Flying Squirrel!! Goshawk! Napping Coyotes! (and a PSA at the end)

Okay, I didn't see ours stretched out full like this but I did get quite a few fabulous looks at the one at our bird feeder at 11 p.m. last night.

Scott had taken Penny out and saw our bird feeder swinging on an otherwise very calm night. And in his flashlight beam he saw what he thought was a chipmunk at first, but it had really big eyes, and he couldn't see stripes on it...and would a chipmunk be out at night???

So I grabbed the flashlight and sure enough, the little guy was just leaping in and out of the feeder not six feet from me just a few inches over my head level in the beam of my flashlight.

So dang cute.

I've never seen one before and I love the fact that I can be 50 and have lived here for almost 14 years and STILL be seeing new animals in my yard.

And that's not all...

Just last week I saw my first ever goshawk (like the mature grey one on the right) in my yard and from there I went into the woods where I surprised a coyote who was napping in the middle of the path (in a nice patch of sun so who could blame it for that), saw two bucks, two great horned owls (flying, not just sitting watching me like they did the first time I was in this neck of the woods), and a deer skull.  And all that happened in the space of two hours total.

(And no worries. The coyote was super mellow. It just loped down the path ahead of me for quite a while until it ducked into the woods.)

I love this place. I live in the most forgettable suburb you could imagine, surrounded by big box stores and seemingly endless construction in a neighborhood that looks like the Land of Misfit Homes (with a few foreclosures in the midst) but honestly there is no where else on the planet I would rather be. I watched six male cardinals at my feeder while I was washing dishes on Sunday (could one of them be my recent patient?). Nothing better than that. (Okay, the time I had fifteen males at the feeder at once was pretty cool, now that I think of it.)

Okay, wildlife report over. Gotta get some work done. I'm going to tour a local animal shelter today because I'm volunteering to do some writing for them. Wish me luck. I'm a real softie when it comes to seeing animals in need. I know I can't bring any home with Penny but my heartstrings are going to be plucked mighty hard, I just know it.

Oh!  That reminds me!  Please remember animal shelters when you have towels and bathroom rugs and old blankets that are past their prime. Animal shelters can really use that stuff for the animal cages so please consider donating them. Thanks!

Comments

[Kevin Moriarity]

Are you doing the Anderson gig? If so, say hi to Lisa for me. She's a wonderful person in my writers group. She has a piece in our book Foxtales (shameless plug, I know...).

[Laura]

The internship info I posted earlier is a different thing, but they also just need someone to help write pieces for the newsletter and such and the demands of that are much more doable so I can fit that in without much trouble at all. I'm meeting with Holly but if I see Lisa, I'll be sure to give her your regards.
And plug freely, by all means!!!

[Peter]

A flying squirell, eh? So what's next... a talking moose?!
(Sorry, you need to be of a certain age to get that one.)

[Laura]

Make that TWO flying squirrels! I got within an arms length of one last night who was just sitting in the tray of the birdfeeder happy as a...squirrel in a birdfeeder. Then it scampered up the tree to rub noses with another one.
Funny thing,I found a fedora on the lawn. Initials B.B. inside. Mean anything to you?

[Peter]

Hmmm... not sure. I may have to check with Mr. Peabody on that.