Just Hanging Out

 

Fox Born This Year!

Tonight we saw a slightly mangey fox. It stood on a log in the distance for a while before disappearing. Then it reappeared, running along our walkway, followed by the cutest baby fox! Well, it wasn't really a baby, but it wasn't full grown either, and must have been born this year. It had a distinctive dark spot of fur above its tail. I've never seen a fox with an unusual pattern like that before, so he will be easy to recognize. Then I saw it run under our deck! It came back out, hiding in the ferns, while I ran to get my camera, but I was too late, as it ran off into the park. Unfortunately, I took my camera trap inside since it hadn't taken any pictures lately, but I'll put it back out when I confirm it still works.

Something of the Canine Variety

 
 
When I checked the LCD of my camera outside, I saw what looked like a coyote. I thought, "Nah, how could we have coyotes in this area? It's probably just a dog." But I was excited at the prospect of it being a coyote because it sure did look like one. I thought this is either gonna be really good, or really disappointing, but not terribly disappointing since I've never gotten a picture of a dog before. Turns out, it's a coyote! I showed Camera Trap Codger to confirm the identification. Makes me a little uneasy knowing coyotes are around, since my toddler runs around outside all the time, sometimes getting out of my view before I can catch up to him. In the first shot at 10:39 p.m. on April 28th, you can see the glowing eyes, and only 33 seconds later he is right up close. Occasionally, you do hear stories of a random coyote showing up at a 7-11 in downtown Chicago, but you never expect to see one in suburban Virginia. In all my years of living in Virginia, I don't recall ever seeing one. So this is about as exciting as it gets.

New Camera, New Location

 
 
 
 
My old camera trap stopped working so Camera Trap Codger swapped it for one of his extra camera traps. He managed to get the old one working, and I eventually got the hang of using the new camera trap. I put it in a new location and was pleased to finally get some pictures of this young buck.

Black Snake in the House

I'm a little behind posting. Back in the beginning of March, we found a snake skin in our house, wrapped around some pipes in the basement. It measured over 5 feet long. Our guest bedroom is in the basement, but I figured what our guests don't know won't hurt them. We never did find the snake so we assume it made its way back outside. The other day while I was moving some bricks around outside, I found a small ring necked snake. It kept finding its way under the bricks so I had to gently nudge it with a stick. I've also found several salamanders hiding under logs and bricks recently.