Wildlife in Your Life
The strangest thing recently happened. A daughter of the lady I take care of came to visit, and remarked with surprise that there was a white dove by one of the trees in the yard. You never see white doves in this region. Can anyone explain this? I've seen the darker colored ones in groups, which is common.
Oh. The only thing I can figure is it might have been someone's pet in the neighborhood and it made its way over here. (?)
Hmm maybe. Or it could be an albino, I suppose.
So, tonight, Dag and I were pulling into our parking lot when we saw a mass of black and white animal squirming in the bike lane that runs parallel between the parked cars and the driving lane. I jumped out of the car and ran to see what was happening, trying to decipher the chirping I was hearing from the bundle, hoping that it wan't a severly injured cat. It wasn't.
It was a pair of skunks wrestling. Not mating, I think, but wrestling. maybe they were having neighborly disputes, maybe they were litter-mates having fun. But, I had to break them up because I didn't want them to get run over. I ran into the mist of skunkspray and found some twigs to throw at them (my neighbors are anally neat with their yard waste). Finally, they ran off into a back yard and then zipped across the street to another back yard......
Pretty cool, I thought.
Maybe it was a skunk flirtation? With an element of danger tossed in? Wacky.
Saw a pair of wild turkeys yesterday while I was driving home from work. This was the sight on the shoulder of Route 128, near Exit 33B, at about 4:30 PM yesterday:
Is that your picture?
I saw a wild turkey in kendell square a coupe,myears ago. I think I already posted that.
Found it on the 'net. Perhaps I'll take a camera into work soon. We see chipmunks sometimes too. Ha, a turkey in Kendall Square? Musta been lost.
Re: Wildlife in Your Life
PoetSeductress wrote:The strangest thing recently happened. A daughter of the lady I take care of came to visit, and remarked with surprise that there was a white dove by one of the trees in the yard. You never see white doves in this region. Can anyone explain this? I've seen the darker colored ones in groups, which is common.
Oh. The only thing I can figure is it might have been someone's pet in the neighborhood and it made its way over here. (?)
The white bird may have been intentionally released as part of a ceremony, perhaps a wedding ceremony, as a symbol or purity or freedom. Unfortunately, the bird is doomed to an eary death as its whiteness makes it an easy target for predators. Plus, the animal is not suited for life in the wild. Ironically, therefore, the release of white doves at a wedding ceremony bodes an ill-fitted and short life.
I'm going turkey hunting in May.
Gobblegobble.
Into the skunk mist?! Brave woman!
There are zillions of sharp little deer footprints in my front yard that seem perpetually fresh, but I haven't laid eyes on the imps yet (this year). Sunrise, maybe?
The skunks have taken up urban living, and gotten themselves an unappreciative roommate:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/03/09/the_unlucky_phew/
As I was cruising behind a golf course that spreads across the arlington and winchester border, I saw a coyote. I dug for my camera, but I only got shots of it's behind because he was trotting away from me. Here's the best shot (the rest were indeed worse....).
Nice shot littlek. They make themselves pretty invisible.
Next time, you might try the 9mm, instead of the 35.
I pointed out to my neice how hard he was to see when she slipped into the little wooded area, invisible even in winter
Um, no, no coyote hunting for me. Actually, I think they're protected here in MA. Not sure.
Are you sure that's not a cat?
Coyotes better not be protected. That's dumb. They're the most successful non-human carnivore in the western hemisphere, and they'll eat anything they can catch.
<no it's not a cat!>
CJ - There is a hunting season, I just checked. We have lost most of our predators around here, we need them to keep ecosystems healthy - you must relaize that as a hunter. AND, there is no better way to keep geese off a golf course than a coyote.
Hmmm. Maybe we should spend a little time on the links.
http://golf.about.com/cs/golfterms/g/bldef_hook.htm
I did catch a duck once - destroyed my reel before he wrapped himself around a tree with the line. With a little help, he was freed to fish another day.
Oh, that hook. Aren't you supposed to not hook your shots?
