Follow the Clues to Solve a Grisly Mystery

For about a week, I smelled something dead in the bushes by the horse barn and outhouse. Then a bevy of Turkey Vultures, juveniles by their black heads, circled and flew low over the area. Johnny even saw one sitting on the ground near an apple tree... which is not far from the photos below. From these photos, can you tell what died?

This is a close-up over the 2nd photo above

Thanks to naturalist Lisa Millbank for identifyiing this wee carcass. We have many young brush rabbits here so this makes sense. She writes: "There are some features that are difficult to see in the photos, but the jaw looks like it's probably from a cottontail, either an Eastern Cottontail or a Brush Rabbit. It looks like it has one incisor and 5 pointy premolars+molars on each side of the jaw, and is about the right size. On the cranium, the orientation of the ear hole in the skull looks more rabbit-like. The hairs are banded like rabbit fur. The pelvis looks about right too...

If a rabbit skull is mostly intact, it can't be confused with anything else, because the main upper incisors have a tiny extra pair behind them, and because the bone over the nasal cavity has a fine, lace-like appearance. But those parts of the skull got crunched in this case."

A Day at the Coast

 On August 25th, I made an all day trip to the coast to try to finalize what has happened to my Black Oystercatcher nesting sites. The news is sad as only one pair nested and their nest failed... twice. This is by far the worst Black Oystercatcher (BLOY) nesting season ever at my sites. But the scenery is always lovely! So I took photos. What follows is a sampling of the 100 photos I took that day.

First, inside the cove at Road's End:

South Rock at low tide, where a pair of BLOY laid 3 eggs twice and lost them

Middle Rock with Cascade Head in the distance

Middle Rock

South Rock, where BLOY seemed to begin nesting but quit

On the very top of Middle Rock was a Cedar Waxwing!

South Rock behind monolith

The only Starfish I saw all day

Polly Island, among other names

Atop Polly Island: Pelicans and Cormorantss

The Cedar Waxwing atop Middle Rock

As the tide returned, I left for Cape Kiwanda...

 

 

Chief Kiawanda Rock

 

Cape Lookout in the far distance

The only BLOY I saw all day, one adult who stayed briefly (that tiny black dot on top of the rock.)

This gull flew in and landed next to me, looking for a handout

It finally gave up on me as I told it to find its own healthy-for-a-gull food.

Double-crested Cormorant

Ledge where BLOY used to nest on Chief Kiawanda Rock

new fence and steps to west-most observation point

I returned to the north side before hiking back to McPhillip's Park

The resident Peregrine

Lots of Brown Pelicans and others were finding fish. Lots of fishing boats out there, too.

Although it was a disappointing year for Black Oystercatcher nesting, the Oregon coast is always beautiful and good for the spirit. I was going to say relaxing but hiking up and down dunes and over boulders is not too relaxing. However, I do sit and observe and breathe in that wonderful salt air. And take a LOT of photos.

The Passing of a Grand Old Dog

Mr. McCoy kept predators at bay here for eleven years. He also trained his replacement, Annie. Old age and the horrendous heat waves combined to do him in. Although we did all we could to keep him comfortable, the heat was ultimately too much for him. He fell into a deep sleep on Sunday, August 1st. Johnny put him down as he slept and buried him in the arboretum, not far from Shirley who died last year at age 15. McCoy was a much bigger dog than Shirley and it seems the bigger they are, the shorter their lifespan. 

We had bought Annie shortly after Shirley died so McCoy could train her. She wore him out but he did teach her the property boundaries, who belonged here and who did not... and that his food was his alone.  Here is a post I wrote last year about McCoy's training of Annie. Alas, she has not stopped chasing the goats when they run but she knew not to do it when McCoy was watching! https://anniepuppy.blogspot.com/2020/09/mister-mccoy-annies-playmate-teacher.html

Annie is now in charge of keeping the goats safe. She is just one year old and mostly interested in playing but she does mark her territory and bark at things McCoy barked at. Thank you, McCoy. We never lost an animal to predators while you were on duty. And you loved every child you met.  

Baby Goats and More

 My last doe to kid for the year came right on time on July 12 with two beautiful doelings. Cleopatra is a very protective mom and tries to keep her children hidden under the hay feeder, so it's been a challenge to get photos of them. As they get older and more independent, hopefully I'll have better luck. For now, this is the best I can do:

 

 

Otherwise, the garden keeps me busy, watering early every other morning, picking strawberries and blueberries as they ripen, trying to keep up with veggie harvesting. I was mowing but the fire danger has made me stop... plus nothing is growing in this drought except where I water and I don't water the grass. 

Johnny, meanwhile, has been spending a lot of time helping out at Kevin and Jessica's place in Washington, building an extension on their chicken house for one thing, replacing steps at Jessica's parents' place for another. Here at home he is busy helping 91-year-old neighbor Irv get his firewood in for the winter plus repairing equipment here and doing much more.

The Lawn Llama continues to sport appropriate clothing for the month. In July it has changed attire from 4th of July...

to National Ice Cream Month (yes, July really is National Ice Cream Month)...

And just today, the llama switched to celebrating National Watermelon Month. Yes, honest, July is also National Watermelon Month. 

Considering all the fires in Oregon right now, I thought celebrating anything with water involved would be good. In fact, there was a small brush fire today just a few miles from us. The fire departments have been kept busy with small fires all over the area. Lucky for us the smoke from the big Oregon fires south of us is blowing eastward so our skies are clear. So far.

For those who get my blog posts by email, the word was that service would stop in July. Now it is scheduled to stop in mid August. So after that, you will have to come to this website to view them. https://lindafink.blogspot.com  Please come! You wouldn't want to miss *good* baby goat photos, whenever I manage to get them. ...And the continuing lawn llama apparel changes... I'll try to start posting those on the first of every month.

The Last of the Fink Family Farm Llamas

 

  Our last living llama, Lindoro, died on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, after making it through to the last day of the horrendous heat wave. He was 22, which is old for a llama. They are said to have an average lifespan of 15 but can live to be in their 20s.  Now the only llama on the Fink Family Farm is the artificial lawn llama that I wrote about in my last blog post.

Our llama project started many years ago when friend Velta gave us a llama gelding who was trained to lead and pack and was a sweetheart, but no longer useful in her ever-growing llama herd. Percy was a most wonderful animal, so when our daughter-in-law Jessica's mom was offered two aged llamas but had no place to keep them and asked us to get them instead, we said sure! We all traveled together to Idaho to the llama farm and loaded up Aria and Brie. Aria was a sweet, good-natured llama. Brie was not. She was a spitter. And she was barren. Her owner had never been able to get her bred. Brie did not come willingly. It took several of us pulling and pushing and getting spat upon to get her loaded. What were we getting into?

Percy, old by this time, pretty much ignored the newcomers, preferring the company of our livestock guardian dog. But we enjoyed our first female llamas, so long as we didn't annoy Brie and get spat on. Our friend Velta had several handsome studs and let us bring one to our farm so we didn't have to try to load Brie in a trailer again. Aria got bred. Brie was having none of it.

Aria gave birth to Lindoro one year later, in 1999. He was atypically friendly for a llama from the start. But we did not need a stud llama so had him gelded when he was a year old, in 2000. The next year, old Percy finally passed away. Lindoro and his mom, Aria, became the friendly llamas everyone liked to visit. 

The same year that Percy the gelding died, 2001, I looked out the kitchen window one day and saw Brie walking with a brand new baby llama following her. I blinked and rubbed my eyes. This was impossible! Brie was barren and we had not had any of Velta's stud llamas over here since Aria got bred in 1998. The only possibility was that Lindoro had bred Brie before being gelded... at under one year of age. We named the baby Milagro, since he was a miracle birth. He looked almost identical to Lindoro.

 

Aria with her new miracle baby and Lindoro, the proud father

Milagro and Lindoro became fast friends, especially after their aged mothers died. But sadly, in his teens, Milagro developed a tumor in is neck and died. So only Lindoro was left of our llamas, but he seemed happy to hang out with old Shirley, our livestock guardian dog, until she died last year.

Lindoro seemed happy to hang out alone or with whatever person or animal was around. He was always the greeter when kindergarten classes came for annual farm visits. And always ready to give attention to whomever might like some. One of my favorite photos is of Lindoro, Johnny and Mr. Smith, my Morgan gelding.

 

 Lindoro was the perfect llama, content to keep company, or not, with whatever animal chose to keep company with him. We miss you, Lindoro. Thanks for giving us so much pleasure for so many years.