Last night I was watching TV at around midnight when I heard a noise outside. I opened the curtain of the patio door just enough to take a peek out, and not two feet away a pair of our fox cubs were brawling. The area is right next to the kitchen and the light there was still on, so I had a fine view of them biting each other about the jaw and wrestling with their front paws. After a little while I guess they realized I was watching, because they broke it up and trotted off.
One of the reasons we have so many foxes is that our neighbor feeds them. She has seven regular customers at the moment, including two cubs. Feeding time is after 10 PM, and quite a few times I’ve seen an adult plus cub mooching around as the hour approaches. The cubs are pretty big now so I guess they’ll be shown the door by mom and pop in the not too distant future.
I was so enthused about reporting the previous night’s foxfight, that I clean forgot that was only one of the fights that I’d seen. We were at the seaside yesterday and saw a fabulous seagull fight. Herring gulls I presume - one had a beak full of something, and the other was chasing it like crazy, veering up and then attempting to crash down on it - to get it to drop the ?food, I guess. We watched for about half a minute until the would-be mugger gave up and the intended victim cruised off, beak still crammed.
I’m a sap when it comes to all wildlife. I will not kill a spider, fly or anything else. If I see a bug in my house, I rescue it and put it outside.
We have these insects called crane flies. They look like a giant mosquito, but are totally harmless. There are a million different varieties. On Sunday morning I saw a crane fly on my kitchen table. So I carefully scooped it up in my hands, keeping them cupped together so he couldn’t escape. I was just about to the door when all of a sudden I felt a sharp, burning pain on my thumb. The little creep bit me! I went to the Googles to see if crane flies bite. Nope they don’t even eat! Of course someone else had already asked the question. It wasn’t a crane fly at all. It was a short-tailed Ichneumon wasp - UGH. I’ve never heard of them. Now I know what they look like and will steer clear. If the need ever arises again, I’ll scoop it up with a paper cup. I still wouldn’t kill it.
There was one time capturing a spider in a cup and taking it outside didn’t work too well: as soon as I dropped it to the ground, another spider jumped out from a hiding place and pounced on it. Man, did I ever feel bad about escorting that little guy to his doom.
Hubs once got stung by a Tarantula Hawk wasp.. It hurt so much he couldn’t even cuss, he just stood there sputtering for a minute or so.
People who are crazy enough to get stung by insects for science have things like this to say "One researcher described the pain as “…immediate, excruciating, unrelenting pain that simply shuts down one’s ability to do anything, except scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations.”
(I had to laugh at seeing wiki mentioning a band name.)
Your reaction is much the same as mine would have been.
We have a Thrasher nest in our climbing roses which is much fun to watch. They live there year round and raise two or three clutches a year. About once a year, a king snake will think that slithering up the roses to raid the nest is a good idea. It really isn’t, today the snake lost almost an inch of its tail before I realized what was happening and rescued it.
There’s been a large doe in the neighborhood, with four beautiful babies. That’s a rarity. Of course, they may not all be hers, but they all seem to be the same age.
I will admit, I do swat at mosquitos on occasion, but not often. Mosquitos don’t like me. Many times I’ve watched a mosquito land on my arm and hop around a bit and then just fly off. I rarely get a mosquito bite. We don’t have fire ants here so they’re not an issue. I think the only other thing I’ve killed would be a tick. Those I will not rescue.
I saw a small turtle booking across the road at top speed. Unfortunately, he stopped when he sensed our car nearby. I jumped out and carried him to safety. He might have been a spotted or a box turtle.
This morning, while taking a drive through farmland, we saw in quick succession:
A ringneck pheasant on the wing
A coyote (he had probably just flushed the pheasant)
Four jackrabbits. I think they were grown siblings - they were kind of goofing off and jumping in the air like mad March hares
While walking the dog early Saturday morning, a barred owl flew right in front of us. It was close enough that I could see its face. I realize you don’t normally hear any type of birds’ wings flapping when they pass you, but there was something about this owl’s flight that was so silent. It was a “soft silence” if that makes any sense. Very cool.
Today it rained for the first time this year. This is really confusing the birds, especially the young ones. I don’t think they really know what to do about this strange development.
He might have been a spotted or a box turtle.