Sunday, October 21, 2012

Animalistic Sunday

This morning we caught a little mouse. A sweet and little one like this one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajc1/2713586769/

 
But since I can't allow it to stay in our house, after all in protected environment they have 5 to 10 litters a year with up to 14 youngsters per litter, we had to take it outside and give it its freedom. Since this autumn is unusally warm and food is still abundant we took her to the woods not too far from us. It was very curious and obviously enjoyed being outdoors .... that is until a magpie shot down from a tree and tried to grab little mousey. So we ran around like madmen and tried to shoo away the magpie to at least give it a small survival chance. After all it was the first day in the wilderness.
 
I've never seen magpies actively hunting mice, but they are quite fierce in what they do. But then magpies are highly intelligent creatures. They are the only birds that recognize their mirror image:
 
http://www.birdorable.com/blog/mirror-mirror-on-the-wall/
 
After a while the magpie got weary of us and took off, I hope mousey survived the day.
 
Now we could go for our planned walk around Lampenhain not too far from our place. To our surprise we met some alpacas which enjoyed the warm autumn sun.
 
 
 
 
After more sheep, dogs, and horses we had a cup of coffe in a country 'pub' (Landgasthof) where we met ... hairy coos :) = Scottish Highland cattle
 
 

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