Tag: suburban wildlife

Is It Safe to Come Out Now?

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Bear runs into Gatlinburg restaurant then meanders along the ...

Are bears being crowded out of their natural habitat and forced to move into our suburbs? The one in the photo looks like he’s about to enter a Christian bookstore. Or is it a tattoo parlor?

I refuse to stay indoors today, despite the fact that we had a bear on our sidewalk yesterday afternoon. Although it has left me wondering what’s in store for us next. A hippo? How about a herd of wildebeests? (“No one would’ve come if I’d yelled ‘Chocolate!'”) Or a leopard.

I was content with our chipmunks.

The Creature Under the Tarp

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

BIKE COVER, CANVAS WITH ROYAL ENFIELD LOGO

I was sitting out in the sun this morning, enjoying my cigar and thinking–it’s what I do, to find ideas to bring my book forward–just sitting in my chair, next to this great big tarp that covers my late neighbor’s adult tricycle… when I heard something moving around under the tarp.

What could it be? A squirrel? Raccoon? Skunk? I sit there because it’s the last place left to find any shade around here. Maybe some animal has the same idea.

But what if it isn’t an animal? What rattles around under a canvas bike cover? What will I see if it decides to come outside? Can’t be a ghost: they avoid the light of day. But one of the houses next door supposedly has a ghost. The woman who used to live there told me it was the ghost of a British soldier wounded in the Battle of Metuchen, in our War for Independence. But no–he never came outdoors.

I could have lifted up the tarp and had a peek. I’m not sure why I didn’t do that. The bees weren’t scared, they were busy with the flowers. I’m not saying I was scared; but the fact is, I didn’t peek.

Maybe next time. We’ll see.

Now We Have a Fox

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Fox attacks – are foxes dangerous, do they attack babies and ...

When I came home from the supermarket this morning and pulled into the parking lot, the first thing I noticed was that the crows and blue jays were making no end of a fuss, up there in the treetops. The next thing I saw was… a fox. That’s what had them so upset.

This was the second time I’d seen the fox in the past few days, and many of my neighbors have seen it, too. Maybe you live in a place where seeing a fox is no big deal; but here in our New Jersey suburb, it is. Our wildlife is mostly squirrels, possums, and birds, with the odd chipmunk thrown in. Never foxes.

However, there he was, crossing the parking lot, large as life. Okay, foxes are pretty good at adapting to human-dominated environments. Even so, I’ve lived here all my life and never seen a fox until now. And there have been deer around, too.

I don’t know why this should be. I’m waiting for more information. But my wife thinks there’s been so much unwelcome building around here, it’s driven the animals out of their hiding places–by removing those places and paving them over. I hope that’s not the reason, but it could be.

I like to think the wildlife is coming back because God has something better in mind for us than anything we’ve thought of by ourselves.

Where Do They Go?

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for images of deer in snow

Hi, Mr. Nature here. I didn’t see the deer today when I went out to look for them. That’s not unusual. Sometimes you see them, sometimes you don’t.

What is unusual is the whole idea of rather large animals so successfully concealing themselves in rather small spaces. This is the suburbs, where I live. The few remaining woodsy patches are very small indeed. So how do they do it? How do deer make themselves, for all practical purposes, invisible?

It’s simple, really. For one thing, deer excel at staying perfectly still. If they’re doing this even in a little bit of underbrush, it makes them very hard to see.

For another, their color blends in with the leaf-litter on the ground. And finally, they are experts at picking out the best hiding-places, and they’ll move around from one to another. Where they hide today is probably not going to be where they hide tomorrow.

And they don’t need much. Just little patches of cover. There might be three deer hanging out in your suburban back yard and you’d never know it.

How God provides for them, under what seem like such adverse conditions, is truly wonderful.

Mr. Nature: Deer in the Suburbs

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

When the rain stopped this morning, I went for a hike up the hill to see the deer.

It always amazes me that these large wild animals can make a living in this thoroughly suburbanized town. Usually, but not always, I see them in a little two or three-acre park atop a steep hill in a posh neighborhood full of big houses that would do very nicely for hotels. Sometimes they come out of the park and hang out on people’s front lawns.

How do they do it? True, when they’re in the little wooded park and they’re not moving, they’re almost impossible to see. But they’re surrounded by a residential neighborhood full of cars, guys on riding mowers, etc. Somehow God provides for them.

You’ll notice, in this video, that someone is tossing little apples to the deer, which is probably why they’re in his back yard. It’s nice, to feed the deer, but it isn’t wise. Get them too used to interacting with people, and it will abate their natural caution which they need to survive.

I love to see the deer that somehow manage to live in the middle of Suburbia. I pray there will always be a place for them, and am surprised that there still is. The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof… (Psalm 24:1)