Fauna and other natural things

[Catherder]

Our new Kitten, Orestes, is a natural hunter.  This morning Smolt found him playing with a (now dead) mouse.  Impressive that he caught a mouse when he never goes outside.

Hmmm....now I need to find out where they are getting in.

Best mouse deterrent ever:  soak cotton balls in peppermint oil (available in health food stores) and toss them in the bottom of all your cupboards, or in any suspicious crevices.

[apl68]

While taking my morning walk I found a dead rat lying in the street.  It's the first time I've ever seen a rat in any condition in the street, anywhere.  I hope it isn't a bad sign.

[aside]

While taking my morning walk I found a dead rat lying in the street.  It's the first time I've ever seen a rat in any condition in the street, anywhere.  I hope it isn't a bad sign.

It was for the rat ...

[clean]

Quote from: apl68 on January 07, 2020, 10:54:31 AM
While taking my morning walk I found a dead rat lying in the street.  It's the first time I've ever seen a rat in any condition in the street, anywhere.  I hope it isn't a bad sign.

It was for the rat ...

Ive seen news where a bird drops a fish.  The last I remember was a bird that dropped a fish and broke someone's windshield!

So it may have been a bad sign for the bird that may have lost its meal!

[Parasaurolophus]

I was travelling last week and saw: pronghorns, elk, coyotes, a red fox, bald eagles, some kind of small eagle or perhaps a hawk, and ubiquitous ravens and crows.

[apl68]

Quote from: apl68 on January 07, 2020, 10:54:31 AM
While taking my morning walk I found a dead rat lying in the street.  It's the first time I've ever seen a rat in any condition in the street, anywhere.  I hope it isn't a bad sign.

It was for the rat ...

Ive seen news where a bird drops a fish.  The last I remember was a bird that dropped a fish and broke someone's windshield!

So it may have been a bad sign for the bird that may have lost its meal!

It never occurred to me that some raptor might have lost its lunch there, so to speak. 

I have seen a hawk take a squirrel, on the edge of Vanderbilt University's campus no less.  I also once saw a bird repeatedly try to grab a cicada that still had a lot of fight left in it.  After the third try the bird decided it wasn't worth it and went looking for a less combative meal.

[mamselle]

Yes, likewise, twice: Once at the site of the first known Maypole in the colonies: I was scaling the knoll up to the top of the hill and a big rush of breeze and a loud flapping sound startled me into looking up....to a very bloody rabbit being lifted up and away by a huge hawk.

The other was outside my back deck, when I had a deck. A Red Hawk had located a chipmunk for its lunch.

M.

[marceltr]

I prefer grow some mj in litlle boxes:-)

[ab_grp]

I have seen hawks on campus (a little scary at times), but I have thankfully not seen a rat anywhere in person yet (except in a psych lab).  Today I did see what I can only assume is a peacock on the side of the road.  I'll have to look it up, but spouse seemed nonchalant about its presence, so I guess there are some around here.

[backatit]

Last night sitting at a beachside restaurant with some friends, and a rat ran across the fence above our heads. Not surprising, given the area, but funny.

[Wahoo Redux]

I have seen hawks on campus (a little scary at times), but I have thankfully not seen a rat anywhere in person yet (except in a psych lab).  Today I did see what I can only assume is a peacock on the side of the road.  I'll have to look it up, but spouse seemed nonchalant about its presence, so I guess there are some around here.

We have peacocks in my childhood neighborhood, non-indigenous.  A local farmer used to raise them.  I guess the farm died or he let them go or they escaped.

[clean]

Our university meeting with the president was today.  The important issue for this forum is that in December 16 critters were relocated (to someone else's neighborhood I suppose).

The list included:
8 skunks!
6 coons
2 opossum

One of the biggest (most divisive) issues on my campus is the cat population.  I have stayed out of it, but there is an organized (!) effort to feed them (but only at specific locations and for limited times to limit the food available to attract the more unwanted, less controversial critters like the 16 removed).  The cat group also traps some of the cats, have them 'fixed' (though I would suspect that the cats didnt know that they were 'broken'), and then they are returned and released back on campus. 

[apl68]

That's an awful lot of skunks!  They do come in batches sometimes, though.  One of our staff members had repeated skunk invasions at her house a while back.  The poor lady seemed at her wits' end for a while there.  They think they've finally fixed the problem now.

[clean]

I teach late in the day ( not exactly by choice) and I often leave when it is dark.  I have often seen skunks.  And there have been many that didnt quite make it across the street as well!!  I doubt that 8 is the total skunk population! 

All I can say is that they aint cats and when I see one, I allow them the right of way! 

Given that the president's remarks on the topic included an apology to a faculty member and a remark, "i wish we could have done this sooner" I suspect that someone was on the bad end of one of those skunks! 

I wonder if that may trigger a 'workman's comp' response? 
AS they are carriers of rabies, I wonder if their presence posed a liability issue for the campus? 

Any thoughts? 

[mamselle]

I was once 6 inches away from patting the back of the "nice kitty" that had crossed my path on the quiet, twilit sidewalk in front of a student's home....

Then I saw the white stripe and just as quietly backed away....

M.