Wild life in the U.P.
Dh & I live on 100 acres between Marqutte & Munising. Our backyard extends right out to the edge of the woods, & here we have several bird feeders as well as 2 huge feeders on the yard that hold 50# of sunflowers each. Sunflowers have more than doubled in price the past yr., so we have changed to bird food that is a mix that contains millett, corn & sunflowers.
Now that the super cold below zero weather is hear, the squirrels are visiting the feeders on a daily basis. Two years ago we had 11 squirrels at one time on the yard & on the feeders. 6 were gray & 5 were black. Something happened, we are not sure exactly what, possibly disease, but many did not return this spring & summer. We had only 4 what appeared to be litter mates, romping & playing in July, then they too, disappeared. We did not have any grays or black squirrels until the first of Dec. We have seen 2 grays & 2 blacks @ 1 time, but the real unusual one is a squirrel that we have named "blondie". This squirrel is not a true albino, does not have red eyes or pink nose, but his fur is a lt. blonde color, not quite white. All 5 of these squirrels are very skitish. They will be about 25 ft. away from the house, & when the patio sliding door is opened, they scamper up the nearest tree. The other squirrels that we had for yrs., I could walk out of the house, off the deck & get about 5 ft. from them before they would run. Hopefully this batch of younguns will get habitualized to us & our 13 yr. old dog, our 4 legged beloved son, Renny, who is a black & white English Springer Spaniel.
We have numerous jack rabbits & cotton tail rabbits living around us, & quite often during the summer will see them mate, then several wks. later the babies are kicked out of the nest, the yard will be full of young rabbits, everywhere you look. & to top it off, dh has 3 beagles, rabbit hounds, in kennels behind the pole barn, & these dogs can see most of the yard, & are constantly teased by all the rabbits.
We also have numerous white tail deer around us, however, the numbers have declined greatly in many areas of the U.P. since we have permanentley moved up here in 1995, due to heavy winter snowfall. We also have turkeys, who often will make the birdfeeders on the edge of the woods their home in the spring, until they cannot take the human commotion any longer.
Our yard has also be visited Many Times over the yrs. by black bears. One night, something woke me up. I turned the spot light on & aimed it at the feeders at the edge of the woods while standing at the sliding door in the dining rm. Sure enough, one really Huge bear sitting at the edge of the weeds, just staring at me, while another dropped down onto all fours from a standing position, as that one was the guilty party for knocking down the hanging feeder. The "thump" when it hit the ground was what woke me up. There was another bear to the right, plus a bigger one in the very back, all I could see was it's eyes. I opened the sliding door enough to yell at them to get outta here, & all 4 of them just slowly walked into the woods.
We have also had a black bear come right up to the patio, right by the sliding door, 8am one Sat. morning a few yrs ago. He was standing & eating from a 50# feeder, then apparently did not care to stand up, dropped onto all 4s, then put it's nose in the air, sniffed, then headed right for the gas grill, sitting about 2 ft. from the house & sliding door. Dh & I stood very still & very quietely at the sliding door & watched to see what this bear was going to do. All it did was sniff the grill, then turned & lumbered away.
We also have a good size trout stream that runs through our property, as well as a pond just over the hill from our huge garden. Dh is in heaven here, as we have the 100 acres, plus starting at the edge of our property & heading 4 miles east, is State land, plus to the south of us is paper company land. So just tons of hunting land for dh, & plenty of chances to see wildlife.
Now that the super cold below zero weather is hear, the squirrels are visiting the feeders on a daily basis. Two years ago we had 11 squirrels at one time on the yard & on the feeders. 6 were gray & 5 were black. Something happened, we are not sure exactly what, possibly disease, but many did not return this spring & summer. We had only 4 what appeared to be litter mates, romping & playing in July, then they too, disappeared. We did not have any grays or black squirrels until the first of Dec. We have seen 2 grays & 2 blacks @ 1 time, but the real unusual one is a squirrel that we have named "blondie". This squirrel is not a true albino, does not have red eyes or pink nose, but his fur is a lt. blonde color, not quite white. All 5 of these squirrels are very skitish. They will be about 25 ft. away from the house, & when the patio sliding door is opened, they scamper up the nearest tree. The other squirrels that we had for yrs., I could walk out of the house, off the deck & get about 5 ft. from them before they would run. Hopefully this batch of younguns will get habitualized to us & our 13 yr. old dog, our 4 legged beloved son, Renny, who is a black & white English Springer Spaniel.
We have numerous jack rabbits & cotton tail rabbits living around us, & quite often during the summer will see them mate, then several wks. later the babies are kicked out of the nest, the yard will be full of young rabbits, everywhere you look. & to top it off, dh has 3 beagles, rabbit hounds, in kennels behind the pole barn, & these dogs can see most of the yard, & are constantly teased by all the rabbits.
We also have numerous white tail deer around us, however, the numbers have declined greatly in many areas of the U.P. since we have permanentley moved up here in 1995, due to heavy winter snowfall. We also have turkeys, who often will make the birdfeeders on the edge of the woods their home in the spring, until they cannot take the human commotion any longer.
Our yard has also be visited Many Times over the yrs. by black bears. One night, something woke me up. I turned the spot light on & aimed it at the feeders at the edge of the woods while standing at the sliding door in the dining rm. Sure enough, one really Huge bear sitting at the edge of the weeds, just staring at me, while another dropped down onto all fours from a standing position, as that one was the guilty party for knocking down the hanging feeder. The "thump" when it hit the ground was what woke me up. There was another bear to the right, plus a bigger one in the very back, all I could see was it's eyes. I opened the sliding door enough to yell at them to get outta here, & all 4 of them just slowly walked into the woods.
We have also had a black bear come right up to the patio, right by the sliding door, 8am one Sat. morning a few yrs ago. He was standing & eating from a 50# feeder, then apparently did not care to stand up, dropped onto all 4s, then put it's nose in the air, sniffed, then headed right for the gas grill, sitting about 2 ft. from the house & sliding door. Dh & I stood very still & very quietely at the sliding door & watched to see what this bear was going to do. All it did was sniff the grill, then turned & lumbered away.
We also have a good size trout stream that runs through our property, as well as a pond just over the hill from our huge garden. Dh is in heaven here, as we have the 100 acres, plus starting at the edge of our property & heading 4 miles east, is State land, plus to the south of us is paper company land. So just tons of hunting land for dh, & plenty of chances to see wildlife.
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