August 7th Coyotes

Good morning everyone!

The rain and thunder we received yesterday was surely the outcome of the warm front passing by, but the rain we shall get today will be the result of a cold front bearing down from Canada! No more 85°F for us – perhaps not until 2020.

The temperature was solidly at 60°F as we walked outside this morning before 6 a.m., just in time to catch a beautiful pink and orange sunrise. But if you looked at your paws and then back up to the sky, you would have missed the blushing colors – that’s how fast they acted up this morning. The ground is still very wet from all the rain we got yesterday, and the weeds were full of dew. Winston and I looked as if we had been submerged in water when we emerged from the nature trail.

Our human stopped to eat some late raspberries and early blackberries, as we raced around the property chasing smells. We’ve always suspected that there are coyotes to the East of us – we’ve found what looks like coyote scat at the edge of our woods, and we’ve heard (or imagined) howlings in the night. Well, it is no longer in our imagination! Non-blogging human successfully recorded the coyotes howling in the night he was woken up because we were chasing meteors. Their howl is a convoluted, high-pitched series of yips and cries, and it is hard to tell if it was a single coyote or a dozen. Long story short, Winston and I are no longer allowed to race each other in the dark.

Our flock of starlings seems to obey some sort of mysterious nature clock, timed with the rising and setting of the Sun. For days we’ve noticed that the flock seems to un-nestle itself shortly after the Sun pokes out over the Eastern horizon, and after the Sun sets in the West. Not only are they timed with the Sun, but they change their habits daily to accommodate for the Sun rising slightly later every day and setting slightly earlier every evening. Today, they seemed to be in a fuss at precisely 6:12 a.m., whereas we noticed the colors of sunrise showed at about 5:50 a.m. Starlings aren’t so much fun as blackbirds. Winston spends a fraction of a time chasing them before giving up, but if he finds a red-winged blackbird, he can be entertained by simply barking up a tree for full minutes (I’ve been told that humans don’t think it is very impressive to have an attention span that can last for minutes, but it certainly is a novelty in our world!).

Non-blogging human has been tracking the progress of our baby birds as well. He reports very excitedly that they opened their eyes yesterday. All three chicks and both parents seem to be in good health and out of reach of our numerous Gardner snakes.

It may be a sunlit morning, but we are expecting clouds and rain for the rest of the day! Isn’t it odd how mornings are often very colorful, even if the rest of the day is dreary? To think of all the people who miss this colorful start to their day. It’s almost like someone is spelling ‘hope’ all over the countryside before drenching us in rain.

Take care everyone!

Love,

Mack