Autumn/ Fall

There's an amazing amount of wild life in Nova Scotia and yesterday as I was walking the dogs down the meadow I came across the largest pile of dung I have seen so far, I'm assuming that its bear and I've yet to see one in the wild, I've made a track trap by smoothing out a boggy patch of ground along the path I think he/she is using and hopefully we will get prints in the mud.
The humming birds have gone south now I'll miss them buzzing around the feeders but to make up for them two piliated woodpeckers have turned up and are hammering furiously on the dead spruce at the back of the house, a good reason for leaving dead standing habitat.
This morning while having my coffee on the deck a Sharp Shinned hawk crashed into the Blue jays trying to get his morning meal, the Blue jays scattered into the bushes with an almighty commotion, he was unsuccessfull this time but what a sight to behold they're amazingly agile and will chase birds right into the tree branches.
The Squirrels have dissappeared along with the Chipmunks, our neighbour said he spotted a Marten several times over the last few weeks and Squirrel is normally on the menu for them.
The Salmon will be running soon and the oppportunity to fish for them although there is some debate whether there will be Salmon fishing on the Middle river as there are on-going negotiations with the First Nation M'ikmaq over fishing rights.