A Living Magazine - Tap Root: Day 11 - Critter Review

The night before this day, I'd heard a large animal come across the old road and into my yard. Then another came, then another... It was a small group of deer. 

On this morning these fluffy white caterpillars with black spikes were lowering themselves from the trees...

The Tussock caterpillar. Image Courtesy of the Bangor Daily News.

I had no idea they were the itchy kind until researching this post. I did not have a problem with them though. All my itching came from the constant attacks by mosquitoes. In the next weeks these white paratroopers would get trapped under my rain fly, along with myriad other small creatures. They are so determined that their only route of escape is upward, that they are unable to see that escape lies only inches below them. The Tussocks sometimes get stuck (somehow) on the screen material of the tent. And, I'm not sure why, but they can't seem to free themselves. And, after a few days they must die of dehydrations, because all that is left of them is white furry dust.

Some rather impressive looking spiders have discovered the bonanza located between the screen and rainfly, cashing in. There are also hundreds of other kinds of tiny spiders doing their thing in the woods. Experienced readers of this blog may recall my soft spot for spiders? It looks like I will have a lot of arachnid neighbors keeping me company.  

The mosquitoes were mostly there in the morning and evening as one might expect. But if I stood in one place for more than about 5 minutes they would gather around me, orbiting and going in for a little blood every chance they could. I bought some bug spray with DEET and that worked pretty well. I'd have to re-douse myself every couple of hours. Every now and then a precious dragonfly will swoop in from the field and snatch a bunch of mosquitoes and then dart back out of the woods again. In the field there are also bats zipping around pulling impossible G's in their flights to snag insects.

The deer were also around during the day. Secretive, but always present somewhere not far from where I was, they would occasionally come into view and then run away. I would especially see them in the edges of the forest along the dirt road.

I found this little guy (which I have not been able to identify) just before heading in town... 

 After returning from town, I rested and then built the daily fire. There were a few hot dogs left over from two days earlier, so I reheated them and enjoyed the uncharacteristically dry and cool evening...

Sunset

I had cut more trees and was also processing more fallen birch trees - which I separated into bark, wood chips and solid cores.The paper bark is exceedingly good for starting fires. I call it my "gasoline." It isn't so good for steady burning as it releases an enormous amount of black sticky smoke.

The birch wood chips were/are ideal for my composting toilet and they have no insects in them for some reason. The inner core of fallen birch trees is a perfectly cured form of firewood. It may not be very wide, but even a 4 inch log will burn for a couple hours. 

It is the birds that here most prevalently. I have mentioned the whippoorwill.  There is also a strange sounding bird who only sings at sunset. He sounds like a synthesizer and I intend to record his interesting song. 

In the mornings the crows own the stage. There is one particularly loud and bossy crow I call "Angry Bird." H/she makes a big deal out of harassing some other rather large bird across the clearing on another land owner's property. Then a group of crows seem to go into oddly tempered conversations about mid morning. Usually, all but Angry Bird will fly off. I can tell the others are returning in late afternoon when Angry Bird puts out a "CAAWW!" and I hear another "CAAWW!" far off in the distance.

As I lay awake thinking, I heard scratchy sounds on a nearby tree. I learned later that it is a woodpecker climbing up and down the trees doing his thing. This was strange to hear at night, since I usually only hear their pecking in the afternoons. Amazing birds.

There are chipmunks living in piles of wood and squirrels who bark from the trees during the day time. There is also a local skunk, whom I have only ever detected by his fragrant passing.

I'm sure I will get to know all of these folks as the months go by. With that in mind, I slipped into unconsciousness.

TASKS COMPLETED

* Built some railings
* Processed more birch for the firepit