Red Tailed Hawks and Great Horned Owls

Over our residency at Nobolis, we have witnessed a pair of Red Tailed hawks nest and successfully raise their young. We watched them teach their young how to fly and hunt near the back of our property. 

The following year, we were surprised to see a Great Horned Owl confiscate their nest and raise one fledgling to maturity. We witnessed mom teaching her young how to catch Muskrats and can still hear their ghostly calls in the night. We are hoping she returns to nest again.

Did you know, owls are the main predator of skunks? One way to locate an Owl nest is to smell for skunk - their nest usually smells of this common prey.

Coopers Hawk

This species of hawk sit in ambush for other birds and large insects. This guy eliminated all wild pigeons in our area before focusing on our doves. Once the doves were protected, this hawk was found in the chicken coop feasting on a young lay chicken. He was released and we have not seen him since.

Coyotes and Red Fox

We are still trying to catch pictures of Coyotes and a pair of fox that regularly cross our property. Unfortunately, we never have the camera when we run across them. Hopefully we will be able to add a picture this year.

White Tail Deer

The Niagara peninsula is know to have an over population of deer. We have witness herds up to 17 grazing near our oak forest. Although they are a common site, getting close enough for a picture is challenging. We frequently pick up discarded antlers in our woods and give them to children who visit us.

Eastern Painted Turtles

Our first year here we discovered 2 adult Eastern Painted Turtles in our pond. The following winter proved tragic for one of them as we came across it's hollow shell. We were relieved in the following spring to spot the remaining adult along with 17 baby turtles. Now we monitor the pond to ensure no snapping turtle wander in and eat them. We're hoping some avoid being eaten by the Blue Heron.

Snapping Turtle

We stopped a mile down the road when we witnessed a large snapping turtle crossing the highway. We got some pictures and were thankful it wasn't heading to our pond. We hope to keep the Eastern Painted turtles and our dogs safe at our pond.

Star-nosed Shrew

We have a residency of Star-Nosed shrews. Their main diet are worms and unlike mice and rats, are harmless to our operation. The Star-Nosed shrew lives it's entire life underground and prefers slightly moist areas. They appear to enjoy living under the piles of discarded winter hay. We now setup an area to help these little guys survive so we can enjoy their presence and educate visitors. It took weeks to capture this little guy for a picture.

Kill Deer

The call is familiar to most and many have seen this long legged bird flitter across open ground trying to catch your attention. Many times they will simulate an injury and try to draw your attention away from their nest. Most people have never seen their nest because it is camouflaged so well. This nest was almost stepped on by people, dogs and deer. Once we found it we marked it to keep people from stepping on it and kept the dogs from the pond area until they were hatched.

Milk Snake, Garter Snakes, Grass Snakes

I must admit I was wary of snakes when we first moved here. There was a large population because of the hay fields attraction to mice. Our female dog thought it her mission to kill any snakes she came across to protect her pups - this is instinctual. At first I though the population of snakes was not at risk until I discovered movement of baby snakes inside the carcass of a female snake she had just killed. I released the baby snakes and hope they survived. I now train all my dogs to leave the snakes alone. The snakes are invaluable in keeping the mice population in check. Snakes are a benefit to the operation of Nobolis farm.

Preying Mantis

We have discovered several Preying Mantis in our hay field. They range from green to light brown and camouflage extremely well. Unfortunately, their movements catch the attention of the free range turkeys and, although the turkeys don't eat them, they do catch and injure them before realizing they are not a tasty treat. We are always delighted to see these magnificent predators on our property.

Raccoons

Raccoons regularly cross the property and they have nested in our woods. We try to keep them away from our barn and away from high traffic areas near our home. Raccoons are not fast runners and if our dogs take chase, a raccoon can inflict serious damage to them. If a Raccoon does find an easy meal like garbage or access to the fowl housed in the barn, they well usually take up residence close by and continue to 'raid' nightly until their food supply disappears.

Skunks

During mating season for skunks, we have a lot of them crossing our property in search of females. Our dogs have been sprayed only once and we are hoping they remember their lesson next time they come across one. Skunks breed in March, April time-frame, this is when several are hit by cars because they are moving around at this time of year. The remainder of the year they stay in smaller territories and fewer are hit by vehicles.
To eliminate the smell of skunk from you dog, look at 'Did You Know' in the Doberman section of this web site.

Field mice, Deer mice, grey mice, moles, and voles

The most common wildlife found on the property are rodents. This is good for the local wildlife as these are their main diet. Although we are vigilant when keeping mice and rats out of our barn, we usually let nature take care of its own elsewhere on the property. We need to be careful when using mouse or rat poison to ensure a poisoned rat or mouse does  not get consumed before it dies, this may poison the predator and depending on it's size, could be fatal. We limit the use of poison to the fall when harvest of the crops sends the rodents in search of a new winter home. We prefer to use live traps which does not injure the hostage and allows us to release them in the event we capture something other than a rodent.

Weasel

The weasel has the body diameter of a mouse and can easily fit into any space a mouse can go. Weasel's diets include mice, young rats, caged rabbits and fowl. This weasel killed 3 chickens before it was found drown in the horse's water barrel. The weasel find chickens easy prey because they don't move much in the dark. The weasel will bite a chicken on the neck and drink the blood and consume some flesh. The wound is obvious the next few days as it starts to heal, but the weasel will revisit the chicken regularly and reopen the wound until the chicken finally succumbs to infection or loss of blood. The weasel is not interested in 'dead' bait and therefore proves to be difficult to catch.  When chased or scared, the weasel releases a chemical that resembles the smell of a skunk but not as strong.

Great Blue Heron

Blue Heron's are alive and well in the Niagara peninsula. With several wet areas to maintain fish, frogs and small turtles, they are frequently seen flying overhead to their favorite ponds. We chase them away from our pond when we see them in an effort to save the young Eastern Painted Turtles. With the pond being far from the house, the Huron has chosen it as a favorite feeding spot.

Muskrats

Although they look like Rats, the Muskrat live along rivers, ponds and lakes. They are excellent swimmers and commonly have access to their borrows from both underwater and from land. The holes to their dens are plentiful. Muskrats are more active at night and rarely seen during the day. The Great Horned owl is the main predator of the Muskrats living around our pond.