egg First?



I have two House Finch nests on opposite sides of my house, and I have two couples preparing to settle down.

Who will lay an egg first?

Left camera is a Tapo C103. Right camera is a Wyze 2 with ancient RTSP perpetually beta firmware. Video recorded 24/7 in Blue Iris and then composited in DaVinci Resolve, for free!

 

[TheWaterbug]

Two Chonky Raccoons near Thoroughbred Trail

 

[TheWaterbug]

Deploying the Tomato Fortress of Great Destiny



I planted my tomatoes 5 weeks ago, with the intention to protect them 360° against squirrels, gophers, ground squirrels, and birds. I built a prototype of a single 4 x 4 x 6 cage in my living room, realized it wouldn't work, and then built a revised prototype of a 10 x 10 x 6 cage, in four modular quadrants, to enclose 4 plants at a time and provide walk-around space for pruning, weeding, and eventual harvesting. The plants are planted inside wire mesh cages to try and keep the gophers away, and then a 4 x 4 panel with plastic mesh is laid over the top and zip tied to the wire mesh.

Life got in the way, and it took a month longer than planned to actually deploy the fortress, by which time the plants were big enough to make it difficult to install the base layer around each plant. Because I'd originally planned on an individual cage for each plant, I also didn't space them very regularly, which also made deployment a bit more difficult than it should have been.

If this all goes well, tear-down at the end of the season and re-deployment in future years should be far easier. Each quadrant of the fortress will fold flat for storage, and next year I'll lay down the base layer, with exact spacing, before I transplant the new tomatoes.

Once the plants get a little bigger I'll finish enclosing everything with more strips of 4' netting over the top gaps. But right now this plastic poultry netting blocks more sunlight than I'd anticipated (~18%) and birds aren't a problem until I get ripening fruit, so I'll leave the top partly open for awhile.

Now that the first fortress is installed, I think the concept will work, so it's time to get back to the living room to build the second fortress.

Music by Chad Barker via Suno. Video captured and time-lapsed in Blue Iris, then composited in DaVinci Resolve.