OT Night visitor

That's an understatement! LOL

Gem

Watch out for foxes! With the baby bunnies there as temptation, they could show up at any time!

Kather> On the weekend Matthew was out mowing the lawn when he suddenly

The thing, is we live right IN town... and directly across from a school, not on the edge, so you'd think that most wildlife wouldn't be coming this far in. However in light of the fact that we've had a raccoon last year, and now a skunk this year... and I do recall there being a muskrat (or something of that nature) around the edge of the school one year when Matthew was small and going to that school... I guess nothing should be ruled out.

Gem

In article , "MRH" wrote:

Gem, and Katherine. Racoons, skunks and rabbits are all found in cities, even in big cities like Toronto for instance, racoons are prolific, mainly because we are such a great source of food. Foxes may be there as well but not nearly as many as skunks and racoons. The bad thing with rabbits is that people buy them as pets, and when they move, or the kids are fed up with caring for them the let the loose. Crazy but true. To the point that we have a rabbit "Pest" in Victoria, close to two major hospitals. People get all fuzzy about little bunnies and now start feeding them while they sit and have their luch. The rabbit telephone wires are humming what a good place it is to live, because the food is plentyfull, and having large bunny families easier to do. The Victoria rabbits are everywhere. When I took Otto for a test when we just moved here, I saw easely 50 rabbits hopping around. (Eimear that was in the hospital on Helmleken Raod) When the rabbits started to move inside the hospital (they had started to nest in some of the walls), things came to a head. Suggestions, of major clean ups of removal and distroying the rabbits, because of obvious health problems, met with great outcries and protests. We often have things the wrong way around. If a fox comes out on a chilly night and does eat a bunny, it was meant to do so. Also when bunnies are fun to watch so is a beautiful fox. I have only seen one ever in the wild. Lots of rabbits here, the small wild ones and the domesticated let them run loose ones as well. Recently I came around the corner of the house and here was this big white rabbit sitting on his hind haunches, just for the missing watch I could have walked straight into Alice in wonderland.....LOL

Els

So you would be Els in Wonderland then. *grin*

The bunnies in our yard are definitely wild ones. They are brown and at the moment are just barely bigger than a mouse. I'm just glad that they are outside the backyard area so our dogs won't get at them. :o)

Gem

That sounds like me anyway.......LOL

the bunnies do have an healthy appitite as well. Here it are always the deer who get blamed for eating everything bare, often though it are rabbits, that outdo the deer.....

Els

Never! We live in Canada, you know, and the wild creatures think they own it.

Hugs, Katherine

Good grief, Els! I promise you that I will not release Kandace's rabbit into the wild.

Katherine

Don't they? ;o)

Gem

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.....Just meeting big white rabbits, when you come around the corner of the house, with a hose in your hand, while it is dusk.....is a heart racer......LOL

Els

Yes, I can well imagine that it would be. And Cottonball is a bit of a rough rabbit. She growls and attacks - it is quite funny to watch, but there are people who are afraid of her.

Katherine

I though of you last night Els, I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water and saw something move outside my window and though dog in the back yard, wow big dog, WOW DEER, we had 6 deers walking around the yard eating away, I started going from window to window as they moved around the house then went back off in the wood, I've seen them from time to time usually 2 to 4 of them, last night was the first time for 6 at once, Take care Marsha

Wow Marsha, that are a lot of deer, I do hope that you have lots of plants in your garden that are deer prove, or that they were all eating grass....LOL saves mowing.... I do love watching wild life, having lived most of my life in big cities. Yesterday I think I saw a turkey vulture, at least while flying high over head, I though I saw a bright red waddle. Am I correct to assume that that was a turkey vulture. I also scared a flock of California quaill of our deck, I think it scared me even more....the whoosh of wings and the cackle of "Chicago, Chicago......" They are always fun to watch as well. I guess we are lucky the be able to see it all up close.

Thanks for sharing

Els

X-No-Archive: yes "Els van Dam" wrote

Els, if it was about the size of an eagle but flew with a distinct *wobble*, it was likely a turkey vulture. I've been watching an osprey fishing over the lake every day for the past week. There's a place, in Cowichan Bay, where there's a nesting pair. I think this might be Dad fishing for his lady.

Eimear

Just from the point of view of Florida, where vultures of all sorts reside, vultures have fringe on their wings. Eagles do not. It looks just like the fringe on a scarf or afghan.

Susan

OK I am now looking for a wobble and fringes. Must be a knitting bird....LOL, If the bird would just hang still in the air for a while. Eagles are easy, because their wings are straight out from their bodies, and the older ones have a white head

Els

Els, we have turkey vultures in our surrounding area too. The first time we ever noticed them was about 1990 when my parents saw them in the same area a few weeks in a row. My Dad pointed them out to me one day when my Mom was in the hospital with her first stroke in 1992 because I had never seen them up to that point. Now, every so often when we're heading into the city (in the *other* direction of where they used to be) we see them on the side of the road and in the ditches. They are strange looking things for sure!

Gem

I am starting to believe indeed that they are very strange birds....wobble and frinch and stange looking things...LOL Sounds like a "Cat in the hat creature"

Els