Fox and Gator and Squirrel

  Nifty fox in the woods yesterday that held still for me nicely. I think it's sleeping. I actually like this a lot.

The aligator is probably out of its range, but there is a real aligator refuge in Michigan. I guess those abandoned pet have to live somewhere.

And now for a real wildlife sighting. This is from Tuesday. Not one of the albino squirrels from April 5, this one lives about 6 miles farther north. Since albinism is a recessive trait, once it gets established in an area there will be a significant number of white animals that appear in the population. This is true in the Hamlin area of Mason County. I have to say that not only did this one pose very nicely for me, the camera cooperated and focused on the correct thing. It's interesting that these animals seem to do all right. The bright coloring makes them more susceptible to becoming prey for hawks, maybe bobcats, etc. But we always seem to have a few of them around.

In other news: I stayed home and edited all day. Fried brain. Ok, I also ordered new underwear. Isn't that exciting?

See Albino Twins

Alabama Wildlife -1

 
Loretta and I spent the morning doing errands, but then we headed out to try to find a wildlife adventure. We had marginal success, but are going to try again tomorrow. My best picture of the day is a white egret soaring over the Tennessee River.



I can crop that so you'll see the bird better, but I liked the shot with the clouds too.



This is a crummy picture, but there's no (safe) way to get it better. This is white pelicans and cormorants sitting on the rocks in the Tennessee River below the bridge. Had to take it through the railing at 50 mph.



Just a mockingbird, but they are pretty, and I seldom see one in Michigan, although it's not unheard of.



While we're doing common birds, here's a cardinal. But I loved how he looked sitting in the white clover.



Funniest wildlife of the day- a stuffed fox in the lodge at Joe Wheeler State Park. The jaunty look for Christmas, I guess.



Now we've arrived at the location we were trying to find: Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. Sadly, the visitor center is closed on Monday and we didn't know that. But we're planning to go back tomorrow. Nevertheless, it was not a wasted drive. We found a short trail along Flint Creek (which runs into the Tennessee River).



These turtles were pretty far away, so the picture is poor. I'll try harder to get good pictures if I see them tomorrow, because this is a new species for me! These are eastern river cooters, Pseudemys concinna concinna. Since it's new to me, it's obviously my favorite wildlife sighting of the day.



I also saw a red wasp that I couldn't get a picture of.

We had a great time! Got in the car to head home just as a downpour let loose. It didn't last too long, but the timing was good for us. Wonderful, wonderful day!

	See Mockingbird
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Sun Doggies and Other Canines

 
Was getting ready to take a quick walk this afternoon, and... talk about timing! Look what was waiting for me.

Sun dog to the left of the sun. Way over there... 22 degrees away, to be exact.



Sun dog to the right of the sun.



Here's the left one closer. This is what I saw first.



The right one was more of a smudge of color through that hole in the cloud.



On the way around my loop I found another doggie track. The fox? Not sure. The tracks are not outlandishly large for fox, but perhaps a tiny bit. The were very straight, and foxes tend to be a bit more slanted. But I haven't seen any stray dogs around, and the fox could be very sure of himself back there.



Remember the winter I showed you tracks all the time? Must have been a great year with the snow just right for tracks... there hasn't been one like it since then.

In other news: I picked up a free lance job that is very worth the money (which I sure need right now), but they want a nearly impossible turnaround time. At least that means it will be over with soon! I picked up the final cover art for The Secret Cellar, and got it scanned. I met with the guy who is handing off being in charge of the Writers' Rendezvous to me for this year. I delivered books to the bookstore. Then I worked on the Rendezvous, and started working on the final cover for SC. We'll see if any actual writing happens yet today.

	See My First Sun Dog
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Mesabi Hike - Marble to Kewatin

 

Thursday, August 6, 2009, Marie and I continued north on the paved Mesabi Trail through former iron mining lands. This view shows how the trail has more interest and topography than a simple rail-trail. You can also see the greenery beginning to cover the raw landscape.



Two of our most interesting wildlife sightings happened this day. First we saw a mammal completely new to me at that time, Richardson's Groundsquirrel. It's more commonly called a Flickertail because of it's nervous habit of twitching that tail.



Not long after that, a gray fox calmly trotted across the trail ahead of us. Unfortunately, the picture isn't focused well. But I was amazed at how unconcerned the animal was with our presence.



I think Marie loves the turtles best of all. This is a common Midwestern Painted Turtle, but it's not covered with pond muck or duckweed, so it was looking nice. I've recently learned that this sub-species differs from the Eastern Painted Turtle in a couple of ways. Easy field mark is that the scutes (plates) of the shell are alternated across it's back.



And, I found another new flower. The blue one. It's Creeping Bellflower, Campanula rapunculoides, and the yellow is Common Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare. Although the blue and yellow are so pretty, both plants are alien.



For the days we followed the Mesabi Trail we loved marking our progress with the gateways to each town.



Marble to Kewatin, Minnesota. 15.8 miles, 63.6 to date for that trip.

	See Grand Rapids to Marble See Spermophilus richardsonii
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Where the Deer, Fox and Rabbit All Play

 
The temperature warmed into the twenties, the sun was occasionally out, and so were the critters. I didn't see any of them, but just like my snowshoe tracks, it's impossible to miss where they've been.

Today I did my long loop (except for going down to the creek which doesn't work well in winter). And my long loop isn't as long as it used to be, but that's not a quality topic. Maybe another day for that. Maybe not.

Here's where the deer play. All the time.



Do you wonder why? I have the answer to that.



It's the field next to the grain elevator. They dump the tag ends of grain from trucks out in the open area, and year-round, the deer come for a free meal. I think they are getting a fair amount of dirt with their grain right now, but when pickin's are slim, you take what you can get, right?

Next up is the rabbit. You've seen these a lot, but do you remember which direction it's traveling?



Left to right, of course. Big back feet land in front of the small front feet when hopping.

This one's a little trickier. These are from the day it was snowing so hard. The snow was deep and fluffy. Whatever it is, was coming toward me. It looks like there are leaps from one set of tracks to the next, and the pattern is something like a canter.


Before the leaping, the pattern appeared like this.


I'm going with fox. This is the area where he/she usually runs, and the tracks came out of the cover of the trees where it had been walking beneath the low branches. I looked for a more distinct print to be sure, but will have to go with my instinct here.

I've wasted more time this month than seems possible, but I'm still enjoying my game. Getting out is good too!

	See Where the Fox Went, which is in the same approximate location
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Lousy Photo, Lovely Experience

 
One of my very favorite things to see from my office window is when the red fox trots across the back yard. I rarely can get to the deck with the camera fast enough, and doubt that I'll ever get a better picture than at Who is Sylvia?

Nevertheless, this morning I watched a lovely red Vulpes vulpes seem to float against the snow in the flat light of a cloudy morning. She (he?) was beyond the first row of apple trees by the time I made it outside.



About all you can see are the perky ears and the red fur. Maybe a hint of black stockings. This fox is colored much more normally than Sylvia was.



Remembering the encounter made me smile all day long whenever I thought of it. Do you have things that just make you smile all day that way?

	See Gray Fox Seen in Mason County
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Where the Fox Went

 




As Maggie and I were walking today I could see that the fox had been walking in the snowshoe tracks, probably earlier today, since yesterday the wind was wiping out any evidence of passers-by. But at the point you see above, the fox tracks veered off through the unbroken snow. I wondered at the fact that the tracks just seem to end in that clump of shrubbery. I zoomed in.



Wow! There was an opening just where the tracks ended! Had I found a place where the fox hides during the day? Even a den? Something didn't seem right about it. I went closer for a better look.



Here I am on the other side of the bush, looking back. Confusing, isn't it. I stood here for a while. Here's what I decided.



First of all, let's get oriented. You can see my snowshoe tracks in the lower right. The red arrow is pointing to the "hump" that is the top side of the opening where I thought the fox might have entered. Just above the tip of the red arrow is the last fox track that shows in the second picture. Now I looked at the tracks in the yellow circle. That's when I had to completely rethink my idea. The fox was traveling in the direction of the yellow arrow. So... I think it must have made a leap from the circle to the next track, and it just happened to be in front of that little opening. After I thought about it some more, I realized that the snow was not disturbed by the hole. Not at all. Not even a fox could be that "neat."

The unmarked line of tracks near the left side of the picture was more degraded, and might have been made last night.



I followed the newer tracks farther and could see one of the things the fox had been doing. Although I didn't find any blood or bits of skin, I think the fox heard a mouse or vole under the snow and was digging for it. I saw no evidence that it caught it, or that it got away. But you can see there was pouncing and digging going on.

So, since the fox was traveling toward me, I think I should have named this "Where the Fox Came From."

See But is it Sylvia? See Fox Spoor

Who is Sylvia?

 
No, I'm not going to quote a poem by Shakespeare. I'm not referring to a play by Edward Albee. I'm not even going to talk about our friend Chuck's wife.

Do you remember the fox I saw a few weeks ago that trotted across the field? Well, before I left on the last hike, it wandered right across the back yard! I pulled the SD card out of the computer, ran for the camera and the door. Of course that got Maggie barking, and the fox was long gone before I got there.

Two days later... there it was again! Same MO as above, I quick tried to snap a shot through the deck door. You can see how that turned out.



So I figured that was the end of that. But I went out the front door quietly and eased around the corner of the house. Here's what I saw.



Pretty awesome, eh? Of course she immediately realized that I was watching her.



We stood there looking at each other for several minutes. She seemed more cautious than afraid. Finally, almost casually, she turned and left the yard, using one of my trails.



She had to have a name! So I chose Sylvia, "of the woods." And I even know what lured her into the yard. She was nosing around one of the holes to the burrow of those little 13-lined ground squirrels. I think she probably has kits somewhere and was hunting hard to bring home a meal. She didn't catch one right then, but as cute as the little squirrels are, they are making swiss cheese of my lawn, and a few less would not be a problem!

I actually feel honored to have a fox right in my yard, and to have looked her in the face. Hope you enjoy her, too!

See Dandelion Syrup and a Great Surprise for my first encounter with this fox. See Winner for a picture of the 13-lined Ground Squirrel See Peabody's Great, Great, Great for more about the ground squirrel