The Circle of Life in My Own Backyard

We had a difficult winter here and the struggle for survival openly played out in the park by our lake - a pack of coyotes caught a goose, an eagle caught another goose, and something grabbed and ate a large turtle.

It was hard. It made me sad. And yet, I know that that's the circle of life.

Sometimes that struggle spills into our yard, and last night we had a heartbreaking incident. Around midnight, there was a large thump against the outside wall of our bedroom and some animal noises. Immediately Craig grabbed a flashlight and went outside to see what had happened.

Only some clumps of rabbit fur were on the ground as witness to the rabbit who'd just lost its life.

Later that morning, I checked the spot when the sun had risen. In addition to the rabbit fur remnants, I found this feather. 

We have a lot of predatory birds that fish and hunt in the lake, yards, and woods: bald eagles, osprey, great horned owls, red shouldered hawks, red tailed hawks, cooper's hawks, and more. 

My guess is that the predator was a great horned owl. Nocturnal birds, they frequent our yard and have been known to perch on our chimney as they hunt. (Their hoots travel down the chimney and into our living room; it's neat to hear.) 

I sent a photo of the feather to Sarah, hoping that she could identify it for me (yep, great horned owl), and then put the feather back outside in the grass where I found it.

With all the bunnies we have bouncing around our yard this spring, this will likely happen again. But for this little bunny, there's no more pain or fight for survival. 

Rest in peace, little one. 

The Goose

Second Post of the Day

Across from the street from our home is our neighborhood park surrounding a big lake. The lake draws a surprising variety of wildlife, and that wildlife in turn attracts predators. I've watched eagles and osprey fish the lake, and seen foxes and coyotes hunting.

During our daily walk and game of frisbee in the park yesterday, Craig and I came across a gruesome sight - a big and messy predator kill in the area where we play frisbee.

That's part of the circle of life, sad though it makes me. But what Craig and I were disturbed by was the state of what was left. I'm not posting pictures because it was pretty awful, but it looked as though a pack of starving coyotes had caught a goose and dispatched it very, very fast and over a fairly large area.

We kept the dogs away from the remains and as we were walking to another place to throw the frisbees, I saw this.

A lone goose, swimming back and forth close to where the other goose's remains were.

No doubt it was the deceased goose's mate.

My heart broke as I watched it - it looked so forlorn and lost. Geese mate for life and have strong bonds with their partner. 

It is not unusual in the winter for coyotes to come into the neighborhood to hunt - we are on the edge of town surrounded by farm fields, woods, and the Wabash is just over the moraine. But the weather isn't bad yet so I am surprised to see a kill like that now. 

And then I realized I had not seen a rabbit for a long time. That's very unusual. Rabbits are the main prey of coyotes in this area and usually it's mid winter before the coyotes have cleared out the bunny population and are going after the geese, not mid November.

Where are all the rabbits? We have so, so many in our neighborhood, and my neighbor behind us even has a colony that shelters safely under his back deck.

I went back and looked at photos from the snow we had a week ago. I saw plenty of dog tracks, but no bunny ones. And that is highly unusual.

That goose kill has gotten my attention for sure. If the food supply for the coyotes is short already, then they will be coming more and more into the neighborhood. And hunger leads to boldness and going after prey that they would normally avoid.

Usually I let Pepper and Tammo outside and off-leash in the early morning hours. I walk around the yard with them, but it is pitch black and Pepper is especially hard to see and sometimes I lose sight of her. I may begin keeping them both on leashes instead and making some human noises as we are out, too, just in case.

I'm also going to keep an eye out for rabbits or bunny cocoa puffs (Pepper will gladly help me find those.) I hope I am wrong and the horrific goose killing was just an anomaly.

And I do hope and pray that the poor goose left behind finds a new mate to spend the winter with.

Sometimes the circle of life is so hard.