The Wildlife that surrounds us part2
MsRubyRain
She's beautiful Roppo!
Bhavana
Ever since I've read this thread and its predecessor, I've tried to pay more attention to when wildlife presents itself to me. I live in the fairly dense suburbs outside of Philadelphia, so 'chance' encounters are often noteworthy.
On the way to work Monday morning, a fox ran out in front of my car in a fairly populated area about five minutes into my hour-long commute. Later on, as I pulled into a parking spot at work, a large, yellow dragonfly dive-bombed my car.
When I got home Monday night, I pulled one of my symbolism books off the shelf and looked for the meanings associated with these two creatures. The fox, of course, is often a trickster archetype and dragonflies have associations with magic. The more I read, the more I found myself making associations with these two creatures and two aspects of The Magician from the major arcana. It's also interesting to note that the Magician was my tarot significator early on when I was young and arrogant AND that I've just this week been feeling strongly drawn toward the tarot after a few weeks hiatus.
Coincidence? Definitely maybe.
I'm in the same area as you, only across the Delaware and on the other side of all the urban sprawl, way down Rt 70 on the edge of the Pine Barrens...a little more wildlife here, but still way too many people. Foxes are becoming more and more common in suburban areas, though....
The Northwest is so beautiful. Great shots!
Wow, I can see why you were excited to see this - it's gorgeous!
Debra, I am glad to hear that your bird helping days were not just a phase! What will you do when you get to Z? Start over?
I adore those herons! Used to have one that visited the wetlands behind my house...I looked forward to his company every day. Recently I have seen a little Green Heron at a lake nearby.
I got bitten by a snake.
She was on our road and I stopped to pick her up, before she could come to any harm.
She was having "none of it" and bit me, drawing blood. Cat* made a picture and I got her to hold the Critter on her lap - tucked safely into a linen bag - until we got home.
There we released her on a save sunny spot.
Yikes! I am glad you took her to a safe place though. I must be getting kinder in my old age, because I actually caught and released a big spider out of my bathroom the other day. A few years back, it would have been !!SPLAT!!....but the older I get, the more unpleasant it is becoming to kill anything, even something I hate and fear.
Now this is interesting - why a messenger of autumn? The mantises around here (northeast US) are getting ready to die, summer is their time. My mom was gardening this week and came across a few in her Japanese Lily patch, where she also found some of their cocoons...the cocoons usually hatch in the spring. I wonder if the mama's were guarding their eggs? There is NOTHING as cute as a teeny little baby Praying Mantis! This is an awesome photo, by the way!
Bhavana
I found my 8 pound chihuahua standing over what looked like an opossum in VERY bad shape last night - tongue hanging out, limbs all stiff....I couldn't believe my dog would be dumb enough to attack something so big, but I had never seen an opossum play dead before - and he didn't get up and run after i left the area, so I thought maybe he was really hurt. I threw a rug over him and picked him up, figured I'd get him in a box where I could look for any blood or injuries, then keep him overnight and take him to the wildlife center in the morning.
He immediately stood up and started sniffing around the box....so I transferred him to a dog cage, and then went online - turns out they will play dead for hours, even days....
I took him some dry cat food, which is what they eat if they live near my house, and a big hunk of watermelon, and left the cage door open. He stayed in there for hours, wouldn't leave....I fell asleep, then woke up at 3am...went outside to check, and both he and the cat food and the watermelon were gone!
Not once during this whole episode did this animal act aggressive towards me. When I saw the cage was empty, I was very happy he was on his way....I stood there on the back patio for a few minutes, it was so quiet outside, sort of misty and cool, the moon was partly covered by clouds, sort of eerie looking....and coming from somewhere in the woods around the lake near our house, I could hear a hoot owl calling. Nothing more beautiful than that sound in the wee hours of the morning.
Here is a pic of Mr Opossum - I am afraid he is not very photogenic...I still find them so cute, though - and for a critter that can look so menacing, they are actually, gentle, shy, and very non-aggressive.
He immediately stood up and started sniffing around the box....so I transferred him to a dog cage, and then went online - turns out they will play dead for hours, even days....
I took him some dry cat food, which is what they eat if they live near my house, and a big hunk of watermelon, and left the cage door open. He stayed in there for hours, wouldn't leave....I fell asleep, then woke up at 3am...went outside to check, and both he and the cat food and the watermelon were gone!
Not once during this whole episode did this animal act aggressive towards me. When I saw the cage was empty, I was very happy he was on his way....I stood there on the back patio for a few minutes, it was so quiet outside, sort of misty and cool, the moon was partly covered by clouds, sort of eerie looking....and coming from somewhere in the woods around the lake near our house, I could hear a hoot owl calling. Nothing more beautiful than that sound in the wee hours of the morning.
Here is a pic of Mr Opossum - I am afraid he is not very photogenic...I still find them so cute, though - and for a critter that can look so menacing, they are actually, gentle, shy, and very non-aggressive.
Attachments
Milfoil
I'm sure the Opposum is really grateful for the rescue. Wonder what happened to the little guy?
Bhavana
Milfoil, I see them a lot at night, I think he was probably sniffing around on the back patio, looking for the dry cat food we leave out for our strays - and then my little Oobi came around the corner of the house, and there was probably a chase that ended over in the wooded area of the property where the compost pile is - when i came upon them, the possum was backed up to the compost, on his side, tongue lolling out - and Oobi was standing over him. Oobi is pretty fast, maybe he overcame the poor thing and it just decided to stop and play dead. I don't think Oobi touched him - he was probably just thinking WTF - having more fun chasing it than anything else, and when the opossum stopped running and just plopped down, Oobi was trying to figure out what the heck happened, and that is when I showed up.
Poor little guy. I'm just happy no one was hurt, that everything ended ok, and that I finally got to see a opossum playing opossum...
reminded me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuNihdGBu8k
Poor little guy. I'm just happy no one was hurt, that everything ended ok, and that I finally got to see a opossum playing opossum...
reminded me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuNihdGBu8k
The crowned one
Wow! that is cool! Good shot
Debra
What a great story and a great rescue, Bhavana! Thank goodness for the internet, eh? For sage advice in the middle of the night!
Mi-Shell
Here it is -2 Centigrade at 11.00 pm.
The sky is clear, a million stars twinkle and the river valley is awash with Wolf howls.
The adults seem to be on one side, the youngsters on the other and the echo is dancing forth and back.
Too bad, that Cat* is already asleep....
The sky is clear, a million stars twinkle and the river valley is awash with Wolf howls.
The adults seem to be on one side, the youngsters on the other and the echo is dancing forth and back.
Too bad, that Cat* is already asleep....
The crowned one
