fauna
in the garden
In addition to the many birds that visit our yard for the food, water, and cover, we’ve had a few four-legged visitors.
Last spring, I discovered an Eastern Box Turtle on our neighbor’s patio. After ensuring that he wasn’t her freely-roaming pet, we took him to the park and let him go in the cover by the creek. Less endearing visitors have been a bunch of young rats, which were gallivanting around the backyard one afternoon (and for a couple of afternoons following). Rats are common in this area, but I expect them to have the decency to slink into our yard under the cover of night. We did have one nighttime visitor last year, a slightly aged (gray around the face) raccoon. It, too, seemed singularly unperturbed by our presence.
This spring we’ve had a couple more nighttime visitors: the town’s Gray Fox in our yard, running from the side across the back to the alley, and a possum waltzing along through the front bushes. I’ve learned from a neighbor that those screeching noises we heard just might have been an owl, as there’s a Great Horned Owl resident in the woods along the north edge of town. I’m told it can be heard flying over our neighborhood between 2am and 3am most nights, but I haven’t yet gone out looking for it. To be honest, I’m a little hesitant about meeting the foxes, possums, raccoons, and coyotes that have been sighted around town.
in the house
When we moved to this house, we brought with us a pet hamster. His name was Ernest. He died on September 26th, 2006. He was a good pet, and we miss him.