Alpacas
We currently have four female alpacas, 3 gelded male alpacas and one llama. The first picture with the red halter is Llami (Yami). She is our sole llama. She is small, not much bigger than the alpacas, but much more confident, and definitely more muscular. She should guard the other animals from coyotes. She hasn’t had the opportunity to practice yet thankfully!
The three white girls in the middle are Freda, Dora and Dulce. These beauties provide us with wonderful fleece. Sheering is in June so they are nice and cool for the summer, and warm in the winter when they get fuzzy again.
The black alpaca is Star. She is our senior girl and has taught the younger ones manners. She alerts with a high pitched trill when she sees danger such as a racoon or strange dog.
If you would like to meet these special animals and learn more about their lives and fleece, email me at willowridgealpacas@ gmail.co
Feed the Birds
I love birds. They enchant me. Above are our domestic birds, chickens! We currently have over a dozen hens and three beautiful roosters. Each rooster has his own group of girls that he protects. The hens provide us with eggs almost all year round. They are happy birds as they can wander around the farm at will. They will probably be the first group to welcome any newcomer to the farm. Each rooster and hen have their own personality which comes out when there are treats disbursed. It is interesting to see the pecking order :) There is so much to learn about these birds and each day they entertain me with their antics.
Willow Ridge is host to many many different species of wild birds. Some migrate and return each spring, many stay for the winter. Here are some photos of the little birds we often see at the feeders or just hanging around the yard. We had a guest that was a bird watcher. In one weekend she saw:
White throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
White Crowned sparrow
Red winged Blackbird
Black capped Chickadee
American Crow
Blue Jay
Ruby crowned Kinglet
American Goldfinch
Dark eyed Junco
Our guest was here during the fall after many of the birds had migrated
Above are our special guests, the swallows. We have two types that live in our barns during the summer months, Barn swallows and Cliff swallows. Western University did a 20 year study here at Willow Ridge, gently capturing the birds, getting statistics such as weight and size and then banding them with small GPS trackers. These amazing creatures traveled mostly to Central Mexico and some as far as Argentina!
Swallows are on the endangered list. One reason is pollution on flight paths such as forest fires and smog. The other is habitat loss. When we renovated our barns we only did the outside so we could retain the nests and habitat of the swallows inside the barn. When you step into what appears to be a new barn the inside is still the same as it was almost 150 years ago. It takes the swallows a few years to build a new nest, you can usually see one under construction next to a current nest. Each nest only lasts about 3-4 years, so they plan in advance :). In the photos above, you will see two types of nests, the cup shaped one belongs to the Barn swallows, and the one with a tubular entrance belongs to the Cliff swallows. In June and July the nests are full of chicks, the cliff swallows look like they have a smile on their forehead. We look forward to their return each year around May 24th and miss them when they leave mid September.
