A RESIDENT PHEASANT

While we were at the farm on Saturday (March 31), a rooster pheasant slowly strolled along the north edge of the lawn. Mike got fairly close to him -- that's Mike's shadow in the lower corner of the photo (left) . . .

Hunkered down by bush. ..

... as Nellie moves in (sort of)

. . . and the pheasant seemed unconcerned until he sensed the presence of the dogs. Then he was agitated and moved more quickly. 

Running up the bank to the field

He ducked behind the woodshed, crossed the yard to the grove, moved under the trees, and hopped up to the edge of the field. 

Standing at the edge of the field

At that point, Bess scented him and set chase, but he flew, heading south and then east, soaring over the pond. 

We don’t know if he’s the same pheasant that resided with us last summer, but he has a characteristic in common with that pheasant in that he's lacking his long tail feather. Mike opines that it might have been possible for him to have survived the winter. 

We don't see many pheasants on the farm. The most common game birds are dove and Hungarian Partridge. The Huns aren't prolific, but in past years Mike has hunted them judiciously. However, we didn't see any Huns in 2016, and we figured the rape crop was responsible for that.

As a result of his trip to the farm yesterday, Mike reported that he caught seven rodents in traps -- two in the house, three in the shed, and two outside the shed (six mice and one meadow vole). We figure the meadow vole are responsible for the holes in the yard. Well, it's war, you know. And it's ongoing. KW