Evening Visitor
Location(s)
Last night, about 9, I finally pulled myself away from my computer and started making the evening rounds through the house -- close a window here, open a window there, pull this drape, etc. etc. The light was almost gone, but as I took a last look across the yard before pulling the living room curtain, I noticed some movement. It was low to the ground, so I immediately ruled out one of the neighbor's Brittany spaniels, but the cat was still a suspect. But the movement wasn't right for a cat, either. I peered into the growing darkness, but could only make out the moving shape, none of its details. I flipped on the porch light, but the critter was just beyond the range of the light. I grabbed the binoculars from their regular spot on the window sill, hoping that there just might be enough light . . . and there it was! It was a red fox. (Sorry, it was too late for photos.) It continued snooping along the yard, oblivious to my attempts to see it. I watched for about 10 minutes, until it stepped into the woods above my neighbors house.
That was the first fox I'd seen in my 11 years in this house on my side of Short Mountain. What a treat!
Comments
Update
Early yesterday morning I saw a red fox lying dead on the shoulder of Route 22, within a mile of my house. Bummer.
Earlier, at 3:30 a.m., I was awakened by the sound of gnawing. It seems a porcupine was loudly eating my neighbor's house. She turned on all the porchlights and eventually drove it off, but it sure wasn't in any hurry.
As I left my house that morning, I was startled by a large (aren't they all?) black snake emerging from the gap between the downspout and the house wall, right next to the back door. Sheesh. This morning, he was there again. This afternoon, there's a big rock over the gap.
I don't care for snakes, especially that big and that close to my space. But, as I watched this snake turn its 5-foot long body around and start back down the hole, I was struck by the trust it showed. With it's head a few feet down the hole and still a couple of feet of body hanging out there, I could easily (well, I use the term figuratively) have taken my shovel and whacked off a couple of feet of snake. But I didn't. As long as he stays off the porch, he's free to eat all the little critters he can find under it. They are amazing animals. For example, scientists have been studying black snakes to see why they don't pass out when they climb straight up. They're thinking if they can understand how a snake's heart keeps pumping blood all around, defying gravity, they might have a clue about how to fix humans with high blood pressure. Now isn't that special.
that is amazing
To think that the problem for solving high blood pressure could come from a snake. Wow that is cool.
Clay hardens by immobility – men's minds by standing pat. Both lose the power to take new impressions. (Pinchot 1910: 138)
cool
i think that is cool to see a fox. a coyote would make me nervous. i saw 2 coyotes once...at Hinish Orchards picking apples...Eve (at the time 3 years old) asked me why those dogs were sleeping in that truck....had to literally CUT OFF the gentleman(redneck) who proudly wanted to tell the THREE YEAR OLD he had shot the coyotes near there.
living 'in the city' we're just lucky to have our bunnies and squirrels....with the demise of a tom cat we've got a jillion this year. but we've had TWO encounters this year already that are amazing....2 deer walked thru our yard one misty morning last week, and a turkey was hanging out at my mom's house. She got pictures of the turkey, it was really something!
Saw one
....the other day. We were out riding on our supercharged golf cart. We were going around the back woods and low and behold on the trail in front of us was a fox. The dogs caught the sent and it was like a Redneck Fox Hunt. We in the golf cart giving chase to the fox with our dogs in front. The dogs lost the trail pretty quickly but it was neat to see the fox.
The worst is walking on a road at night with a flash light when a Coyote crosses the road in front of you. The light from my flashlight caught his eyes. I do believe I had some goose bumps on that encounter.
Clay hardens by immobility – men's minds by standing pat. Both lose the power to take new impressions. (Pinchot 1910: 138)
What an image
I love the "Redneck Fox Hunt," but I think to be truly redneck, you'd need some sort of 4WD decked out in camo colors.
Haven't seen, or heard, any coyotes here yet, but if there in Sinking Valley, that's just over Brush Mountain from here, so they gotta be close.