Moose Abound

(posted by Layne)



It's that time of year when the moose are lean, and are willing to hang out in the open in large numbers anywhere they can browse. That means daily sightings around the house where the young trees still have some branches that haven't been browsed off yet.





Dino's doghouse seems pretty small when watching a moose casually step over it.



Speaking of Dino, I think it's safe to say once he's reached the point where he'd rather sleep on the snow than inside his warm, comfortable doghouse, he's acclimated.



Here the wind catches his ears just right to give him a little bit of a Dumbo look.



Dino's not the only one sleeping on the snow around the house.



Occasionally they block the driveway as well. Luckily this time was on a weekend, so I wasn't in a hurry, and could just drive back into the garage and find something else to do until the moose gave me back my driveway.







So far, the moose are still fairly easy going, but by next month the long winter and persistent hunger will turn them into grouchy neighbors. In April, some will become winter kills due to limited access to food.



Last summer we only had one eagle return, and our old friend, "Spot", was feared lost. He has showed his age since we first moved here in 2008, but last Summer was the first time we didn't see him return. His younger-looking mate dutifully began building a new nest by herself, but without a mate bore no clutch. Thankfully, last week I looked up and saw both Spot and his mate had returned together this time. They are working on the partial nest the female started last year. Don't know why Spot was absent last year, but glad he's returned this year. We'll look forward to another clutch to view in the new nest, which is a little further from the house than years past, but still visible from the back yard. (Truthfully, we don't know which is the female and which is the male - but we've always assumed the older scraggly Spot was the male. Probably will never know for sure.)



I really have to stop taking pictures of every moose I see, or people are going to start thinking I'm not from around here.