THE SKUNK FAMILY

One evening, a couple of weeks ago, I was looking out the kitchen french door. There was a family of skunks!  I was so excited!  Yes, excited as in happy.  We put dry cat food out every night for the critters that come by.  This evening it was a skunk mom and her three little babies enjoying the food.

The mom reminded me of many moms I've seen. Her tail dragging on the ground, while the kids were jumping, playing, nipping and bumping each other.  The mom skunk settled down and ate while the kids followed suit, temporarily. They began hip bumping each other to get to the food. The food was spaced out so each could partake, but kids will be kids and each tried to push the other out of the way.  The kids eat and walk with their tails straight up in alert/warning stance.

Each night since, I have watched for the skunk family.  Finally I got the bright idea of trying my phone camera to video the kids.  I have three videos to share with you.  There is one baby skunk I call Fearless.  The little tyke does not realize how small and vulnerable it is. Many nights I see Fearless out on his own. 

Fearless does not give up too easily when it comes to food.  I watched it one night standing next to a full grown raccoon eating cat food. These two were actually touching each other, not giving an inch, eating cat food. I thought for sure the raccoon would either push Fearless out of the way or get sprayed. Neither happened. Little Fearless decided to come to the porch and eat from the bowl alone.

This has been so entertaining for me and frustrating for my dogs and cats. They sit lined up in front of the kitchen door watching the skunks, raccoons and possums enjoy the cat food.

Why in the world would we feed these animals??? I know that is what you are thinking. Easy answer: We enjoy watching them.  We enjoy that they bring their little ones to eat too.  They don't live long out here, so we try to help out with food.   Skunks kill snakes, scorpions (which we have here), they kill mice/rats and eat bugs. Cheap pest control.  Will they spray you?  You betcha!   Skunks will warn you, they will give you ample opportunity to get away, but if you do not leave and they feel too threatened by your presence, they will spray you!  How do they warn you? They slap both front paws on the ground and growl/hiss at you. You will get that maybe three times, if you haven't gotten the clue by then....you get sprayed. I was coming in just after sunset one evening and there was a skunk eating. He warned me with a hiss growl.  I told him not to worry, I am gone.  He ate, I went in the house, no spraying.

Two of our dogs got sprayed one evening.  My husband decided to take a couple of them with him to lock the gate ( it was dark). Our gate is 1/4 mile from the house.  One of the dogs was on a long leash the other dog was not. They both came upon this poor little skunk and surprised/startled him and he sprayed them both.  Mercy, it will make your eyes water right now.  Those poor dogs were howling, eyes watering, rolling and rubbing themselves in the grass trying to get the stink off of them.  We bathed them twice that evening, even used vinegar...still smelled. Bathed them again the next day.  It took over a week for the smell to finally leave.  Moral of the story: respect skunks.

Here are the videos. The first one is of the skunks learning to share the cat food between the tea cup bird feeders.  You can kind of see the other skunk between the railing. The next video is of a bigger skunk taking over the eating place of the little skunks. The last video shows the little skunks coming up to the deck and eating together.
The quality of the film is not great, but you can see what they are doing.

THE SEASON OF THE DUCK

The fighting, squabbling and name calling ( not positive, but sounds like it) has been going on far too long.  I keep thinking today is the day that the fighting stops.  But each day starts the same. I arrive to open up the coop and the fusing, fuming and yelling grows louder as I approach, they know the door will open and the fighting will commence.

This is the same routine each day with polite grazing, ugly looks, snide comments spewed, then the clash of two to three ducks running at each other yelling at the top of their lungs,  jumping on and beating each other.  I step in as quickly as I can, usually my hands are full with cleaning duties.  They break up and basically go to their separate corners, huffing and puffing. I think I am really just the referee that calls time and sends them to their appointed corners to get ready for the next round.

This is our daily experience, morning and night.  When they are in their coop they stand and yell at each other, breaking only for food, water and a nap.  Here is a video of their conversation.

Notice the boys, the Apple Dumpling gang, on the left are not interested in this discussion (smart boys). They have the good sense to walk away.  Now Little Dude is still conflicted. He walks away, but comes back, he paces back and forth.  He feels he is the protector of all the girls, though Phoebe and Buffy keep trying to kill him. 

Here is another video of Phoebe, Buffy and Oma going at it through the fence. I think the girls were name calling, as Oma and Dude were heading in, causing Oma to attack. Because of this, I  bought more chicken wire to stop this at the chain link fence. Now, I am protecting them from each other!?

The girls, Phoebe and Buffy, are beating on Little Dude as often as they can. Thankfully Oma comes to his aid.  He is smaller than all the ducks.  Phoebe especially has a real desire to kill him (I'll be glad when she is done molting).  She has taken every opportunity to get him a lone and beat on the boy.  She usually waits until my back is turned and Oma is not close at hand.  She hits Dude running full speed knocking him down, but the boy keeps fighting back hoping to get the upper hand. Oma breaks it up or Blinkin or myself or all of us at one time.

Today, Phoebe waited until I turned my back. Dude was in the pool, Phoebe took a run at him thinking she could drown the boy.  WRONG-O!  Dude managed to pull Phoebe into the pool. Phoebe and Buffy do not like the kiddie pool, they cannot touch the bottom with their feet.  Phoebe is in the water with Dude, the fight is on!  However, Dude gains the upper hand, with Phoebe trying desperately now to get out of the pool while still beating on Dude. She wants out more than beat on Dude while trying to hop out of the pool, Dude manages to get a tight grip on her feathers at the base of her neck holding on while she pulls them both out of the water. He keeps his hold on her while she is trying to get away from him. Finally he lets her go. Little Dude is at last triumphant in winning the battle with Phoebe.  He has finally won the respect of Phoebe.

Phoebe, so mad about her defeat marches over to the fence where the boys are, proceeds to attack them. Now the boys are inside, but they got a hold of her too. She had enough and fled. Little Dude marches over to the same fence confronting the boys for their treatment of Phoebe. He nearly gets himself beat into the ground, before I can intervene.

Little Dude, the protector of the girls.