Moons and Moose

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if the full moon had anything to do with this odd but cute moose behavior that occurred just outside my door.

 

What surprising animal behavior have you observed?

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Friday Photo: Moose Time

I took this photo last year.

But last night,

I saw fresh tracks in the driveway.

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Moose and Fire

So, our garden planting got delayed by about thirty minutes today because this young bull moose parked himself in the yard and proceeded to snack on willow and birch leaves. I was standing in the bed of my pickup truck while I took photos. Mostly, I just watched him strip entire branches of their leaves.

The day before the moose came, our garden planting was delayed because of a forest fire. The fire didn’t threaten our house but we could see flames through the trees while standing on our deck. I abandoned the garden and drove up the road where I could get a better view.  This is what I saw:

700 acres burned in a few hours. Flames were shooting 100 to 200 feet into the air.

Watching a fire rage and looking at a large animal that could stomp you in an instant are both humbling experiences.

I felt sad as I watched the fire (sometimes I just had to look away) because I know people who live up in the area that burned, and I felt sure that houses were being destroyed. Miraculously, no houses were lost–I’m still amazed that the fire fighters were able to keep things under control.

And the moose, well, at one point he turned and looked at me and my heart did a little leap, like okay, get ready to jump down and scoot into the cab because it feels like that moose is going to come my way in a big way. But then he just kept tearing leaves from the trees.

So, those were my weekend highlights. What were yours?

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Wildlife Wednesday: Serving up a little more Moose

Sometimes you write what you know. And likewise, sometimes you photograph what is around you. And if you only have a tiny video function on your camera, you use it. Yes, people, I’m thinking of getting a real video camera. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments. Thanks.

But first, check out these brief clips of my friend, Mr. Moose. Yes, this moose is a young boy, probably born this past spring. Last Wednesday he was pretty musical with those wind chimes. This week he’s on to break dancing, and rumor has it that he’s applied for a driver’s license.

 Would you dance with this moose? Would you let him drive?

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Wildlife Wednesday: Moose versus Wind Chimes

I was walking out the door to cut a few sprigs of brocoli and a couple of kale leaves from the garden when I was stopped in my tracks by this guy. 

I was planning on having steamed veggies for lunch. Yeah, I do that about three times a week during gardening season. I already had carrots, cabbage and califlower in the steamer. I figure the earlier in the day I eat healthy food the more likely it is that I’ll actually eat it. (I planted some M-n-M seeds this year, but unfortunately they didn’t take. I guess they don’t do well in a northern climate.)

But the moose—he was pretty persistent. I stood on the deck for about thirty minutes watching him strip willow leaves from trees, and look longingly at the vegetables behind the our seven foot tall fence.

Then he did something really funny and strange, and kept doing it for five or six minutes. My camera has a video function that allows you to take 15 seconds of video at  a time. The resolution isn’t that great but what he does is.

Yeah, he really had a thing for those bamboo windchimes. After he got tired of playing with the chimes, he approached the deck to get a closer look at me.

I’m sure glad I didn’t choose the PB&J for lunch, then I would’ve missed the whole show.

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