Bats in the attic, snake in the grass and a fox on the run!

As mentioned in an earlier posting watching the wildlife out the back is quite amusing. The Blue Jays and Cardinals (2 opposing sport teams) but rather pretty birds regularly feed out back and the squirrels continue to chase each others tails round and round the large trees. Every now and again the squirrel game turns nasty and one will fall, often from a great height to thud down on the neighbours lawn. But the last week has seen even a better turn of animalania. The other night Steph came down stairs to say there was a bird flying around upstairs. On closer inspection it was a bat which promptly encouraged Heather, her Mum, and Steph to migrate rapidly down stairs! Once it had landed on the ceiling it then became Ian's job to get it outside. Now over here they drink a beer called LaBatt, so what else to use but a beer carton and a chilly bin lid to entice the little critter back outside. Walk in the park until the minute he flew out of the box he headed straight back up towards the open bedroom window!!! Luckily the girls got it closed in time.

Whilst travelling the Bruce Peninsula we decided we would go and walk another part of this popular walking trail in order to see more fancy rock formations. Upon turning in to a remote car park which forms part of this trail we wondered what was the hissing noise the car was making. Imagine to our surprise that lying at the side of the park obviously annoyed at our intrusion was a Rattlesnake! Now I know snakes can't jump (especially white one's!) but you should have seen the speed at which the windows were wound up! As we reversed back a bit to get a better view through the still tightly closed windows the rattler (snake not car) nonchalantly slithered off into the dense undergrowth. This was the same undergrowth we were then expected to get out and walk in! Yeah right!

Identifying road kill has become part of the game of travelling and its surprising there are any skunks or raccoons left when one sees the number of them splattered on the highways. The raccoons in particular with their little Beagle Boy mask eyes looking at you look the saddest at being flattened - the skunks just shit themselves! So after seeing all this carnage it is quite refreshing when you see other animal things, like a large turtle crossing the road, deer grazing on the roads edge, several groundhogs, a chipmunk in a park who thought Steph was wonderful and the latest sighting, a fox in a park near Niagara!

31 Jul 2008