Animals Are A Mystery

Life is full of mystery, isn't it?

And there's no more mysterious part of the world than animal behavior.

We make assumptions about animal behavior...

sometimes, I think, based on our own behavior.

The longer I live around animals, the more I wonder about some of their behaviors.

The same question always surfaces..."why?"...

especially when it comes to bird behavior.

About a week ago, while I was working in the horse lot,

I heard a clatter of guinea alarm calls from across the street.

The guineas were on the edge of the field just squawking their heads off...

for some unknown reason.

And then I noticed that one of the guineas was up in the tree above the rest.

I didn't think much of it and went back to my work.

But then a few days later it became apparent that the guineas had 

ostracized one of their flock, a white one.

Whenever this particular white guinea would approach the flock,

they would give chase and fight with it.

It got so bad that the white guinea would sleep in the big pine tree in front of the

barn, while the rest of the flock roosted in the maple tree behind the barn.

Each morning the hostilities would again arise and continue throughout the day.

The white guinea spent her days alone... shunned from the flock.

And then on Sunday (yesterday) the flock emerged as one big happy family again.

I have no idea why things changed.

Perhaps they worked out their differences,

or perhaps they all just forgot what they were squabbling over.

It will forever remain a mystery.

Meanwhile, in runner duck world, for some unknown reason,

all twelve runner ducks are now one big flock wandering the farm together

in search of tasty insects.

They also spend a good deal of time at the pool in the pig yard.

It's the Duck Country Club!

They split up on occasion, but then re-join... running en masse.

Weird!

Do you remember the 12 mallard babies that we raised last summer.

They made the pond their home all winter long,

and then this past spring they all left.

We presumed they left to mate and have their own families.

I wondered if they would return after the summer ended,

and indeed, they have.

Every morning there is a variable number of mallards on the pond...

as many as nine at one time in addition to our three faithful pond ducks.

I guess the pond will be their winter home once again.

It's not a bad idea... as there is a good supply of food available at all times

and a bubbler to keep the water from freezing.

If I were a duck, I'd live there for sure!

Yesterday afternoon, during chore time,

I was feeding the goats when I heard a scuffle coming from the turkey house.

I could see through the fences that Sam was in there and he was fighting with something.

I called to him and a young red fox ran out of the turkey yard with Sam 

following very closely behind.

In two seconds flat, Sam grabbed that fox and gave it a shake.

I presume he broke the fox's neck because the fox was dead in an instant.

I felt sorry for the young fox, but, on the other hand,

glad that Sam had gotten rid of one of our chicken predators.

The turkey house is rather close to the chicken house...

so this was actually a close call for the free-ranging chickens.

It's hard to believe that this sweet looking old dog is the expert hunter that he is.

Sam is definitely an enigma.

But, he's also a really good farm dog.

And though I hate to see any animal killed,

Sam did do his job in protecting the chickens from predators.

The fox... well, he got a proper burial.

This is a very exciting week for us.

We are leaving the farm in the hands of friends and family on Thursday

and traveling to France for 9 days.

I will be away from the blog next week,

but will try to post photos of our trip on Instagram and Facebook.

Finally I get to try out the French language that I spent so many years learning.

Of course, most of it is forgotten at this point.

Lastly, happy Autumn!!

It still feels like summer here, but the world is definitely changing...

heading toward cooler days.