Coyotes Howl

Here two (three?) coyotes howl.   It could be Big Gray in the foreground, hearing Miss Red in the distance (only her?).   He goes toward the sound, disappears off-camera, and then we hear a second howl, very close....Is it Big Gray who has stopped to howl back (a likely exchange between a mated pair)?   Or is a third coyote present?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFq5eWBezsE

Miss Red Meets Someone

Two coyotes meet at the bridge.  They seem to like each other!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOkH5cxeByw

Big Bob/Introducing Miss Red

Here a large male bobcat (perhaps the father of the kittens in the "Coyote Marks, Bobcats Roll" video below?) visits the bridge.   At noon the next day a female coyote checks out the same spot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCLKrsqftNk

Last Sunday night (9-23-12) a coyote approached our bridge.   The camera caught him marking a spot--and then captured a bobcat family discovering that same spot, 13 hours later.    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgW8Co1bufQ

Peg's Vultures and Kildeer

On August 23, Peg sent this report of Turkey Vultures in Council Grove:

We went to Voices rehearsal at the riverbed amphitheater at 6:30pm...started noticing some buzzards over the river,  8-10...I told everybody they better keep moving!!!...LOL....We were working away, I looked up again and there were gobs of buzzards!!!....started counting got to 45 and there were still more!!!...looked to me like a migration....WOW!...don't think I've ever seen that many at one time....
 
Also on August 23, she reported kildeer on the move:

This week I've heard kildeer flying over before day light....and the hummies are still eating me out of house & home!!  

After this drought year, where everything seems to happen ahead of time, Peg asks the question for all of us:

Is it fall already?!!....

Peg's Neighbors: Drought Summer

Peg made these observations on her ranch in Morris County (second week in August):


Last week we rode pastures checking cattle & water….One large mud hole surrounded by brush has always had water in it but not now!...Sam (Border Collie) ran to get a drink and all he found was mud!...wet mud but still mud...When he ran into the brush a large covey of quail flew up!...I am made to think they also were looking for a drink!...poor things!....
 
This morning as we crossed a bridge over a dry creek I saw something I have never seen!...a flock of Indigo Buntings!! (6-8)   I have never seen more than one or maybe two at a time!....The wild life are looking for water just like we are!!.....

News from Sue's

At "Nature's Treasures" (Sue Smith's place) on McDowell Creek, these two youngsters recently appeared. The little muskrat was feeding near her low water crossing, and the Collared Lizard was in a newly landscaped area by her house.