Adventures With Wildlife

[kelliem]

The last couple of weeks we've been seeing our neighborhood fox again. It's been a year or so since she graced our yard and I was worried she'd been hit by a car or something, but she appears to be hale and hearty. She comes and hangs out in our yard when it rains, which leads me to believe her den must be in a low-lying area near the creek which floods easily.

Then today I came home early to help daughter-unit finish up some costumes for Otakon, and then we spent an hour not sewing. She'd mentioned on the phone that the cat was going nuts looking at the fireplace which was rattling a lot-- we figured it was the wind. Wrong. Just after I got home, she yells "Mom, I think there's a dead bird in the fireplace." So I went in asking "Why do you think that?" and she says "Look." So I look and sure enough there is a bird in the fireplace. Only... not dead. Very live bird. (At which point I start hearing Monty Python saying "Not dead yet!")

So we spent an hour trying to figure out how to get a woodpecker out of the fireplace. Finally called a wildlife pest control place who told us that a) woodpeckers are federally protected and b) to open all the doors and then open the fireplace up and stand back with a broom to shoo him toward the door. We tacked a sheet up so he wouldn't go upstairs, and towel across the exit from the kitchen to the dining area so he couldn't go there, and then opened up the door and fireplace and Voila! In about 10 seconds the bird was outside.

Sadly, Riku-kitty is VERY disappointed.

Ah well, excitement is over now. Back to sewing.

Comments

[liaison27.livejournal.com]

Wow, a fox! I am envious. I had a mama groundhog sitting up and looking at me where I stood in my front window the other day. I'm not sure if she has a den in the bushes under the Japanese maple or if she was just enjoying the shade. She was a nice groundhog, sitting on her keister and kind of resembling a brown tree stump, but definitely not the glamour of foxes.

**Sad story warning**
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Today there was a dead bird in my birdbath. I'm not sure what species it was, but I think it was a fledgling that was lurking around the feeder the day before. There didn't seem to be any parents around trying to teach it to feed. Sad.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

Yeah, foxes always make me think of RayK. And the are so pretty. Sort of like what you'd get if you genetically mixed a dog with a cat. Groundhogs are cool though... and useful if you need to know if spring is near. :)

Sad about the bird though. :-(