Wildlife

The wildlife here at the Nook is incredible. We have so many mammals and birds and such I cannot imagine ever seeing them all in my lifetime. Since Abby died I have started feeding them. I feed the deer, the squirrels, the blue-jays, the Eagles, the chickadees, the woodpeckers, and anybody else that saunters by. There is such a show in front of my house now, that visitors have commented on how it’s like being in a “living zoo”, like watching fish in an aquarium, etc. I have tried to relay the phenomenon to city folks and they “think that’s cool”, well, they obviously don’t get it. Then I talk to my country folk friends and tell them about the button buck who capitalizes the corn and the momma doe who pushes even him away to let her yearling eat as they rise up on their hind legs and box each other---a few feet out from my window and they say, yeah, “we see the wildlife here too.” Well, ummm, I really don’t think you are seeing it quite the way I am…I gotta try to describe this scenario, because it isn’t like anything you or I have ever witnessed I don’t think…let me try.

OK, you are sitting in a big, beautiful leather easy chair. Ten feet in front of you are big picture windows. It is very warm inside, although it is cold outside, the sun is out, and Lake Michigan spans out in front of you. The Big Lake is frozen at least to Beaver Island and as far as you can tell, all the way to Chicago. You are at the very tip of Lake Michigan. You can walk to the frozen Lake in about 100 feet. Soon, Fast Freddy the squirrel comes out and pecks at the corn, all the while looking for the deer who come each day and eat the most of it. He eats a bit, then “squirrels” it away into his den every 5 minutes. I don’t think he likes the deer, although from the little snow fort he has made in the rocks by the corn, he can come in and out with reckless abandon and grab some! I think Freddy has several homes now. I was so impressed that he burrowed a snow fort in amongst the rocks by the corn piles---this is a good 20 yards from his main home by the old stump. Suffice it to say, the rock home is the “winter cottage”.

Now, as the movie unfolds, here come the blue-jays, they flutter in and out of the cedar trees two at a time, picking up corn and flying back up when the have had enough. Then the chickadees come swarming in and out hitting the bird feeders and picking up a piece of corn now and then. Around 1630 hours, within 2 or 3 minutes, no lie, Momma Doe comes with her yearling and supervisors his eating. She makes sure the yearling gets first dibs, and has a few mouthfuls before button buck shows up and starts pushing the other deer away from the pellet/corn pile. The rearing up on the hind legs and boxing with hooves only lasts for a few seconds, as they realize that there are at least two piles of feed, enough for everyone, and they position in and out of the piles, to the beach and back, filling their mouths to their ruminent interiors. Then, old lonely lady doe with her big long scar down her side shows up and just slowly saunters to the feed pile and eats and everybody moves out of the way. She doesn’t even look up to see her competition, she just eats to her fill and walks away. Even button buck moves aside. The scar on her side looks like an arrow sliced down it sometime ago, but never penetrated---and she carries on. Soon there are a total of Eight deer feeding in and out of the piles.

It used to be that they would all be out there feeding and I would open the door and they would take off running madly. However, I made sure to turn and walk up and away toward the big garage and not say much. After a few weeks they became accustomed to me going in and out. Now, when I go outside, they just stand their chewing, looking at me. I talk to them a little, and as long as I stay about 20 yards away, they just perk their ears up and watch me. Slowly, I am gaining their trust. According to the old timers around here, by spring they will be eating apples out of my hand. That is my goal, to have the “wildlife” become a part of this complex and family. I know, I should probably fatten them up and “harvest” one of them now and then like the good hunters and farmers do. However, I cannot betray the trust now, this is their sanctuary, their little respite from the coyotes and wolves and terror of the cold winter. Although they are wild animals and provide us with a view of “wildlife”, I am amazed at how tame they are becoming in my presence. I am amazed at how like “Pavlog’s Dogs” they equate the return of the Green Suburban and the 50 year old man’s voice with food, and security, and sanctuary. Isn’t it great to secure such trust? Isn’t it great to sit and watch nature unfold like a big aquarium out your front picture window? I simply have to get video of this for you—it is a rather amazing daily event that you just have to see!!!!