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    Saturday morning started very early. Shortly before 3 a.m., Billie, the poodle, got up from his bed at the foot of our bed and made a quiet, “woof”. He never barks or even woofs in the middle of night unless something is going on. I sat up in bed and listened. I could hear a coon hound baying not too far away. I did not think too much of it until I saw headlights sweep past the bedroom windows. It was only then I remembered, our grandson, Zane said he would be hunting raccoons in our area. Hoping he was having good luck, I told Billie to go back to sleep as I immediately returned to my deep sleep.

   A few short hours later, my wife and I were getting around and trying to wake up. Pouring us each a cup of coffee, she noticed a buck deer just below the house in what we call the calving pasture. He was a mature ten-point deer, probably four years old. I went to the kitchen to watch him. He walked with his head up and fully alert. A minute later, another buck appeared from the other side of the field. He was also a ten-pointer but was a year or two older and bigger. The two bucks walked slowly toward each other, looking like a fight was imminent. They got to within a few feet of each other, sizing up the opponent with necks arched. At the last second, the smaller of the two turned and calmly walked away. It was if he had been in that situation before and thought the better of getting into a fight he could not win.

   An hour or so later, the swans that had been swimming lazily around the lake decided to take off to graze a local corn field. About fifteen of them lined up, facing the wind, trumpeting, and bobbing their heads. We went outside to watch the show. As though on cue, they all started running across the top of the water while flapping their wings. Their big flat feet smacked the surface of the water as they tried to gain enough speed to become airborne. In flight, they circled by the house as though to say, “see you later.”

   It was then we noticed two eagles on the far side of the lake. An adult and a juvenile eagle were eating something in an open grassy area. I guessed it was a raccoon Zane had left for them during the night. They would eat for a while and take a break by circling over the lake, sometimes stopping on the shore to get a drink. They would then fly back to their lunch and continue feasting.

   Later in the day, my wife again noticed two bucks in the calving pasture. This time, it was two yearling spike bucks. They each had antlers three to four inches long and were evenly matched in size. They decided to fight it out. Neither was sure of what they were supposed to do, but they were going to fight anyway. They rubbed their heads together and clicked their little antlers against their opponent’s. They slowly and carefully “fought” for quite a while before deciding, it did not really matter who won. Neither of them was going to have breeding rights this year.

    At about eight o’clock that evening, I opened the door to let Billie out to make his evening rounds. I was greeted by a chorus of coyotes howling and yipping from several directions. It sounded like six or eight across the lake where the eagles had been eating. There were also several down by the dock on this side of the lake. Billie decided to call it a night. Whatever he was planning to do could wait until morning.

   It was a full day of watching and hearing the wildlife. We live in their territory and our presence does not seem to bother them at all. For the most part, we rather enjoy them also.

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