The month of June is the most outstanding month to view the new wildlife being born into the wilds of Pennsylvania.

Sometimes the new babies are born and raised in the suburbs as well as the rural areas. I would consider our area to be a rural area with plenty of woods and fields for wildlife to roam. Due to this, I am not surprised when I see a new family of critters being displayed by their mothers.

We were having some issues with a raccoon raiding our recycling cans and bird feeders. Many solutions were considered, but my wife held the position that he deserves to be around as much as a squirrel or rabbit.

I’m not so sure that I agreed with her, but I received quite a surprise this week when the raccoon turned out to be a mother and she brought a pair of youngsters up on our deck to show them off. So much for separating this family now.

The wife was sore at a deer for eating her favorite flowers and plantings, that is, until she showed off her beautiful new fawn in the front yard. All of a sudden, the flowers would grow back and that sure was a sweet young deer!

Then the squirrels, rabbits and ground hogs showed up with babies as well. The diminutive baby chipmunks started to run up to her because they had no idea of danger or what to be aware of in the wild.

Plenty of chipmunks, and I am sure plenty of critters looking for them ... As long as they leave my cars and air conditioner wires alone, we will not be enemies, either.

Family of foxes

A family of young red foxes are frequenting my neighbor’s property and they are sighted almost daily.

I didn’t expect that most of these wildlife parents would visit human dwellings and yards, but here they are on a daily occurrence. Somewhere along the timeline of a wild animal’s experiences, they learn to fear humans and other predators.

It could be a close call and near-death experience or a mother’s warning. I frequently hear a doe deer snorting a warning that alerts her fawn to be wary of danger. Too many snorts and the pair head off for a safer location and away from whatever is alarming them.

Orchard orioles

I would be very remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite parents of the bird families. Orchard orioles frequently bring their young to the hummingbird feeder and share nectar with them on a regular basis.

The parents take a swig and transfer the sweet treat to their young every day. Sooner or later, they will start to feed themselves and become full fledged adult birds.

A redheaded woodpecker is also a regular visitor to the suet cage. We use one cake or more daily as the birds love this food source. I always take a full case of 12 at Zanelli’s Milling and they let me mix and match the types. I don’t know if it makes all that much difference to the birds but I like the looks of the varieties.

Who wouldn’t like cherry crunch, orange orchard, apple, sunflower, nut blend and blueberry? The woodpecker youngsters are nearly as large as their parents, but do not have the distinctive coloration as of yet.

I will keep on watching their progress this summer and hope that they all have a safe transition into their adulthood. Sometimes we are required to stop our vehicles in order for the wildlife crossing to be clear. That, too, is part of a youngster’s education, recognizing that all cars will not stop and could be as deadly as any predator to them.

Doe licenses

I checked the doe license allocation on-line for our area and plenty of doe licenses are available yet. I did note that the Butler County Treasurer’s Office has processed my license request and over 10,000 more at this writing.

Over 50,000 WMU 2-D licenses are still available which means that it is not too late to submit your paperwork for a license to be filled.

Looking ahead

Next week, I will be taking a trip with Trophy Charters out of Ashtabula, Ohio, onto Lake Erie for walleyes.

The captain was very excited at the sheer numbers of fish and that it should be a banner year. I decided that I was going to give a couple of fishing scholarships for some local youngsters that I know.

After some clearances with the parents and a small briefing of what they should expect. the two kids were pretty excited. Neither have been on a charter trip on Lake Erie and they should experience a great time!

Until we meet again, don’t forget to take a kid fishing, it could be the memory of a lifetime!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle