Animal Sightings

[jmcquown[_2_]]

When I was here in SC in December I drove to the grocery store to stock up
on things for my folks. As I was driving down Hwy. 21 I spotted what I
thought at first was a medium-size dog trotting along the shoulder. Turned
out to be a small black pig! LOL

A few days after that Mom and I watched as a small herd of deer ran across
the golf course behind their house. Sure, there are deer on the island but
you never see an entire herd of them dashing around in the middle of the
day! There is a community garden plot on the island for people who like to
grow veggies. The herd was headed in that general direction. I had to
laugh as I wondered if word got out someone had planted something tasty!

Yesterday I saw a huge turkey vulture sitting in the middle of the road.
I'm used to seeing snowy egrets and great blue herons walking around from
time to time. This is, after all, an island surrounded by marshes with
yummy things like oysters in them :) When the tide goes out the oyster beds
are quite visible and you can hear them "clicking". This is the first time
I've ever spotted a vulture here, though.

OB Cats: Neighbor Lynn's adorable black boys, Fetters (I misspelled his
name the first time around) and Schwartzy. Fetters is a little skittish but
once he warms up to you he's all head butts and lovin' :) Schwartzy is very
shy; I've only seen him once.

Jill

[jmcquown[_2_]]

"kilikini" > wrote in message
...
> jmcquown wrote:
>> When I was here in SC in December I drove to the grocery store to
>> stock up on things for my folks. As I was driving down Hwy. 21 I
>> spotted what I thought at first was a medium-size dog trotting along
>> the shoulder. Turned out to be a small black pig! LOL
>>
>>
>> Jill
>
> Jill, did I ever tell you about my in-law's neighbor's pig that escapes
> from his yard 2 miles away to trot down to their house? Bill feeds this
> ugly, black, long-haired, tusked, miniature pot-bellied pig CAT FOOD!
> This pig grunts, rubs all over my father-in-law, and wags his tail to get
> cat food! It is the funniest thing you have ever seen! I think the pig
> prefers Bill (my father-in-law) to his owners. My mother-in-law tells me
> stories about this pig all the time, but I didn't believe it until I
> witnessed it for myself. I almost wet my pants laughing, the pig's antics
> were so funny! :~)
>
> kili

That's hiliarious, kili. Maybe if the neighbor fed the pig cat food it
would stay home :)

Jill

[Kreisleriana[_3_]]

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
. ..
> When I was here in SC in December I drove to the grocery store to stock up
> on things for my folks. As I was driving down Hwy. 21 I spotted what I
> thought at first was a medium-size dog trotting along the shoulder.
> Turned out to be a small black pig! LOL
>
> A few days after that Mom and I watched as a small herd of deer ran across
> the golf course behind their house. Sure, there are deer on the island
> but you never see an entire herd of them dashing around in the middle of
> the day! There is a community garden plot on the island for people who
> like to grow veggies. The herd was headed in that general direction. I
> had to laugh as I wondered if word got out someone had planted something
> tasty!
>
> Yesterday I saw a huge turkey vulture sitting in the middle of the road.
> I'm used to seeing snowy egrets and great blue herons walking around from
> time to time. This is, after all, an island surrounded by marshes with
> yummy things like oysters in them :) When the tide goes out the oyster
> beds are quite visible and you can hear them "clicking". This is the
> first time I've ever spotted a vulture here, though.
>


The turkey vultures are very common where my dad lives in South Florida.
They look pretty majestic, lazily soaring overhead, and pretty silly
close-up. They like to hang out on tall buildings in Miami, and warm up
their wings.

Naturally, there are a lot of those long-legged water birds near Dad, too.
He just told me this morning that he saw a couple of roseate spoonbills last
week. The ibises are really funny. Individually, they look very graceful
and elegant, but they travel in flocks that behave in a very comical manner.
In my dad's development, one will arrive on someone's lawn, then another,
and in about five minutes there is a flock of ten or twenty ibises crammed
onto the lawn, looking for yummy grubs, and talking loudly. ;) They also
walk around the development in flocks, looking like a bunch of tourists. ;)














> OB Cats: Neighbor Lynn's adorable black boys, Fetters (I misspelled his
> name the first time around) and Schwartzy. Fetters is a little skittish
> but once he warms up to you he's all head butts and lovin' :) Schwartzy
> is very shy; I've only seen him once.
>
> Jill

[Will in New Haven]

jmcquown wrote:
> When I was here in SC in December I drove to the grocery store to stock up
> on things for my folks. As I was driving down Hwy. 21 I spotted what I
> thought at first was a medium-size dog trotting along the shoulder. Turned
> out to be a small black pig! LOL
>
> A few days after that Mom and I watched as a small herd of deer ran across
> the golf course behind their house. Sure, there are deer on the island but
> you never see an entire herd of them dashing around in the middle of the
> day! There is a community garden plot on the island for people who like to
> grow veggies. The herd was headed in that general direction. I had to
> laugh as I wondered if word got out someone had planted something tasty!
>
> Yesterday I saw a huge turkey vulture sitting in the middle of the road.
> I'm used to seeing snowy egrets and great blue herons walking around from
> time to time. This is, after all, an island surrounded by marshes with
> yummy things like oysters in them :) When the tide goes out the oyster beds
> are quite visible and you can hear them "clicking". This is the first time
> I've ever spotted a vulture here, though.
>
> OB Cats: Neighbor Lynn's adorable black boys, Fetters (I misspelled his
> name the first time around) and Schwartzy. Fetters is a little skittish but
> once he warms up to you he's all head butts and lovin' :) Schwartzy is very
> shy; I've only seen him once.

I think it's a romantic time on the skunk calendar as they are moving
around more, so you see them and they leave evidence of their presence
even when you don't. Bear and I _saw_ the neighborhood bobcat in
dayling for the first time. We have seen his eyes at night and his
tracks quite often. He was on a huge rock looking down at us and
didn't seem all that frightened, although he went off down the other
side of the rock. Bear knows Bob isn't a kitty as his hair goes all
bristly and he growls. And gets between his Uncl Bill and the bobcat.
The noble Lab.

There are deer in the woods around the complex and we see them but not
as often now as in the fall. I think they know that we are in the city
limits and no one will hunt them. They don't seem terribly afraid of
Bear but they do move off when he barks.

No odd birds right now. The cats watch out the back window and the
usual lot, plus the neighborhood squirell, the only animal Bear HATES,
are at the feeder.

Will in New Haven

--

"I have seen the David, seen the Mona Lisa too
And I have heard Doc Watson play Columbus Stockade Blues"
Guy Clark - "Dublin Blues"
>
> Jill

[[email protected]]

Kreisleriana > wrote:

> The turkey vultures are very common where my dad lives in South Florida.
> They look pretty majestic, lazily soaring overhead, and pretty silly
> close-up. They like to hang out on tall buildings in Miami, and warm up
> their wings.

Well, of course they like tall buildings. They know they look good way
up there. :)

Joyce

[mlbriggs]

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 07:29:44 -0500, jmcquown wrote:

> When I was here in SC in December I drove to the grocery store to stock up
> on things for my folks. As I was driving down Hwy. 21 I spotted what I
> thought at first was a medium-size dog trotting along the shoulder.
> Turned out to be a small black pig! LOL
>
> A few days after that Mom and I watched as a small herd of deer ran across
> the golf course behind their house. Sure, there are deer on the island
> but you never see an entire herd of them dashing around in the middle of
> the day! There is a community garden plot on the island for people who
> like to grow veggies. The herd was headed in that general direction. I
> had to laugh as I wondered if word got out someone had planted something
> tasty!
>
> Yesterday I saw a huge turkey vulture sitting in the middle of the road.
> I'm used to seeing snowy egrets and great blue herons walking around from
> time to time. This is, after all, an island surrounded by marshes with
> yummy things like oysters in them :) When the tide goes out the oyster
> beds are quite visible and you can hear them "clicking". This is the
> first time I've ever spotted a vulture here, though.
>
> OB Cats: Neighbor Lynn's adorable black boys, Fetters (I misspelled his
> name the first time around) and Schwartzy. Fetters is a little skittish
> but once he warms up to you he's all head butts and lovin' :) Schwartzy
> is very shy; I've only seen him once.
>
> Jill


My son phoned last night to tell me the Division of Wildlife Resources was
in their cul-de-sac enforce. A moose was seen wandering between the
houses. This is just a few minutes from the city. The moose and deer are
having a hard time this winter because of deep snow. The DWR has been
putting hay in the foothills. Some winters cougars venture into the city
but haven't heard of any recently. Purrs for the hungry wildlife. MLB

[jofirey]

"mlbriggs" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 07:29:44 -0500, jmcquown wrote:
>
>> When I was here in SC in December I drove to the grocery store to stock
>> up
>> on things for my folks. As I was driving down Hwy. 21 I spotted what I
>> thought at first was a medium-size dog trotting along the shoulder.
>> Turned out to be a small black pig! LOL
>>
>> A few days after that Mom and I watched as a small herd of deer ran
>> across
>> the golf course behind their house. Sure, there are deer on the island
>> but you never see an entire herd of them dashing around in the middle of
>> the day! There is a community garden plot on the island for people who
>> like to grow veggies. The herd was headed in that general direction. I
>> had to laugh as I wondered if word got out someone had planted something
>> tasty!
>>
>> Yesterday I saw a huge turkey vulture sitting in the middle of the road.
>> I'm used to seeing snowy egrets and great blue herons walking around from
>> time to time. This is, after all, an island surrounded by marshes with
>> yummy things like oysters in them :) When the tide goes out the oyster
>> beds are quite visible and you can hear them "clicking". This is the
>> first time I've ever spotted a vulture here, though.
>>
>> OB Cats: Neighbor Lynn's adorable black boys, Fetters (I misspelled his
>> name the first time around) and Schwartzy. Fetters is a little skittish
>> but once he warms up to you he's all head butts and lovin' :) Schwartzy
>> is very shy; I've only seen him once.
>>
>> Jill
>
>
> My son phoned last night to tell me the Division of Wildlife Resources was
> in their cul-de-sac enforce. A moose was seen wandering between the
> houses. This is just a few minutes from the city. The moose and deer are
> having a hard time this winter because of deep snow. The DWR has been
> putting hay in the foothills. Some winters cougars venture into the city
> but haven't heard of any recently. Purrs for the hungry wildlife. MLB
>

I can't help but wonder what DWR will do with the moose if they catch up
with it. We often had them in the yard when we lived in Alaska. They
aren't too bright and don't herd worth a darn. An awful lot of trouble to
tranq and relocate one.

Jo

[Annie W]

On Feb 17, 2:25*pm, mlbriggs > wrote:
>
> My son phoned last night to tell me the Division of Wildlife Resources was
> in their cul-de-sac enforce. *A moose was seen wandering between the
> houses. *...>
> - Show quoted text -


Our daughter said that a yearling moose had jumped the fence and was
hanging out in the pasture with her horses. It took out the top
strands of electric wire, but thank goodness it didn't go right
through the fence.
Annie

[mlbriggs]

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:40:07 -0800, jofirey wrote:

>
> "mlbriggs" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 07:29:44 -0500, jmcquown wrote:
>>
>>> When I was here in SC in December I drove to the grocery store to stock
>>> up
>>> on things for my folks. As I was driving down Hwy. 21 I spotted what I
>>> thought at first was a medium-size dog trotting along the shoulder.
>>> Turned out to be a small black pig! LOL
>>>
>>> A few days after that Mom and I watched as a small herd of deer ran
>>> across
>>> the golf course behind their house. Sure, there are deer on the island
>>> but you never see an entire herd of them dashing around in the middle
>>> of the day! There is a community garden plot on the island for people
>>> who like to grow veggies. The herd was headed in that general
>>> direction. I had to laugh as I wondered if word got out someone had
>>> planted something tasty!
>>>
>>> Yesterday I saw a huge turkey vulture sitting in the middle of the
>>> road. I'm used to seeing snowy egrets and great blue herons walking
>>> around from time to time. This is, after all, an island surrounded by
>>> marshes with yummy things like oysters in them :) When the tide goes
>>> out the oyster beds are quite visible and you can hear them "clicking".
>>> This is the first time I've ever spotted a vulture here, though.
>>>
>>> OB Cats: Neighbor Lynn's adorable black boys, Fetters (I misspelled
>>> his name the first time around) and Schwartzy. Fetters is a little
>>> skittish but once he warms up to you he's all head butts and lovin' :)
>>> Schwartzy is very shy; I've only seen him once.
>>>
>>> Jill
>>
>>
>> My son phoned last night to tell me the Division of Wildlife Resources
>> was in their cul-de-sac enforce. A moose was seen wandering between the
>> houses. This is just a few minutes from the city. The moose and deer
>> are having a hard time this winter because of deep snow. The DWR has
>> been putting hay in the foothills. Some winters cougars venture into
>> the city but haven't heard of any recently. Purrs for the hungry
>> wildlife. MLB
>>
>>
> I can't help but wonder what DWR will do with the moose if they catch up
> with it. We often had them in the yard when we lived in Alaska. They
> aren't too bright and don't herd worth a darn. An awful lot of trouble to
> tranq and relocate one.
>
> Jo


That is what they do -- tranq and relocate. But I wonder how they fare if
there is no food available, The home developments here have really
gone far into the mountains and ruined the animals' natural territory.