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Critter sightings
Mar. 15th, 2012 09:02 pmFun animal sightings in the past couple of weeks:
1. I was taking a break from class, which is in a building with outdoor walkways on all levels, and textured concrete outer walls. There's a sort of alcove between the main building and the elevator/bathroom shaft (can you believe the architect won an award for this place?) and in the morning, it's in shadow. I looked up to the level above and saw a large-ish brown clump on the outer wall. It was maybe the size of my fist, maybe a little smaller, but bigger than I would expect from a wad of leaves and caterpillar silk, or a mud dauber nest, and it's the wrong season, anyway. Finally I realized: it was a BAT. Yay, bat! Possibly disoriented, though, so I hope it found its way home.
2. Out at the farm, walking the dog in the pasture in the evening, we came down to the pond, and across the water up on the far hill was a deer. I slowed down and the dog went into a stalking crouch, and we watched the deer graze for a minute. In the spring you can't tell bucks from does by the antlers, because the antlers have been shed. But based on size this might have been a buck. Finally the dog walked forward a few steps, the deer's head went up and he was on the move... and then we saw the other seven deer. They were just grazing in the pasture at dusk. I've mentioned this before, the deer around the farm are shyer than suburban deer, and we've only seen them in the past few years. I'd never seen this many at once!
3. Short story, but the best sighting of all. Today while driving in a woody area of the city, I spotted a melanistic squirrel! (Link goes to someone else's photo.) My first one ever.
1. I was taking a break from class, which is in a building with outdoor walkways on all levels, and textured concrete outer walls. There's a sort of alcove between the main building and the elevator/bathroom shaft (can you believe the architect won an award for this place?) and in the morning, it's in shadow. I looked up to the level above and saw a large-ish brown clump on the outer wall. It was maybe the size of my fist, maybe a little smaller, but bigger than I would expect from a wad of leaves and caterpillar silk, or a mud dauber nest, and it's the wrong season, anyway. Finally I realized: it was a BAT. Yay, bat! Possibly disoriented, though, so I hope it found its way home.
2. Out at the farm, walking the dog in the pasture in the evening, we came down to the pond, and across the water up on the far hill was a deer. I slowed down and the dog went into a stalking crouch, and we watched the deer graze for a minute. In the spring you can't tell bucks from does by the antlers, because the antlers have been shed. But based on size this might have been a buck. Finally the dog walked forward a few steps, the deer's head went up and he was on the move... and then we saw the other seven deer. They were just grazing in the pasture at dusk. I've mentioned this before, the deer around the farm are shyer than suburban deer, and we've only seen them in the past few years. I'd never seen this many at once!
3. Short story, but the best sighting of all. Today while driving in a woody area of the city, I spotted a melanistic squirrel! (Link goes to someone else's photo.) My first one ever.
