Saturday, July 1, 2017

One Beaver, Three Eagles and a Skunk

... put in a bit of river time the past few weeks...

... our pal 'Jason' - up from Texas for a few weeks - out on the 'SUP' - river staging a bit high from recent rains...

... we by chance spooked a large 'Beaver' from cover along the river bank - spent about twenty minutes trailing him here, there and about - running us in circles - he under the surface, we on top... no photos unfortunately...

... the following day was out with 'Muscle Girl Sarah' and 'Z-Man'...

... river level really came up overnight - pretty swift and solid murk - unexpected and we didn't tote along any life jackets - zero water visibility - don't want to set bad examples so we recommend 'em as anything disappearing below the surface in these conditions is immediately sacrificed to the river spirits...

... sighted a group of three large 'Bald Eagles' late in the trip nearing 'South Connellsville' - they were pretty animated with a lot of calling - flying low too - near treetop level - was a bit too slow fetching the camera gear before they were gone...

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... been a small 'Striped Skunk' hanging around the homestead since late April - been noticing him on and off in the early morning... not bothering us so we're not bothering him... was somewhat docile and actually came up and sniffed around the shoes one morning - looked me up and down and continued on his way... a little over a week ago spotted him in the early morning - this time he's staggering up the sidewalk and appears a bit unkempt - lookin' like he had a rough night and even stumbled off the curb and into the street - gave him plenty of room to pass this time...

... last Saturday found him late morning in bad shape - struggling in the hot sun (!) to drag himself to his nearby den - was shakin' like a leaf and appeared to have very slight mobility in his rear legs... this ain't good... this guys in the late stages of either rabies or distemper in our opinion...

... decided to put the poor guy quickly out of his misery with a .410 round... contacted the 'PA Game Commission' figuring that they may want to test him for rabies - acted as if they couldn't be bothered and stated that they only test animals after someone's been bitten (?)... OK - sorry to disturb ya' on a Saturday I figured (more to this story but we'll leave it at that)... deposited the critter in the nearby woods... that's him above - skunks usually keep themselves pretty neatly groomed (like a cat) and are always nocturnal (dusk to dawn) - so be wary when ya' see one acting a bit out of character...

... updated 'Ig the Cat's' vaccines the other day just to be safe...

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