Saturday, August 2, 2008

Wildlife

In central New York we have houses surrounded by trees, trees, and more trees. We have tidy lawns that end in tall flowers, vines and assorted other ground covers that probably include poison ivy, sumac, whatever. So, it's little surprise when nature finds its way inside. Yesterday it was a little nature in my window fan -- a bat, dead thank goodness. A bat, not cut by a fan blade, but stiff and intact with its mouth open as if it gave out some horrifying scream right before it expired. How'd I get it out? I took the back off the fan and dumped the bat in the backyard, nowhere near where the last bat went, the one that was right by Missy's food dish. that was two years ago. I guess I can handle one bat every two years.

The thing is, nature has a way of letting us know we can't just expect to take over and not have some feedback from those critters whose places we've taken. In NJ it's opossums. They get hit by cars, of course, but they still keep coming back, and bears now, and raccoons, skunks and deer. In central NY it's turkeys, deer, skunks, foxes, raccoons, bats (obviously): have I left anything off the list?

So what you got where you live? Any bears looking in the window? Any deer eating your tomatoes? Any bats in your belfry?

4 comments:

c said...

Woodchucks. Don't forget the woodchucks.

Teresa said...

I always call woodchucks groundhogs... then my husband roles his native-central-new-york eyes at me to remind me that they are woodchucks.

It's funny that you mention letting nature in, because yesterday we had a the tiniest grasshopper bouncing around the living room. You'd think by the way I was screeching that it was a bat, too.

I don't do well with "nature" in the house.

Jessica said...

You know when I used to live in NY, we had a black bear sighting. It was going through a dumpster where I work, and probably eating all of the horrible food we used to attempt to serve.

Here in NJ, I think the only wild-life we have here are lightning bugs, and the occasional hummingbird. I guess that is a good things since I am used to rodents and hornets in NY, but all I have here in the peaceful quiet of nothing. Thankfully it gives something for the kids to do at night!

Nick Gasparovich said...

Wild Turkeys. Since I've been here, I've had 3 separate incidents where they fly out of the woods into the road (at a perfect kill-you windshield height) while I'm doing 55mph.