Last night, while outside just steps away from my cabin's front door, I saw a sight that many people don't often get the chance to view.
A rabbit came running full speed towards me, which isn't uncommon in the woods. Following it at a full loping run was a large dark brown animal that I hadn't seen before. Now this isn't an everyday thing!
My instinct was to scream and run into the cabin. After my hysteria subsided, my husband and I went on line and decided it was a fisher.
Has anyone else come across something like this?
It was fun to see, but I'm not sure I want to witness it again, especially as close as I was to the action.
Oh yes, I saved that rabbit's life because when I screamed, the rabbit took a quick right and the fisher took a quick left.
we had a scary visit from a badger. My daughter was maybe 4, we just pulled in on a friday after noon, let dogs out of car and started the arrival ritual. unloading cooler, opening windows, etc... While this is going on the dogs started barking, and my daughter, standing in the screened in porch was squawking about a "wild Animal". I went to the porch and there is a badger pinned against the outside of the screen. My two black labs were outside and had it pinned up against the screen and my daughter is on the inside of the screen less than a foot from the scared badger pointing saying, "wild animal".
So i get my daughter away from the badger and call off the dogs, but the badger stayed put. i threw rocks, sprayed it with water, it slowly walked away from porch, but did not run off as i had expected.
so i called a local who will remain nameless, me from minnesota, he from wisconsin. I tell him the story and he says "don't you have a gopher to beat the badger" ha ha. The rest of the story I have been sworn not to tell, but the badger is gone.
Now, that's what I call wildlife sighting! You'd think with a name like "Fisher" that it would be hunting fish rather than rabbits. I still think that its name is a misnomer. Fishers do no eat fish and I believe the name is derived from the European pole cat known as "fitch". At any rate, aside from my comments about the name, it's so neat that you were able to catch a glimpse of this mammal.
Sometimes I feel like I'm in the "Wild Kingdom" . Last night I saw a fox skirting the mowed edge of the yard. He looked kind of scruffy. He must be competing with the fisher for food!
I'll bet that badger did scare you a bit. We had a badger charge our patio doors. I guess he couldn't reach the door bell. Needless to say, we didn't let him in.
I've seen eagle, red squirrels, mice and, of course, deer too. A bear knocked over our grill one night. I didn't see or hear it but the grill is heavy and had large paw prints all over it.
What else have you observed in your area?
We've seen fishers crossing the road but never up close and personal. We have deer, moose, black bear, an occasional eagle sighting over the Connecticut River. We have those pesky little red squirrels and chipmunks. We have coyote (we can hear them howling at night in the field next to our cabin). We've seen pileated woodpeckers and ermines (small weasels that in the winter turn white with a little black at the end of their tails). When we go snomobiling in the winter and stop at the warming hut, everyone feeds the gray jays french fries right out of their hands. They just fly down and perch on your hand.
We have coyotes too. We've seen the pups in the field near our house. I haven't seen a wolf, but I imagine they are nearby too. I haven't seen a moose yet, can't wait. I'll bet that's a sight to see.
I should start a cabin log to jot down what, where and when I see more of the animal kingdom.
Let me know if any new visitors show up at your place.
fish bones on the diving dock mystery solved. kids have been finding fish bones etc. on the diving dock all summer long. thought maybe birds of prey, or ??? Saturday morning I figured it out. Otters, three otters swimming around the dock in early morning grab there meal climb the ladder onto the platform and eat. Got some good video