 |
| Found Feather With Nasturtium Flowers, Golden Gate Park |
Luckily I had the photo above from my Friday walk. I didn't want to give top billing to either the back-yard antler that's being munched, or the critter who did the munching.
I have several antlers in the back yard. I find them decorative, and I also hope the plants and local wildlife will get some benefit from their minerals.
Strangely, only two of the antlers have been getting munched over the years. The "freshness" of the antler doesn't seem to be a draw, and the preferred antler -- the one getting the most attention -- is only a spike.
Just in the last week or so, the preferred antler has been getting massively gnawed. This is despite the fact that it's been there for 10+ years, and until recently had just a few gnaw marks on it. I was curious to find out who was doing the chewing, so I set out a trail cam to find out.
I figured it was either a squirrel or a rat, or both, so I set the cam to run day and night. During the day, no squirrel came by, but one or two of the resident juncos used the antler as a perch. The cam did catch a rat shortly before midnight, but the rat was just passing through. I thought I might have to leave the cam out for another night. But the culprit showed up on the very last capture.
 |
| Gnaw Marks on Antler |
 |
| The prime suspect didn't take the bait, at least not at first.... |
* * *
