Today's Encounter

It all happened so fast, and, of course, I didn't have the camera with me anyway...this morning I went out to feed the birds, and startled a deer that was right by the greenhouse.  I must've heard a rustling and looked up.  By the time we'd made eye contact and I realized that it was a deer, it was gone.  I didn't even notice if it were a doe or a buck...the only thing that registered was that it was BIG!

I suspect, if it wasn't coming for the sunflower seeds, that it might've been after the apple peelings and cores that I threw onto the vegetable garden bed along with potato peelings and such.  I was fine with that and was looking forward to seeing it again (next time armed with a camera), until I realized that it might get into the habit of coming to the garden come spring and wreak havoc on the vegetables that will be growing by then!

Since I'm posting without a picture anyway, I guess now is as good a time as any to mention the encounter I had the other day--away from home.  I think I spotted two foxes!  We were pulling out of the parking lot of a restaurant after dusk when I saw movement of something near the dumpster.  A moment later I spotted two of them in the headlights of the car escaping into the weedy area.

I have never seen a live fox before (although I've seen one or two as roadkill before).  I've wanted to see them visiting our property--or, perhaps, making a den in the brush pile or something.  Maybe once the habitat starts to grow in  and I've added enough native shrubs, trees, grasses, and wildflowers.  For all I know, they could be visiting our property already...some day I'd like to get a game cam.  Knowing that I've spotted them less than twenty miles from here, I'd expect to have them out here more in the country.  I look forward to posting a photo (or more) of a fox utilizing the habitat I'm trying to provide.