Traffic jams...

Those little rascals just THINK they are sneaking around...little do they know, they are leaving tracks like traffic maps...

The little skiff of snow on the back porch the other morning revealed this tableau:

Now what do you suppose Jetta was thinking?? Birdy Buffet, no doubt! I was tickled at her little toe pad impressions - she doesn't spend too much time outdoors, just long enough to terrorize a couple of birds then she's tapping at the door (really!) to be let back in. She then has the rocking chair by the stove staked out for the rest of the day...

Now here's a real traffic jam...we have several sizes/ages of bunnies visiting the bird feeders every day, and they leave all kinds of traffic patterns. I won't be a bit surprised to see one of them sitting in the lowest birdseed feeder some morning! This morning as I let Jetta out, one of the smallest of the baby bunnies shot out from under the porch - shades of Peter Rabbit, what WAS his mother thinking to have such a late baby!!

This fellow has left a clear message: he has found the bird seed. I may have to shut down that particular lunch bar for awhile. I DO NOT like to feed the rats....he's going to get a treat of a different sort, very shortly...

Where oh where are my owls and hawks when I need them?? These strange looking trails are from mice and voles, running just below the surface. They pop up now and then, but mostly they tunnel. Bet they have cold noses....

I'm lamenting the lack of snowshoes - on sunny days it would be fun to go out in the fields and see what else is moving around despite the deep snow. The occasional deer passes through, but I'm thinking the woodchucks are sound asleep. Hope they have their nests well lined with dried grasses - it would be embarrassing to wake up with frost bite...

And our toad friends are all currently toad-sicles - there's no way they can dig deep enough to escape the frozen tundra!