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Animals roaming free

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I've just stood within six foot of a wild fox who had been eyeballing us for five minutes and crept up to us undercover. Two medium sized children in tow (me, not her).

Can't help wondering if she was sizing them up for supper. Somewhat worried about the chooks, though their pen is well constructed. Seriously thinking about keeping the cat inside.
 
spikepipsqueak said:
I've just stood within six foot of a wild fox who had been eyeballing us for five minutes and crept up to us undercover. Two medium sized children in tow (me, not her).

Can't help wondering if she was sizing them up for supper. Somewhat worried about the chooks, though their pen is well constructed. Seriously thinking about keeping the cat inside.
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Foxes in Australia? Guess they were imported years ago to deal with the rabbits before myxomatosis? Is rabies a problem in Victoria?

EDIT

Found it in Wikipedia

Red foxes pose a serious conservation problem in Australia. Current estimates indicate that there are more than 6.2 million red fox (Vulpes vulpes)[citation needed] and growing with a range extending throughout most of the continental mainland.[1] The species became established in Australia through successive introductions by settlers in 1830s. Due to its rapid spread and ecological impact it has classified as one of the most damaging invasive species in Australia.
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Amazed I had not heard of this serious plague before now.
 
4321lynx said:
spikepipsqueak said:
I've just stood within six foot of a wild fox who had been eyeballing us for five minutes and crept up to us undercover. Two medium sized children in tow (me, not her).

Can't help wondering if she was sizing them up for supper. Somewhat worried about the chooks, though their pen is well constructed. Seriously thinking about keeping the cat inside.
Click to expand...

Foxes in Australia? Guess they were imported years ago to deal with the rabbits before myxomatosis? Is rabies a problem in Victoria?

EDIT

Found it in Wikipedia

Red foxes pose a serious conservation problem in Australia. Current estimates indicate that there are more than 6.2 million red fox (Vulpes vulpes)[citation needed] and growing with a range extending throughout most of the continental mainland.[1] The species became established in Australia through successive introductions by settlers in 1830s. Due to its rapid spread and ecological impact it has classified as one of the most damaging invasive species in Australia.
Click to expand...

Amazed I had not heard of this serious plague before now.
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They were imported to give the wannabe aristocrats something to hunt. You can't emulate a proper English gentleman in the Victorian era unless you hunt foxes on horseback.

Fucking idiots.

There's no rabies in Australia; We do have some related diseases, such as lyssavirus, but these are mostly spread by bats, rather than terrestrial mammals.
 
bilby said:
They were imported to give the wannabe aristocrats something to hunt. You can't emulate a proper English gentleman in the Victorian era unless you hunt foxes on horseback.

Fucking idiots.
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"The unspeakable in pursuit of thr uneatable" -- Oscar Wilde
 
4321lynx said:
spikepipsqueak said:
I've just stood within six foot of a wild fox who had been eyeballing us for five minutes and crept up to us undercover. Two medium sized children in tow (me, not her).

Can't help wondering if she was sizing them up for supper. Somewhat worried about the chooks, though their pen is well constructed. Seriously thinking about keeping the cat inside.
Click to expand...

Foxes in Australia? Guess they were imported years ago to deal with the rabbits before myxomatosis? Is rabies a problem in Victoria?

EDIT

Found it in Wikipedia

Red foxes pose a serious conservation problem in Australia. Current estimates indicate that there are more than 6.2 million red fox (Vulpes vulpes)[citation needed] and growing with a range extending throughout most of the continental mainland.[1] The species became established in Australia through successive introductions by settlers in 1830s. Due to its rapid spread and ecological impact it has classified as one of the most damaging invasive species in Australia.
Click to expand...

Amazed I had not heard of this serious plague before now.
Click to expand...

Hi :waves: :)

Foxes give me a problem. Every now and then I have an opportunity to run one over. I don't, and I always feel guilty.

If I did, I would feel guilty.

I can't win.
 
spikepipsqueak said:
4321lynx said:
Foxes in Australia? Guess they were imported years ago to deal with the rabbits before myxomatosis? Is rabies a problem in Victoria?

EDIT

Found it in Wikipedia



Amazed I had not heard of this serious plague before now.
Click to expand...

Hi :waves: :)

Foxes give me a problem. Every now and then I have an opportunity to run one over. I don't, and I always feel guilty.

If I did, I would feel guilty.

I can't win.
Click to expand...

Don't feel guilty. I have hit a fox while driving at about 100km/h, and they are large enough to cause quite a deviation in your trajectory - which could be very dangerous. You could easily leave your lane and be forced into oncoming traffic, or hit a roadside obstruction, after running down a fox. They are unlikely to cause significant panel damage, but cleaning the blood and fur off is not a fun exercise either.

I recommend leaving the pest control to the professionals.
 
:) I have come to the same conclusion although there is unlikely to be oncoming traffic.

It is confusing to feel so ambivalent. I like foxes. But I would like them more if they were in Britain.
 
I saw a Bald Eagle today. They leave this area in the fall, heading south for the late season salmon runs and the warmer coastal weather. Seeing one in March is a sign Spring is right around the corner.
 
Lots of bald eagles around here.

Just saw my first robin yesterday.
 
Does anyone else appreciate black vultures as much as I do? They are all over our neighborhood and I get excited whenever I see them. I think that are very cool. I refer to them as the clean up crew when I see a group of them eating a dead deer or other dead animal. They are highly social, monogamous, and they often use the same nesting site for years. What would we do if it were not for vultures? ( the bird kind that is ) I'm happy we have so many in my neighborhood.

http://www.hawkmountain.org/raptorpedia/hawks-at-hawk-mountain/hawk-species-at-hawk-mountain/black-vulture/page.aspx?id=642&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_-WokOWR2gIVFbjACh3q-AapEAAYASAAEgIUfvD_BwE

There are many other bird species in my area, and lots of them enjoy eating at our feeders, but the vultures are one of my favorites.
 
This is a crappy photo taken with my wife's i-phone of a bird we were later able to identify with the help of Google. It's a Prairie Merlin, and it seemed to be dining on a small bird like a sparrow. We identified it by its size, coloring, and in particular its cry. It was in our front yard in the middle of the city.

Merlins.png


We are near a lake and some parks, creeks and streams that are fairly overgrown.

Besides the usual opossums, racoons and armadillos we have also spotted coyotes on several occasions (no photos).
 
Our Vultures are fun to watch as they soar on the updrafts. We have lots of Turkey Vultures, most easily distinguished from black vultures by their red, turkey like, head. Unlike black vultures they rarely need to actually flap their wings to stay airborne and their V-shaped wings as they soar most easily distinguish a soaring turkey vulture from any of the soaring hawks around. Black vultures don't typically get as far north as Massachusetts and so I have never seem one.

By the specs, Turkey Vultures appear to be somewhat larger in length and wingspan than black vultures but not necessarily heavier. Perhaps that accounts for the incredible ability of the turkey vulture to soar so long without flapping.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Turkey_Vulture/id

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black_Vulture/id
 
Tharmas said:
This is a crappy photo taken with my wife's i-phone of a bird we were later able to identify with the help of Google. It's a Prairie Merlin, and it seemed to be dining on a small bird like a sparrow. We identified it by its size, coloring, and in particular its cry. It was in our front yard in the middle of the city.

Merlins.png


We are near a lake and some parks, creeks and streams that are fairly overgrown.

Besides the usual opossums, racoons and armadillos we have also spotted coyotes on several occasions (no photos).
Click to expand...

The merlin's photo was so crappy that it refused to appear in this thread.
 
I think you may have solved a problem. I can't see that Merlin either, and I had begun to suspect that Firefox was the reason I have so much trouble posting photos here lately. Never used to be an issue.
 
This is another attempt to post the Merlin pic.

Merlins.png


The problem may be that the latest version of Firefox won't post a picture from a non secured website.
 
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