Ahh well school has started up again and so I have been pretty busy with that and so I haven't been able to check this forum much at all, but today before going out to eat we checked the images we got from the 2 trail cameras on either side of the pen. Oh oh and last night my dad went to check on the peafowl and found a red tailed hawk trapped in the pen! He had to net it and let it out. Don't worry all the birds are fine even the peachicks and the hawk is okay...I can't kill a bird of prey...I mean come on they are a mated pair and since getting peafowl I just have a better appreciation for birds so we let it out. Okay back to the camera pictures...On the far end of the pen were Dragon and Pip were both found dead were the raccoons were entering the camera picked up four pictures of the poor hawk frantically trying to escape, he busted through the netting that is how he got in. He might have seen a squirrel in the pen or something...Anyways that is all that camera got. Then the other one is kinda in a bad spot for picking up too much motion. It is pointed to the pen door so I had to look through tons of pictures of me walking in and out of the pen and the neighbors visiting the pen to see the peafowl (they are allowed to do that). Then there is a fig tree right next to the camera and I got tons of shots of a squirrel clambering up the tree and eating the figs so now I know why we didn't have any figs this year.
Then I saw Alto ontop of the metal trashcan we keep in the pen that contains all their feed, and then a squirrel on the fence...You know kinda fun stuff to see what goes on when you are not around but then I noticed something in a night picture...I was looking through the pictures sorta fast then I noticed a change in the picture...I went back and zoomed in and there, exiting the pen from the corner near the door was a raccoon, a good sized one. The photo was from 8-27-11. Dang...That was something we didn't want to see. Although it is dark you can definitely tell that it is a raccoon. We checked that corner of the pen because my dad just happened to set up a snare in that corner and the snare loop was pulled tight so my dad said it probably got caught a little in the snare. Too bad it didn't stay in the snare. I hope it wasn't in the pen because of the apple slices I threw out for the peafowl. The peafowl didn't eat the apple and that raccoon might have entered the pen for some apple.
No more apples for the peafowl...
My dad was talking about how freaked out Ice must be since she has seen things climbing into the pen and a hawk diving into the pen and she has little peachicks to look after...I said "Yeah I guess the peachicks will be really predator smart." Then my dad said "Yeah if they survive."
That reminds me, I had to save the dark pied peachick. It has been raining a bunch lately and after school I entered the pen to feed the birds and walked up to Ice and only saw two peachicks. I heard a loud peeping noise and a few feet away from Ice in the grass was the dark pied soaking wet and shivering. Somehow it wasn't able to get under Ice like the other two peachicks. The other peachicks were dry. I went to pick up the poor thing and was surprised to find that it was stuck! A long blade of grass was rapped around its wing and the grass was pretty tough and I broke the grass and picked up the chick and got a black rag and put the chick in the rag and gently dried it. I went to get my dad and showed him the chick and said I found it there. He said I was doing the right thing drying it off and keeping it warm. I also started blowing on it to help it dry. It seemed like it was taking forever but like magic the sky turned bright and the sun came out and I stayed close to Ice so she could see her chick. I put it down and it was still too wet so it was just standing there shivering and it wouldn't even walk. The white peachick stayed next to it like it felt really sorry for its sibling. Then Ice pecked it! She acted like the chick wasn't hers! I picked it back up and dried it some more and tried again and she pecked it again and when she was about to peck it another time I swished my hand at her and kept doing that when she would try to peck it. Ice walked somewhere else with the two peachicks and stopped to peck in the sunlight and by then the peachick was fairly dry so I put it down again. I got worried because the dark pied peachick was staying away from Ice like it felt like it was unwanted and acted like it wasn't its mom. Ice pecked at a bug and the other peachicks ran over to get it and the dark pied just stayed there. Then the white peachick turned back and stood firmly next to the pitiful dark pied and Ice noticed the white one was staying there so she turned back and stood there preening. The dark pied jumped on a nearby log and stood there in the sunlight. Eventually it got all warm and dry and it hopped off and walked to Ice. Ice stared menacingly at it and the dark pied lowered its head and Ice didn't peck it, she accepted it! I am so glad she didn't reject it I was afraid she would. Now they are all roosting at night. It is really cool watching those tiny little chicks fly all the way up to the roost and jump onto Ice's back and flap around. I hope they will be okay tonight, it might rain.
My dad was talking about how freaked out Ice must be since she has seen things climbing into the pen and a hawk diving into the pen and she has little peachicks to look after...I said "Yeah I guess the peachicks will be really predator smart." Then my dad said "Yeah if they survive."
That reminds me, I had to save the dark pied peachick. It has been raining a bunch lately and after school I entered the pen to feed the birds and walked up to Ice and only saw two peachicks. I heard a loud peeping noise and a few feet away from Ice in the grass was the dark pied soaking wet and shivering. Somehow it wasn't able to get under Ice like the other two peachicks. The other peachicks were dry. I went to pick up the poor thing and was surprised to find that it was stuck! A long blade of grass was rapped around its wing and the grass was pretty tough and I broke the grass and picked up the chick and got a black rag and put the chick in the rag and gently dried it. I went to get my dad and showed him the chick and said I found it there. He said I was doing the right thing drying it off and keeping it warm. I also started blowing on it to help it dry. It seemed like it was taking forever but like magic the sky turned bright and the sun came out and I stayed close to Ice so she could see her chick. I put it down and it was still too wet so it was just standing there shivering and it wouldn't even walk. The white peachick stayed next to it like it felt really sorry for its sibling. Then Ice pecked it! She acted like the chick wasn't hers! I picked it back up and dried it some more and tried again and she pecked it again and when she was about to peck it another time I swished my hand at her and kept doing that when she would try to peck it. Ice walked somewhere else with the two peachicks and stopped to peck in the sunlight and by then the peachick was fairly dry so I put it down again. I got worried because the dark pied peachick was staying away from Ice like it felt like it was unwanted and acted like it wasn't its mom. Ice pecked at a bug and the other peachicks ran over to get it and the dark pied just stayed there. Then the white peachick turned back and stood firmly next to the pitiful dark pied and Ice noticed the white one was staying there so she turned back and stood there preening. The dark pied jumped on a nearby log and stood there in the sunlight. Eventually it got all warm and dry and it hopped off and walked to Ice. Ice stared menacingly at it and the dark pied lowered its head and Ice didn't peck it, she accepted it! I am so glad she didn't reject it I was afraid she would. Now they are all roosting at night. It is really cool watching those tiny little chicks fly all the way up to the roost and jump onto Ice's back and flap around. I hope they will be okay tonight, it might rain.
