Saturday, March 26, 2005

Pheasant attacks house, terrorizes neighborhood You know it's spring when the starlings return to your storm-topped beeches, sandhill cranes trumpet overhead and your local cock pheasant starts eyeballing his reflection in your patio door, your just-washed truck and anything else that shines. He first showed up during a warm spell two weeks ago. Shivani heard him crowing one morning and looked out to see him strutting back and forth in front of the glass patio door, showing off for the cats who just watched from inside the house. For two days, he cased the house for an hour or so just after sunrise. She managed to get a couple shots of him near my truck, but missed the best shot when he and Tykie were beak-to-nose through the glass. We figured he liked the high ground our yard afforded him because he crowed from several vantage points, evidently hoping to attract a hen. By 7:30 or so each day, he was gone. We didn't try to track him to see if he walked or flew and where he went. The second day, Shivani was walking out the driveway to get the paper when she spotted him peeking out from behind the shed. When he saw her, he jumped up on the wheelbarrow, flapped his wings and cackled up quite a fuss. He's lucky one of the local redtails wasn't around. One of them picked off a cottontail a few days later, but we've seen no evidence they've got a pheasant recently. The third morning, I took a quick look out a couple windows and didn't see him, so I went out to get the paper and crowed one poor imitation of a cock pheasant. I heard a commotion and turnned to see a hen pheasant flush and fly north through the woods. Then the cock bird, who had been in one of his usual spots, flushed, cackling wildly. Since then, I've seen his tracks near the shed once, and Shivani spotted him standing in the middle of the road like a traffic cop. I don't know where he's hanging out now, but his antics got him the attention of one hen, anyway. He's likely keeping close tabs on her, waiting for her to signal it's time to make chicks. Once she has a clutch of eggs to sit on, he might come back to the little hill in the woods where he managed to cackle up his first date of the season and hope to get lucky again. Which reminds me, Easter Sunday would be a good time to clean out the wood duck nest box on the neighbor's pond. My woodies are due back on April 10. Later... 8:23:56 PM    comment []