Squirrel hawk wanted

Looking for raptors that will work for food

The arboreal rodents are mostly thwarted by feeders set up on sewer pipe

For at least a decade we used a bird feeder made by one of our grandsons, Raven. It was a platform feeder with a roof that stood on 2x4 legs a couple of feet off the ground. It worked great and was a hit with the whitetail deer as well. But then the Mongol hordes of squirrels arrived. They could clean out the feeder in just an hour or two.
So two years ago I made a simple platform set up four feet on three-inch plastic sewer pipe legs. Sure enough, it was too high for the red squirrels to jump up to and too slippery for them to climb. It worked like a charm until this year when one squirrel solved the puzzle. He would jump up to one pipe and upon striking it would spring off to one of the other three pipes and so on until he reached the wooden platform. He sort of ricocheted his way to the top. I couldn't believe it. So I sprayed the legs with WD40 and that has worked, so far.
Meanwhile the remainder of the dozen or so squirrels were cleaning out the small hanging feeders in the trees. So this year I made a single-pipe, T-shaped sewer pipe stand for these feeders as well. So far, so good.
I wouldn't begrudge the squirrels some sunflower seeds if they were nice little animals. The deer, for instance were pleasant, respectful visitors. But the red squirrels are vicious, evil, ill-tempered idiots. Nobody likes them. They don't even like each other.
Squirrel hawks, apply in bird to the above location. You can start work immediately.

The parka I've looked for all my life

Seine River Parka

My trail cam was the photographer for my fashion shoot this morning. I'm wearing the most unique garment I've ever seen. It is a wool felt parka made by Seine River Shepherds in eastern Manitoba.
My goodness but if this isn't the coat I've had in my mind's eye forever!
I picked it up at Egli's Farm in Minnitaki (just west of Dryden, ON) this fall.
It is wool felt so it is denser than a knitted garment and therefore more closed to the wind while still being totally breathable.
It is also generously cut, something just not found in any other parka out there. This lets a person add layers underneath without making the coat tight and therefore cold.
It also has a unique cut to the bottom. Rather than being sewn evenly across the hem it has flaps for-and-aft that make it easier to sit down. I'm just guessing that Seine River made this for horseback riding but it works just as well for sitting down in the truck.
The parka had an internal wool belt that I found was in the wrong position, for me at least. It tied right around the middle of my gut. So I pulled it out and tie it around the outside at my waist. This is not only more comfortable but also warmer since it seals the parka at the bottom of the torso. I'm toying with the idea of using a Metis sash for this. It would certainly be more colourful. Etchiboy is a great Canadian and indigenous people's website for authentic voyageur-style sashes. I will probably stick with the wool belt because it is more functional for me although the wide sashes of the voyageurs were also made for a reason: they were hernia belts. These small, wiry men of both native-Scottish and native-French descent were legendary for the incredible loads they carried from the interior of Canada to and from fur-trading posts at Fort William (now Thunder Bay) and Montreal.
I love the fact that my new parka is made locally from renewable materials. Buying local not only helps out your local economy but also is a key part of living sustainably.

Whitetails everywhere are in the rut

What a beautiful scene, right here at our home.

Whether you live in Northern Ontario or Wisconsin or even South Carolina, it seems that whitetail deer all start their mating season at the same time, in early November. That would suggest that it is the photoperiod and not the temperature that is responsible.
Here in Northwestern Ontario the bucks are all on the move, looking for does in heat. It has always seemed to me that weather has little effect on the deer behaviour. Despite what others maintain, I have never been convinced that an impending storm, etc., makes any difference. Deer probably don't move during the storm but that's about it.
Whitetails are prolific breeders, in contrast to moose which are absolutely terrible at it. It is a rare thing to find an unbred doe whereas lone cow moose are pretty common.

Why haven't lilac bushes lost their leaves?

It's winter but these ornamental shrubs still have green leaves

Lilac bushes here in the Thunder Bay area of Northwestern Ontario never lost their leaves before winter set in this year. It's the first time I have seen this and I can only speculate that the hot days we received in late September somehow tricked the bushes into thinking there was still a lot of summer left.
Does anybody out there know the reason? If so, leave your comments.
Lilacs, of course, are not a native species. They originally came from Asia but they are the most widely planted shrub in Canada, according to my tree books.
They are exceedingly hardy and can endure extreme temperatures.
I wonder if the fact they kept their leaves will impact the blossoms next spring?

It's baaack! Old-time winter weather

Our home in Nolalu as seen today, Nov. 10

The temperature this morning was -20 C here at our home in Nolalu, ON, which is 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Thunder Bay. That is the coldest it has been this early winter and reminds me of what Novembers used to be like before climate change.
I especially remember one Remembrance Day (Nov. 11) in the mid-1980s. It was -30C. The day sticks in my mind because I shot a big buck whitetail that morning. With the help of a friend I brought it back to our house and hung the deer in the garage. The deer was enormous and had 13 points. I wanted Brenda and the kids to see it before I cut it up and so waited until they all got home after school.
By 4 p.m. I tried to butcher the deer and found it was frozen rock solid. I ended up taking it into our wood-fired sauna to thaw it.
In those days we still lived in the original house made on our property. It had been built about 75 years earlier and started out as a 16x20 squared-timber homestead cabin. The woodstove was our sole source of heat. I followed the previous owners advice and would fill the woodshed attached to the garage with wood each summer. The shed held about eight cords. By the end of each November I would start to panic because we had already consumed one-third of our wood supply. That happened not only because the temperature was so cold but also because November is a notoriously cloudy month so there was little solar gain in the daytime. A further complication was a lack of snow for which to bank the house. I would often scrape the ground for hundreds of feet to get something to pile against the building and block the wind and cold from underneath.
December always brought deeper snow and although the daylight was even shorter, there were more clear days. We barely had to fill the stove if the sun was shining through the windows.