I caught a hedgehog in my yard. He was pretty calm. I initially thought he must have been someone’s pet, so I took him inside to figure out what to do. After a little Googling, I realized they are common in the wild around here. He was just a normal feral hedgehog. How awesome is that! I gave him some food and sent him back on his way.
I was walking by the overgrown pond behind our subdivision when I saw a groundhog right at the edge of the water. He looked at me for a moment and turned and ran off surprisingly quickly.
The pond also has quite a few red winged blackbirds who get stirred up when I walk past. They’re cool to watch.
We’ve been in the New Forest and on the Solent for a couple of days, so this is “recently” rather than today. Saw lots of Little Egrets including - and this is a first - three perched in a tree. Now, Little Egrets are not uncommon - indeed, I’ve heard them jokingly referred to as the national bird of Cornwall - but they are an interesting story. Twenty odd years ago a few of them at a couple of locations in the south of England was Big News. Now, we see them all the time - there’s global warming for you.
Library picture:
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ETA - that’s come out rather odd - sorry 'bout that - here’s the original link: Little Egret on ash tree, Polegate © nick macneill :: Geograph Britain and Ireland
That is easily 30 times larger than any planarian I have ever seen…
You ain’t lyin’ Kron that fucker was looooo o o oooong.
It reminded me of the Star Destroyer in the opening scene of Star Wars.
I’m pretty sure it is one of these:
https://www.backyardnature.net/n/a/planaria.htm
https://www.americanscientist.org/article/invasion-of-the-flatworms
I’ve seen five more in the same area since then.
Serious about what?
Pretty sure it was intended as “Are you serious? A wild creature eats from your hand? How cool!”
Your chipmunk story! Chippy!
I wasn’t being snarky! I just wasn’t sure which part Dung_Beetle was asking about - the chipmunk eating from my hand or that we’ve had chipmunks for 40 years all named Chippy!
@purplehorseshoe got it. I just can’t believe they actually come to you like that. We don’t have chipmunks in Florida and the ones I’ve seen in the wild are so fast and skittish I couldn’t even take a picture.
One time I was hand-feeding a squirrel at a state park. But I just had a handful of trail mix or something in the palm of my hand. The squirrel got nervous reaching way into my hand and in a panic bit down on the end of a finger. I was taking photos at the time, my only regret was not getting a shot of it momentarily dangling from my hand as I lifted it.
In the parking lot of the office building where I work, there were two sandhill cranes taking a stroll this afternoon. I’ve seen this pair before, but never so close…I walked within twenty feet of them as I came back from my car.
I’ve known 3 people who had squirrels outside that would eat from their hands. All three eventually stopped hand feeding after getting bitten.
I was just driving in to our cabin and an osprey flew overhead carrying a fish in its talons.
Two adult coots and two cootlings swimming around/waddling around the pond at the tiny park by my house.
It only took one evening to get him to come into my hand. He has mistaken my fingertip for a peanut a couple of times but he has never bitten hard. Sometimes when my husband is in the garage, Chippy will run up to him and sit like a dog begging!
I saw a pair of sandhill cranes strutting around the side of the road when I was driving to my mom’s cabin in northwestern Wisconsin. I did a doubletake! I’d never seen a bird that big in our area. They didn’t even look real.
Saw a blue heron on my walk with the dog this morning
Great Blue Herons stop at our pond and eat some of our fish every so often. When they fly off, they look like prehistoric flying dinosaurs in the air.
My hands are trembling from squick: Mama Banana Spider has spun TWO egg sacs in the corner between the house and the lanai. It was fast. They are each about 1" diameter and look very formidable; Sigourney Weaver and her flame thrower would have little impact. I may have to move.