Wildlife of the Suburbs

Recently, a family of robins made its home in front of William's bedroom window.  Adam set up his camera at the foot of Will's bed and one of the kids captured the above photo using the remote shutter. Note, no zoom required, they really are that close to the window.  Just two days later, the babies already look more robin-like, their down becoming feathers.

At around the same time we noticed the robins, we also saw a large rabbit in our backyard. It moseyed around the yard for several minutes while my whole family, including the dog, stood watch at the window and only hopped away when I started taking pictures of it.

I was just marveling at the beauty of nature right in my own backyard, when I heard about a black bear being spotted, and promptly shot dead, at Mountainside Park, not far from where we live.  While I don't relish the idea of meeting a bear while biking to the park with my kids, I'm saddened by the tragic loss of such a beautiful animal.  The bear didn't attack anyone, didn't do anything wrong except to wander into our small patch of paradise, where all kinds of creatures are welcome as long as they are less deadly and dangerous than we are.

Happy Rolph's

Since my in-laws moved to Niagara Falls, we've been looking for things to do in the area when we go for Sunday dinner.  This morning I found an article called "Top 6 Fun Free Things to Do with Kids Near Niagara Falls" which totally goes along with my pay-as-little-as-possible philosophy.  Number 1 on the list was "Happy Rolph's Bird Sanctuary" which boasted a petting zoo among other things. 

When we got there it turned out that most of the animals were gone because of a dispute with the farmer.  But there were plenty of rabbits, chickens and ducks to amuse us.  The chickens came in all different types, some white and fluffy, some speckled.  The bunnies came in all sizes and shared a pen with a family of ducklings. 

We walked down the path a little (Jadzia insisted on pushing her own stroller) where we came to a pond with some more ducks.  While throwing food for the ducks, we discovered that the water was also full of catfish and koi, who apparently also love seeds and breadcrumbs. 

I was excited to spot a small turtle, until I realized that there was a larger and far more impressive turtle just under the surface of the water, who poked his head out every so ofter to snag a breadcrumb (because we all know that bread is the universal food for all animals).

The path took us down to the lake, where William was a little obsessed with throwing rocks in the water.  We looped around and came back to a fun-looking playground, where Jadzia impressed the in-laws with her climbing skills, and William showed off his Spiderman sandals to all the big kids.

We all declared it a pretty fabulous park, despite the empty animal pens.

A night time visitor

Last night I was in the kitchen getting a glass of water when I happened to glance into the playroom.  That's when I saw a large rabbit, about the size of a three-year-old child (a little taller if you count the ears).  He had fluffy white fur, a perfect pink nose, and he was wearing a green jacket.  He hopped around the playroom, carrying a basket full of eggs.

As he pulled each egg out of his basket, I saw that they were the same eggs we had coloured the Friday before at my in-law's house.  I quickly checked the fridge.  The carton was there, but it was empty.

The rabbit hopped right past me, down the stairs to the basement.  His basket didn't look like it would hold any more, but he reached deep inside it, farther even than it looked like the bottom would be.  I knew then that it was a magic basket.  He pulled out two Easter Baskets, one for each of my kids I presumed, and placed them on the coffee table.

When he was all done, a hole that looked like the entrance to a burrough appeared in the middle of the carpet.  The rabbit hopped inside, and the magic hole disappeared behind him.  I thought this was all a dream, until I woke up this morning to find all the coloured eggs hidden in the playroom just where I saw the rabbit hide them, and two baskets of Easter goodies sitting on the coffee table in the basement.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Rabbit Season

All of a sudden there are rabbits everywhere!

Here's a picture Adam took of the rabbits nest at my in-laws' yesterday:




And just now Adam and William and I went for a walk and we saw this baby rabbit in the mall parking lot:




And this huge Mommy rabbit nursing her babies by my building (honestly, this thing was larger than my parents' dog):




Back in the day, you only saw a rabbit around here once in a blue moon. Now they're multiplying like, well, like rabbits!