Two Unusual Encounters on Our Walk Today/Wildlife on Our Property

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I’m trying to utilize as many of the local walking and hiking trails as I can before it gets warm and they become infested with people, bugs and bears.

Today we went to Macedonia Brook State Park near Kent, CT.  We’ve been there several times before and always enjoyed it.  It’s like a giant version of our property.  This time of year is the worst for taking nature photos but I’m including them anyway.  They look better if you expand them by double clicking.  The best visual was the clarity of the brook.

As we were completing our walk, my buddy said, “Isn’t it great to have this place all to ourselves?”  A few moments later, we saw someone walking toward us on the road.  As we got closer, the person stopped and stared at us.  As we got closer, we saw it was a women, I guess in her 60’s, and she seemed to be talking to herself.  As we got closer, I could hear her say, “I’m not here I’m not here I’m not here I’m not here I’m not here” nonstop as we walked toward and past her.  She spoke so quickly it reminded me of the fast-talking guy in the early 80’s Fed Ex commercials.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeK5ZjtpO-M

She also reminded me of Kristen Wiig’s “just kidding” character Judy Grimes.    http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/judy-grimes-just-kidding/n12239

It wasn’t until we passed her that it occurred to me to capture the encounter on video, this being the result.  Turn the sound up and you’ll hear her saying “I’m not here” and also counting compulsively.  From what I’ve experienced, a high percentage of older people that live in this area are one or two steps from being this woman.

2016 03 22 Macedonia Park lady

We got into our car and started to leave the park when we saw a cat-sized animal on the road walking in our direction.   It was a raccoon.  As much as I’ve been outside since I moved here three years ago, both on our property (where I’ve spotted a bear, a mink, a bobcat, a beautiful red fox, a ground hog, numerous deer, flocks of turkeys, a massive owl, and several possum) and on my walks/hikes, this is my first raccoon sighting in this area.  It’s lucky we were in the car because raccoons are primarily nocturnal, and a daytime sighting of one, especially a bold one, can mean rabies.  At first it stopped and glared at us, then continued walking past our car.  We left glad there was a car between us and the raccoon.  Here’s a clip of it walking past the car.  2016 03 22 Macedonia Park racoon

Since I mentioned wildlife on our property, I dug up some photos and videos.  I’ve included photos of deer with several other articles so I left them out of this one.

Here’s my cat Nori staring at a baby possum it as it licked ice on the deck.

Here’s our groundhog.  I try to include videos when possible, which are indicated by links like this one:    2015 04 15 ground hog (1)

If my cat had not been fixated on something outside the window, I wouldn’t have known these turkeys were out there.  Look at how shocked Nori looks in the clip.  He had the same reaction when he saw the bobcat.

2015 08 12 Nori Turkeys

Red fox behind our house.

This bobcat walking a few yards from our deck is my most prized sighting on our property.  I’ve never seen one before.  Bobcat sightings are rare for anyone because they’re nocturnal and wary of humans.  I don’t blame them.  Like with raccoons, if you see a bobcat around humans during the day, it may be rabid.

2014 06 16 bobcat

This is the best photo I have of our neighborhood bear, which appears to have a lair behind our property.  I enjoy walking down our driveway to the road in the evenings when the sun is down because there’s so little traffic and it’s very peaceful.  Once winter is over and the bear is no longer hibernating, I’m less inspired to walk down there once it gets dark.   Click on the link to see a video closeup.  It’s blurry but still effective.

2014 07 01 bear (3)

Once after ending one of my walks on our road, my buddy, standing on the front stoop, asked me “What was that animal walking behind you?  It looked like a huge black cat.”  I had no idea what he was talking about.  I now look behind me from time to time as I walk the road.

I hope your spring is off to a good start.  We’ll be enveloped in green before you know it.

DPW

March 22, 2016

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