Fauna and other natural things

[mamselle]

While walking this morning I kept hearing nuts falling from the trees.  Some of the impacts I heard made me glad I didn't catch it in the head.

The second group of gravestones on my usual tour is right under a very large (maybe 75 year-old) oak tree.

Theres an angry squirrel up there most Saturdays, and he ?(she) loves to use my mob cap for target practice.

M.

[namazu]

I caught a glimpse of a canid (fox or coyote, I wasn't sure) silhouetted against the snow late one recent night.  It reminded me of another time that spouse and I were out for a walk and saw a fox hunting (doing that vertical pounce that foxes do) in a nearby cemetery.

[paultuttle]

Coming back to this thread to say that I saw a fox (!!!) during this morning's walk.

Just as the sun was rising, I was walking west on Market Street in Greensboro just before the X intersection with Friendly Avenue (look for "Lake Daniel Park" on Google and scroll southwards slowly) and as I came around the corner a young (or underweight) fox saw me, pricked its ears, stopped in its tracks, and walked back across the X intersection to the other side--not fast, just enough to let me know it could have run from me if it wanted to. It then waited--only about 20-25 yards away--for me to cross northward back toward Lake Daniel Park before it crossed eastward, behind me, a bit faster--fast enough that the tail belled out behind it, but not a run. I looked back a couple of times to see it cantering across the grass toward the underbrush, but it didn't seem to pay any more attention to me after it figured out what I wasn't going to bother it.

I've been waiting for several years to see a fox near my house. Eagles, hawks, a chipmunk, squirrels, birds, snakes, sure--but a fox (!!!). Now that's wild.

All puns intended. <grin>

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Coming back to this thread to say that I saw a fox (!!!) during this morning's walk.

Just as the sun was rising, I was walking west on Market Street in Greensboro just before the X intersection with Friendly Avenue (look for "Lake Daniel Park" on Google and scroll southwards slowly) and as I came around the corner a young (or underweight) fox saw me, pricked its ears, stopped in its tracks, and walked back across the X intersection to the other side--not fast, just enough to let me know it could have run from me if it wanted to. It then waited--only about 20-25 yards away--for me to cross northward back toward Lake Daniel Park before it crossed eastward, behind me, a bit faster--fast enough that the tail belled out behind it, but not a run. I looked back a couple of times to see it cantering across the grass toward the underbrush, but it didn't seem to pay any more attention to me after it figured out what I wasn't going to bother it.

I've been waiting for several years to see a fox near my house. Eagles, hawks, a chipmunk, squirrels, birds, snakes, sure--but a fox (!!!). Now that's wild.

All puns intended. <grin>

Very, very cool!

[namazu]

Coming back to this thread to say that I saw a fox (!!!) during this morning's walk.

Just as the sun was rising, I was walking west on Market Street in Greensboro just before the X intersection with Friendly Avenue (look for "Lake Daniel Park" on Google and scroll southwards slowly) and as I came around the corner a young (or underweight) fox saw me, pricked its ears, stopped in its tracks, and walked back across the X intersection to the other side--not fast, just enough to let me know it could have run from me if it wanted to. It then waited--only about 20-25 yards away--for me to cross northward back toward Lake Daniel Park before it crossed eastward, behind me, a bit faster--fast enough that the tail belled out behind it, but not a run. I looked back a couple of times to see it cantering across the grass toward the underbrush, but it didn't seem to pay any more attention to me after it figured out what I wasn't going to bother it.

I've been waiting for several years to see a fox near my house. Eagles, hawks, a chipmunk, squirrels, birds, snakes, sure--but a fox (!!!). Now that's wild.

All puns intended. <grin>

And for us, a rare PaulTuttle sighting!   

What a nice way to start your day, Paul!

[apl68]

This morning a staff member told me about seeing something in her yard that looked like a mountain lion.  I'm never sure what to make of such sightings.  Mountain lions do, on rare occasions, pass through the region.  But it's hard to believe that those occasional transients are responsible for all or most of the big cat sightings we have. 

Maybe it was a bobcat, or a big stray dog?  She insists that it was feline and had a long tail.  I know from experience that unexpected sightings of wildlife in low-light conditions can make your mind play tricks on you.  Some years ago I was startled by the sighting of a classic "grey" alien one evening right here in town, on the banks of a stream.  Then something seemed to click inside my head, and suddenly the "alien" became a big grey heron, standing on the bank and drawn up to its full height.  I had been seeing herons very regularly on morning walks in the nearby city park.  Somehow seeing one in an unfamiliar spot, at an unfamiliar time, in an unfamiliar pose, turned it into something bizarre and disturbing.  If I wasn't somebody who was familiar with herons I might well carry to this day the eerie memory of seeing an "alien."

So maybe some trick of perception explains her wildcat sighting.  Then again, where we live a mountain lion is not outside the realm of possibility.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

There is a grey tree frog living on one of my porch lights. It has vocalized quite a bit, which I don't mind. I think there is another one hiding somewhere among the potted plants.

[Parasaurolophus]

There was some kind of hawk or falcon in a nearby tree just a few minutes ago, but it flew off when I went to get the binocs.

[spork]

Many bunnies in the backyard so far this spring. I wish some of the coyotes that hang out in a wooded park one block over would start patrolling my property.

Encountered a possum in my driveway a few nights ago. It quickly waddled over to the neighbor's backyard when I appeared. I think it had been trying to get into my trash can. This is the first possum I've seen here since moving in a dozen years ago.

And last Sunday morning, while on a pre-dawn run, a coyote and I locked eyes while I was passing the park mentioned above.

[apl68]

Many bunnies in the backyard so far this spring. I wish some of the coyotes that hang out in a wooded park one block over would start patrolling my property.

Encountered a possum in my driveway a few nights ago. It quickly waddled over to the neighbor's backyard when I appeared. I think it had been trying to get into my trash can. This is the first possum I've seen here since moving in a dozen years ago.

And last Sunday morning, while on a pre-dawn run, a coyote and I locked eyes while I was passing the park mentioned above.

When my brother was stationed in Iraq some years ago he used to go for regular jogs around the base area in early morning or late evening.  There were some wild canids there that looked a lot like coyotes (They did not look like the familiar pariah dogs that are also found in the Middle East).  Some of them would jog along with him.  On his last jog, just before he returned stateside, a pack of them came out and trotted along with him in formation.  It was as if they were telling him goodbye.

[Catherder]

I've been absent from the Fora for months while house hunting. My landlady of the lake decided to cash in on the pandemic and sell.

So this month I moved again to a country locale but now the view from my desk window is of my landlord's van.

However, yesterday a rabbit hopped by.

[namazu]

I've been absent from the Fora for months while house hunting. My landlady of the lake decided to cash in on the pandemic and sell.

So this month I moved again to a country locale but now the view from my desk window is of my landlord's van.

However, yesterday a rabbit hopped by.

Oh, Catherder, I'm so sorry you've had to move and have lost your incredible view! :( 

[Catherder]

Not all is lost. A squirrel just scampered by with half a baked corn cob in its mouth, purloined from a neighbour's bbq.

[apl68]

On a morning street
The shadow of a phone line
With a shadow squirrel

[mamselle]

A 6.9 earthquake off the coast of Japan near Tokyo, today, did not, thankfully, result in a tsunami.

   https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/20/asia/japan-earthquake-intl/index.html

M.