Wildlife in Your Life

I forgot to add to this discussion that we had recently seen both a squirrel and a mouse in our house (not on the same day). The squirrel, we think, got in when we were taking groceries in and had the door propped. A propped door, we believe, was also the entry point for bats, in particular if the door is propped at dusk. This was earlier in the day when we had taken the groceries in (and then we didn't see the squirrel until the following day). Guess we've gotta look both up and down when bringing in food.

As for the mouse, it was a somewhat more intimate encounter as the mouse scuttled between my feet (eek!) and made a beeline (mouseline?) for the dining room.

We saw the squirrel leave but not the mouse. Oy.

Saw this guy while walking home last night (Red-Tailed Hawk):

Saw a rabbit in my back yard Sunday. First time ever. I guess the fact the dog is barred from there gives it a feeling of security.

that's pretty much what he looked like, except he was banded on only one claw, and he was putting the finishing touches on a squirrel.
we were maybe 20 feet away from him before he flapped off with his dinner...

you dont ever wanna let a squirrel in a house. They can do real damage and can even start fires by cheing on the plastic coating on wires (certain wire coatings have a sweet taste apparently).

I wack any squirrel that gets within sight of our place. THey have a 10 acre woodlot thats about 1/4 mile away and thats there for their enjoyment, rent free. I dont want any of them furry tailed rats in my place.

Too many sad tales to relate of kids getting chewed up by a squirrel that was living in an attic space, or a squirrel that had chewed out all the insulation and caused a leak in a house, or the "electrical fire thing.

get a pellet gun, they work best in a house .

Gosh, we have so many squirrels around here, despite a large coyote population - it's a real nuisance!

Fall time brings out your average garden spiders. They're harmless but so
big, you practically can throw a saddle on them. Here is one outside our
patio.

Now that's a spider!

The squirrel is long gone, persuaded out via broom. Perhaps the hawk got 'im. We'll never know.

oh CJ - sorry.... love animals and critters and bugs.... but that would give me the major heebie jeebies. How big was that... thing!!!!!

We saw one of these in a driveway a few doors down from my house the other day --

Ah! A roadrunner! How cool!

I've seen a few since I've been here, Jes - never fails to delight me.

They're good 1,5 to 2 inches long, Izzi. I hat insects with a passion but as long
as they're outside of the house, I am somewhat content.

That's a road runner? I've never seen one "live".

A manatee has been a long way from home for some time. He's in Falmouth and Dennis, MA for the last couple of weeks. I was there in Dennis last weekend, I wish I'd gone to check it out. Here's a link to a photo slide show: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/gallery/10_10_08_manatee/

If you saw this in the shallows, what would you think it was? I don't know that I'd think it was alive unless it was moving.

Yes, CJane - actually it was Dys that saw it - before I did - after he picked me up for a grocery store excursion. He has quicker eyes or more expansive vision, whatever. I think that was my third roadrunner... whereas he's lived in the southwest states for near infinity (snicker).

I'm right by the petroglyphs - so sort of nature adjacent.

Manatees. I have had a friend in my italian classes that was doing a lot of research on manatees, and she got me interested. Well, dang, I wish the manatee well.

Thinking anthropomorphically, wouldn't it be hard to be a lone manatee..

Excellent -- RP had sent me the article on the local manatee -- it (he? she?) was near where we go every Summer. I agree, I think it would be odd to think of it as living if I just saw it looking like that. Wacky.

They have captured it. They'll send it to Seaworld in Florida where it will be rehabilitated and released.

I went to Mt. Auburn Cemetery today. The place was packed and there were some serious camera people there. One of them asked if I'd seen any coyotes. I hadn't. He said there have been many around and people are seeing them all over the place. He showed me where one of last summers litters was raised. So, I kept wandering, hoping to come across a coyote. I drove passed the same guy on the way out and he told me to look for them on a certain road (this being evening, they were on the move). I parked the car and within moments, one coyote crossed the road ahead of me. I drove around to the next road parallel and saw it again. I got two really crappy pictures of it. Here's one....

Amazing -- but it makes sense. You got small rodents and birds, you'll have predators.

I understand the coyote was named Dennis.