Kayakaholic: YellowJackets, Minks and Water Birds

9-20-12

When I loaded the kayak (which is stored in the yard outside my apartment in Westbrook) into the car after a long work day - there was a dragonfly on it. 'that's whimsically weird' I think, as I load it into my Honda Civic hatchback. (weird because I usually encounter loads of them at the river, not on the kayak while it's stored) What are the odds? but, odds are odd, so I don't question it.

On the river I spot something winged struggling in the water. A dragonfly? A closer look, and I see it's a yellowjacket. I pass by.

Then pause. hmmm. if it was dragonfly, or a damselfly, you'd intervene and scoop it out.
What makes you think it's okay to rescue one species and let another drowned?

I turn around. Extend the paddle. It climbs aboard the rescue clip.

It spends the next several intervals walking around the kayak. I say intervals, because at times I lose sight of it and forget it's on board.

When it drops into the kayak I use my notebook to entice it back out. His little wing may be injured, but his sting is not. I don't want to be the recipient of his defenses. But I owed him.

Spelling Bee (Yellowjacket)

This week, a yellowjacket community that had been building a nest in the vinyl siding outside my apartment door became a problem. Another tenant sprayed the nest with canned poison, and that caused them to look for an alternate out. Both he and I had an influx of yellowjackets. Mine came in via a pipe that extends through the ceiling into the 'living' room. A dozen yellowjackets buzzed at the two windows, trying to find 'out.'
I captured most of them in a jar and freed them outside. I vacuumed one, which I then regretted. It was the guilt of thinking of him whirring around inside the HEPA filtered bag. Poor thing!

Came upon this contented bird floating...floating....floating

Another View of WaterBird

YELLOWJACKET UPDATE: His wing was damaged, and I figured that had rendered him unable to fly. But eventually he was recovered enough, and he rose up and flew off into the woods.

(9/23/12 A few days have passed. This morning the other tenant said he's been stung 4 times by pissed off yellowjackets. They've left me alone. Who knows. Maybe there's a karmic justice at work.)

I saw a MINK today! I heard a slight sound from the riverbank where I was floating quietly. Then, what I at first thought was a black cat, but which moved with much more fluidity and un-selfconsciousness, turned out to be what I deduce was a mink. So damn cute! It paused briefly in its travels, then moved to an opening under a tree root. I had grabbed my camera and in my excitement I pressed the off button instead of the picture button. Dummy. I didn't get its picture. Here's a mink pic taken from a news website (the mink I spotted looked very similar)