Wildlife sightings are many times just a lucky thing of being in the right time at the right place with the right photographic equipment. When that type of luck strikes, I try to record and capture images that illustrate happenings of the natural world.

In so many instances, a sighting is fleetingly too brief, just an instant of time, when the only ‘recording device’ is our mental image. These are good things to remember, and as usual, one can say later — “I sure wish I could have had a good camera to capture that moment.”

Photography is fun. It can also become hard work, and frustrating at times due to too many circumstances completely beyond the control of us humans. So we keep trying to make things work for us.

The rewards when they happen are images worthy of becoming a fine enlargement made and framed to hang on a wall. This is way easier said than done.

Perseverance is required. Patience is required. All one can say is keep trying.

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Today’s wildlife featured critters are the raccoon and a doe deer. As for the masked bandit raccoon, this normally nocturnal, almost dog-like furry small mammal, is a part of Mother Nature’s ecosystem explorers who dine upon all sorts of natural plant and animal matter. Searching for food seems to be the task of these animals, always on the lookout to sniff, feel and eat its way toward another day. Plant foods may include grapes, mulberry fruits, plums, chokecherries, grasses and sedges, corn in its milk stage, and acorns.

On the animal side of its diet are crayfish, clams, fish, all kinds of insects, spiders, frogs, snakes, turtle eggs, snails, earthworms, eggs of ground nesting birds, and even young rabbits in a nest if that nest is discovered.

Human foods if left open and available are soon exploited. Many a dog dish or cat dish filled with morsels for the kitty or fido left outside are all too often utilized by free-loading raccoons. Once habituated to free pet foods, the raccoon and its clan will readily steal the offerings. Unknown to the pet owner are the night time raids by the masked bandit, an exploitive raccoon family.

Deep in natural forest environments, raccoons seeking natural foods are just doing what they do, finding a way to survive. Natural foods sustain this population which seems to be steady and ever growing.

When they attempt to cross a busy roadway, a strike by a vehicle is mostly fatal. All too often we see the results along roadway shoulders. In spite of all the obstacles this species encounters, it persists.

Raccoons are renowned pests sometimes if they find access into the attic of homes, shops or under the floors of outbuildings. If a female raccoon has taken a liking to using an home attic to live and raise its young, the homeowner has a major eviction problem that calls for professional services.

Following eviction, all access points of the home must be identified and fixed correctly to prevent re-entry, and remaining in the attic will be raccoon feces to attract other undesirable critters.

We all would prefer the raccoon to live its life in wild natural settings. That is too much to ask, however, for a very adaptable animal who has learned to cope with and adjust to human habitats.

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A doe deer with fawns may be a common sighting this summer. A good time to go looking for deer is at early evening times just before and immediately after sunset.

Look along forest and field edges for a tan colored body. Binoculars should be standard equipment for any wildlife watching.

Doe deer may well be observed with a single fawn, or also with twins. Those little spotted coat deer are quickly learning what to eat from an instructive mother.

Yes, they will still be nursing when mom allows. A gradual investigation into leafy and soft stemmed bushes and shrubs provides an introduction to plants.

Doe deer are very attentive to dangers from potential threats. If alarmed, the doe may signal to the fawns to lay down and stay quiet.

Meanwhile she is running away with white tail flagging to lead any perceived threat on a wild goose chase. The doe will be doing her best to help her fawns survive.

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June in the year 2025 is history. July is our new month, halfway into the year already, with many forecasts for hot summer days ahead of us.

Typical summer season heat, rain, and wind will be with us. Great outdoor recreational opportunities await us. Local county fairs will be popping up all summer long and culminating with the Iowa State Fair in mid August.

During June, at this author’s Albion residence, Mother Nature brought several rain events. Most were timely and welcomed.

A few were torrential in nature with excess water making its way to waterways, creeks, streams and ultimately into the Iowa River. My rain gauge saw a total of 4.81 inches in modest events with the big heavy rain coming on June 26 with nearly two inches in just one hour’s time.

Iowa River flushes saw high stages of about 16 feet, mostly within its banks, but as always finding its way into the flood plain lands lying very low along Highway 14 north of Marshalltown. A steady decrease in water flow stages is now taking place.

What we cannot see under the cloudy and silt filled currents are sands, silts and clay particles in suspension making their way downriver toward holding areas like the Coralville Reservoir west of Iowa City. Heavy particles of sand are being deposited onto sandbars still under the surface. Once the river level lowers, these new sandbars will become exposed.

July will be a time for our internal time clocks to get used to the idea that day lengths will grow shorter. How much, you ask?

Well, between July 1 and the 31st, day length will grow progressively shorter by 40 minutes. Sunrises will go from 5:38 a.m. to 6:02 a.m. Sunsets begin at 8:50 p.m., and by the 31st, they will be happening at 8:31 pm.

Wildlife personnel with wildlife bureaus will be banding Canada geese in selected areas. Young geese will not be flying yet. Adult geese may be in a molt stage of their flight feathers. Rounding up geese to persuade them to walk into a fence trap is easier said than done. Green Castle is one area where this activity has been accomplished before.

Data on the captured geese is obtained. Leg bands are attached with coded numbers to correspond to when and where information. Later, in subsequent years, leg band data helps tell biologists about survival rates, recovery rates and dispersal to and from habitats.

Biologists are also beginning to gather data on wild turkey sightings. It may happen that folks will see a hen turkey with her young brood following dutifully along.

If observed, do record the when and where, how many hen turkeys were seen, and how many young turkeys were in the group. A survey participation form is online at www.iowadnr.gov/turkey, then click on Wild Turkey Survey.

Survey data helps place a perspective on flock numbers and survival.

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Garry Brandenburg is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology.

Contact him at:

P.O. Box 96

Albion, IA 50005