BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Animal Life One Red Fox was the highlight of my country walk today.

We waited until the morning fog had burned off before heading out into the country and were rewarded with a brisk and beautiful fall day with gentle breezes, a bright sun, blue skies and just a few fluffy fair weather clouds. The path we walked follows the edge of some woods on one side and currently fallow fields on the other. As I have mentioned before, this area always attracts large numbers of turkey vultures. Today I counted 32, and although that may not be my highest total for this location, a number of them were circling close to the ground today where our views of them were great.

I can't remember when I had seen a live red fox in the wild most recently, but I know it's been awhile. We weren't far from the woods' edge when I spotted this beautiful specimen, who promptly darted into the woods when he became aware of us, but not before I got a good view of him. I don't know if my camera or I would have been quick enough to get a decent shot of him, but that was a moot point as I headed out camera-less today.

We must have seen at least 50 Wooly Bear Caterpillars and hundreds of mini-, midi-, and maxi-sized grasshoppers who were hopping all over the place along the path. They seem to be quite abundant this year, I suppose due to favorable weather conditions.

Besides the large number of turkey vultures, the only other noteworthy bird I was aware of was a red-bellied woodpecker in the woodsy section of the path. That's the first red-belly that I have seen in months. There were some mallards swimming through a totally algae-covered pond leaving trails as they moved through it, and about half a dozen turtles were camouflaged in algae-green as they sat on logs near the pond's edge.

I think I'll take my camera the next time we walk there in case the fox happens to show up again. Luckily this trail is only about three miles from my house so we don't have far to go to take advantage of it.

~~Leequi

Leequi, my school is located on a residential street but at the edge of a beautiful wooded ravine. Several years ago, when I had a classroom in the front of the school, I had a second door that led to the front of the school. We had our own garden there and one crisp winter morning, when I had arrived early, around 8 a.m., I happened to be looking out the window on that door when a beautiful red fox sauntered by, maybe a foot from my face! He was trotting leisurely and seemed quite familiar with the route he was taking. He walked by my door (which was on the end, at the corner), cut across the front lawn of the school, across the street and into the backyard of the house directly across from the school! I was so excited I could barely contain myself and there wasn't anyone else around yet to tell!! Heehee! They really are startling beautiful up close, aren't they? :love:

Leequi, It sounds like a great place to walk. It has been a while since I've seen a fox too. They are beautiful. Sometimes you just have to enjoy nature without the lense in front of your face. Good for you.

Rose

Leequi, bet your turtle looked something like this fellow I photographed while visiting Shelley:

I've only seen a fox once in the wild, but I can't seem to find the picture I took of it. It's eyes are showing eye-shine from the headlights of my car. Wish I could find it, I could use another example for the halloween article I just put up on the companion site Bats, cats and more! The Animals of Halloween. Hey, do you have any examples of eye-shine I can use? Anyone else??

Marian

I do, I do!!! Now that I have succeeded in learning how to scan (ahem!), I will find it and send it to you!

(Heehee, I'm so easily amused) :rolling:

Yep, Marian, my turtles looked a lot like the one in your pic. It may be hard to imagine, but mine appeared even greener and more coated than yours. A pond as full of algae as the one I saw, can't be a healthy environment for wildlife, can it?

I don't have any eye shine pics that I can think of...at least not in my easily accessible digital files.

I haven't done much scanning recently, but if I find any eye-shine shots from the past, I'll let you know. (BTW, congrats to you Shelley :love: for mastering the art. If you need more practice with e-mailing scans, I'm willing to participate. Let me know.)

~~Leequi

Speaking of bats, cats, and foxes....I forgot to post this exciting event. the other day when I had the dogs up on the hill, Dexter spooked a red fox and gave it a good chase. He returned quickly empty "handed" (mouthed)I'm glad to say. He usually stirs up deer, but this time had a surprise visitor. Wonder if that's the one that's been eating my ducks? How did I forget to tell you guys that?

Halloween is kind of a touchy subject at our school as many parents object to the evil conotations of the holiday. We don't even have a halloween party (or Christmas party) we have a harvest celebration (and Winterfest). So the teachers kind of have to creatively let the kids still enjoy the fun of it. We made cats for our bulletin board with fake fur tails and big whiskers. They're not evil, black cats, just cats, but still sticking with the theme - we called them our scaredy cats. Then yesterday I had a guest speaker come and do a presentation on bats. Monday we are going to make bats to hang from our ceiling. Maybe it's just a coincidence I'm teaching about bats this time of year. It's also going to be a coincidence that we learn about and make spiders next week, too.