Fox n' Crocs

[Dayna]

How did you get so close to that crocodile? Can a human smell the scent of a fox as you said on the website?








*I just thought maybe I should have left this with the name Charlie gave it when he created the thread.

[Des]

Dayna

The crocs are so well fed that they are very docile. As they are considered sacred animals in Gambia, they are never killed. Tourists were taking pictures of themselves touching a croc - very weird.

Foxes have a distinctive scent that on windless days betrays their presence. Once you get to recognise it, you can often track one down in Britain - perhaps you get foxes in the US?

The American Robins that reach Britain do not survive long as they are disorientated and often get killed by cats or other predators, or run out of food. In the fall we get American birds that are supposed to be flying to South America but instead get blown across the Atlantic ending up in Britain. They will then often fly south because the instinct to migrate is so strong - they end up in Africa rather than South America!

I love humming birds and when I went to Texas a few years back everyone had feeders for them. Lovely.

[Dayna]

We do have foxes here. I've seen two so far. One was at the lake. It was a darker brown for some reason & was sniffing around & looking at something in the snow. The other was walkeing along the road one day. It was in town, so I was concerned about it going out on the road. I've heard we have some coyotes too, but I've never seen any. My uncle said he has, by the river.
I bet you have soem interesting experiences with encounters with animals. I wish i could live farther out in the country, where I'd be likely to see things, other than raccoons that were hit on the road.

[Dayna]

We have had some Black bears in our area. It's been in the news when they are seen in town & my brother said one got into his garage once. The Dept. of Wildlife has to come in & move them out in the country somewhere. I think it would be exciting to see one, just passing through.

[Dominic]

Dayna, I was going to answer your previous post by saying that you don't have to live in the country to see foxes. When I first moved to London they were very rare in town - the first time I remember seeing one was about 15 years ago - but now I see them all the time in the built up areas of Finsbury Park and Clapton at night.

But I haven't yet seen a bear roaming the streets of Hackey or Islington.

[Dayna]

I hope they don't mind us talking about this( wildlife) here. I suppose it belongs in the "Everything Else" catagory. Have you heard of this thing in Hinkley, Ohio where every year, people wait for buzzards to come back in the spring"? I've never gone to that before, but maybe I should. It's close to Cleveland.
This whole town in Ohio is centered around these buzzards that return every year at the same time. They have a festival there, & sell Tshirts, hats & various other items. That's what Hinkley makes money from, because of these birds. I would like to go see what it's like some day, & watch for them.

Maybe I could say I like the song called Fox On The Run. I never know who it's by.

[Dominic]

Top 5 Foxes:

Fox on the Run - The Sweet
S-S-S-S-Single Bed - Fox
Johnny the Fox - Thin Lizzy
Underpass - John Foxx (ex-Ultravox)
Mockingbird - Charlie & Inez Foxx

[Des]

Jimi Hendrix: Foxy Lady
Chi-Lites: For Fox Sake we gotta Give more Power to the People

[Dayna]

LOL!
This cracks me up. I guess Charlie must have made this new thread. I was thinking about putting something in here about the night there was a bat in my bedroom, but then I thought, maybe I shouldn't talk about that too much.
One night during the summer, I had my window open but they all have screens on them. I was laying in bed about midnight, & I was still awake & could hear people still outside talking. I kept hearing a strange sound outside my window, that sounded like someone moving around in grass.
I finally got curious enough to get up & look. Here there was a bat hanging from the window screen. I was kind of startled by it, but I just let go of my curtain & backed away, to go call a security guard. But then it flew out & went around in a circle in my room, & then out in the living room. I called & said, "There's a bat in my apartment. Can someone come & get it out for me?"
These two security guards knocked on my door, came into my bedroom, where this bat had flown back to. I asked them if they could get it out without killing it & they managed to catch it in a hat. The next day I told my Mom about the two strange men in my room at midnight, that came in to catch a bat.

[Des]

Any excuse to get a couple of burly men into your apartment!

I love bats. When I was in Texas we went to Concan bat cave where there are about twenty million Mexican Three-tailed Bats - they flew out of the cave at dusk like a vast winding cloud against the sky - they took ages to all fly from the cave and a couple of Red-tailed Hawks flew amongst them trying to catch them.

Last night I stumbled on a couple of badgers just outside Bristol - first I've seen for ages. Not sure if you get badgers in the US - probably Raccoons are the nearest you get to a badger.

[Dayna]

I thought we had badgers. I've watched enough animal shows, but wasn't sure, so i looked it up. I've never seen any. I've seen some O'Possums too.

Last night, my Mom said she saw about 12 deer in the back yard. She took a picture of them, so maybe I could send it to you, if you want to see it, when she gets it online. I'd have to send it to an email address.
A couple years ago, I was walking at the lake, on the little back road that goes through the park. About 8 of them jumped out, one at a time,

[Dayna]

I don't think a bat is very likable in your room. :-)
I went for a walk today, at the lake, out in the "winter wonderland". I wish I had some pictures to show of it & wish I could see what it looks like there. I saw some deer tracks in the snow, going through the woods.
A squirrel was sitting in part of the road there, & there was a pile of leaves where it was sitting. It looked like the nest it had in a tree might have fallen down & it looked kind of confused & kept looking at the leaves like it was trying to figure out something.
I wanted to do something to help it, but wasn't sure what I could do. We got about 12 in. of snow, so it was sitting in that & I kept wondering, what if that did fall out of the tree & it was the only place that poor squirrel had to keep warm?

[Dayna]

I have an online pen pal from Southhampton, & she lives close to the New Forest. I've heard about that place from reading horse books, about the New Forest Ponies. I'd love to see that. Have you ever been there?

[Des]

Dayna - are you kidding? My brother lives in the New Forest, just outside Southampton!!! I know the Forest very well - it is full of rare wildlife including Britain's rarest snake called the Smooth Snake but it is not poisonous.

My brother runs a hedgehog rescue charity (not sure if you have hedgehogs in the US) - people bring sick and injured hedgehogs to him and he looks after them then releases them back in the wild.

It's a small world ain't it?

[Dayna]

This snow is very pretty. We just got about another inch last night to add to the 12 that's already been there. But then I went & looked at that diary this morning, & saw the daffadil. Now I have Spring Fever & I'm wishing all this would just go away. We usually don't have flowers blooming like that outside, but I know they are getting started.
One thing I really enjoy about Spring is, the beautiful sound of spring frogs. I can hear them when I go walking out at the lake & also where I used to work, the building was on some old farm land & there was a pond & some wetland area surrounding it. Everyday when I'd walk out to go home, no matter what kind of day I had, I looked forward to the beautiful music those creatures were making.
It was so enchanting, I just felt like staying out there all night! Now that I don't work there, I will miss that, but I can still go to the lake. My brother offered to put his trailer there for me in the camp ground, so maybe I'll do that. I'd just stay there all night & sit outside or even leave the windows open all night to hear that. There's something very soothing about it. Plus all the other natural things by the lake.