The Animal Kingdom

Some may have met my original pets, Lucy and Ethel, the rescue cats from under the porch. They have been left behind with Andy to keep him company and cover his black shirts in massive amounts of hair. Here in the park, I have acquired a few new pets- some intentionally, some by default...

As with many other heavily used wilderness areas, the animals that live in the park are lacking much of their healthy fear of humans. It is not hard to imagine how this can cause problems. Bear eventually must be killed if they constantly find themselves raiding tents for food- that kind of thing. The majority of the time, though, with responsibility by the humans involved, it can create for a real life peek into the lives of the cool animals living here.

The house alone is practically a petting zoo. First there is the black rat snake "Ranger" that lives around our basement ( I have intentionally avoided sharing this fact with some of you for fear that I wouldn't get a visit- you know who you are!) and the bat that decided to hang himself up in my window. There are always deer hanging out in the yard and baby bunnies laying in the shade of our trees. At night with our lack of media, we watch the rabbits for fun. It goes something like this... one will charge while the other will jump straight up in the air to let the charging rabbit run underneath him. Then they will switch the running and jumping positions and do it again and again. (maybe this is the precursor to the baby bunnies- not sure!) I have seen this go on for at least a half-hour straight. You might not believe me, but it is absolutely hilarious!

In the park, I see a doe with her fawn almost every morning in the same spot and I am excited to report the first bear spotting. I was watching this bear from a distance with binoculars as he climbed to the canopy in about 1.5 seconds. I've always read not to climb trees to escape a black bear but clearly this was the moment that it really sank in!

Then of course, the pets that brought me here- the falcons. Like a lot of teenagers, they don't have much respect for their caregiver, with one especially feisty male charging me every time I reached in the box. But alas, everyday I returned to feed quail and clean bones and poo. Now the little balls of fluff grew up and we are sending them off to college. On Friday we opened the door the hackbox and one by one the birds hopped out and gave flying their first shot. I will not have a chance to see them in flight until tomorrow, when I will spend all day watching them learn to hunt and recording my observations, which I'm definitely looking forward to.

I can't wait to see what creatures I will run into this week. (The next animal sighting to check off on my list will be a bobcat!)
Much love to all to my friends and family- thanks for reading!