Posts Tagged ‘nocturnal animals’
Above Freezing
As our planet spins its way away from the winter tilt, the minutes of daylight are getting noticeably longer. The horses show signs of appreciating the freedom from blankets. Despite my love for winter, my advancing age brings a new level of acceptance for above-freezing February days with sunshine and dry pavement.
I’ve been reading reports from friends who had to deal with “snowcrete” to our east after the big winter storm “Fern” two weeks ago. Has me counting our blessings for how easy we have had it in comparison.
This month will mark the two-year anniversary of my crash landing on a walk with Asher when the temperature climbed to record warmth and thawed the first inch of turf, making the ground too slippery for my boots to grip. My shoulder never fully healed from that fall. That was back when we kept him leashed. I couldn’t dig in my heels to slow him down.
Thank goodness we’ve moved on to an e-collar so he can run around untethered. Yesterday afternoon, he spent a large amount of time snuffling around the chunks of the willow tree that still lay where we cut them last summer.
An unidentified critter was under there somewhere, but it wouldn’t come out. The horses used to react with heightened anxiety when Asher was in pursuit of prey, but lately they seem less bothered by it. Maybe that’s because of his low success rate in his predatory endeavors.
Cyndie reported hearing some wildlife screaming during the night between Monday and Tuesday. I recently read that this time of year is mating season for skunks, and they can make quite a racket. The animal shrieking we usually hear sounds a lot like cats fighting, but I think it’s either raccoons fighting or negotiating their consummation.
As long as those nocturnal animals all avoid a run-in with Asher, we’ll all be better off. I’m not confident that he will pay attention to our pushing buttons to activate his collar during any close encounter with a creature he considers potential prey.
Please, please, no skunks during this February thaw.
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Night Walks
Just because the daylight hours are short doesn’t mean Delilah doesn’t still get that obligatory one last out-and-about before bed each evening. This time of year those “potty walks” have an added sense of adventure due to the distinct tunnel vision view we experience as we meander along the trails.
Who knows what could be lurking just out of view in the dark?
At least with the snow, we can see clear evidence if there has been recent traffic either crossing or traveling along our same path. I should probably never doubt that Delilah’s nose wouldn’t sense if another animal was nearby but we’ve seen so many times when she appears to ignore some creatures we encounter in our daytime travels that I’m left to wonder.
One time I turned my spotlight 90° to our left in the woods and illuminated four or five sets of reflecting eyes staring back at me for a brief moment before the herd of deer bolted in exit, stage right. Delilah didn’t even flinch.
All the night-vision animals offer up such noticeable eye reflections that it is those two bright dots that I find myself watching for more than anything else. That’s a tendency I have honed over many miles of commuting our country roads in darkness.
I’ve encountered many more staring animal eyes while driving my car than we’ve ever come upon during our night walks. I figure they have a lot more time to figure out I’m coming toward them when it’s me and Delilah plodding along on foot through the darkness and they don’t choose to hang around for a closer look.
Honestly, that’s okay with me. Even though it’s a thrill to occasionally find an owl perched in our woods, I don’t mind doing our treks without uninvited company providing momentary startles right before bedtime.
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Relative Something 