Dr. Doolittle or The (Half)Ass(ed) Menagerie

I never thought about the education and entertainment I would get living in a shy acre in the Duwamish riparian zone.  Coyotes, possum, the occasional raccoon seem to be ubiquitous in Seattle now. The eagles, hummingbirds, Northern flicker woodpeckers, bald eagles, coopers and red tail hawks, barn owls and last night the second bat I've seen in the last 5 years. Field mice abound, which is why I love the birds of prey. Between them and my traps, they have not been a problem for a long time--knock on wood. The California Scrubjay and sparrows occupying spaces in the roof in the back, the stellar jays in the front are lovely, but need to be evicted. You can hear their bird feet scritch-scratching early each morning. 

On the adjacent property to the South stand 2 or 3 large Alders right on the property line. There at particular times of year, you could shoot scenes for another Omen remake--thid given the 100s of crows who roost there in the early morning in the spring, and in the early morning and early evening in the fall. Thousands fly over the property each morning and evening from and to wherever they roost in the Kent Valley.  I'd never seen this behavior of crows, although I had read about the 100000 crows that roost out near Bothell each night. They are so bloody smart. I have had a mini dead crow replica hanging upside down on my fence since our first Halloween here. I never bothered to take it down. It just sits there, motionless and upside down and in direct line of sight of the crows. Given my history with crows, let's just say they don't like me, I don't think this thoughtlessness on my part will go unrewarded.  

I'm burying the lede. Today, while outside
playing hide-and-seek with Willow, it's so much fun for both of us, I spied a big moth sunning itself on the southern wall of my house. I figured it was far too soon to be a butterfly. I

Cal. Tortoiseshell Butterfly,  3.22.2026.
didn't know, just thought I was smart enough and had lived long enough just to know it's mothness wasn't to be questioned. So when I used my "bug identifier" app to take a picture of it to find out what kind of MOTH I was looking at, technology yet again showed me the fool I am.  They overwinters as adults in leaves and debris and then wake up when the sun comes out and get to it.  This is not likely a rare sighting, given they are migratory (of course they are, I mean, they are fucking Californian) but I still find it remarkable.  OTOH, the cluster flies also live in leaves and other tree clutter. They also wake up early in the spring. They also sun themselves on the southern side of the house. Dozens of them. I'm investing in a bug zapper.


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