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Outdoor Oddities
Jun. 9th, 2009 05:44 pmOddity the First: A mid-sized furry creature ran across the road a ways in front of me going from one patch of underbrush to another. First identification based primarily on body shape: raccoon. However, it was crossing in broad daylight and it seemed to me to be a uniform dark brown without any distinctive markings so secondary ID: an odd breed (or mix of breeds) of cat or dog. Except it mode of locomotion wasn't like anything I had seen from a cat or dog before; it put me more in mind of an otter running (specifically the humping of the back) Possibly a young raccoon with as yet indistinct markings and my mind playing some tricks on me? Any other possibilities?
Edit: It seems I forgot to mention that it had a fairly long somewhat bushy tail and a pointier snout more in keeping with a carnivore/insectivore/omnivore than an herbivore. Hmm, now this could very easily be the what I saw. almost all the pictures I had been finding before had FAR more prominent markings and had much grayer fur. With this picture as a guide, all I'd have to have miss-seen would be the face. (oh, add the way it moved, but then I've never actually watched a raccoon run)
Oddity the Second: My brain insists that I didn't actually see what my eyes insist I saw, namely a butterfly chasing a bird. I saw an orange monarch-like butterfly (I'm fairly sure it wasn't an actual monarch butterfly) fluttering around a field. I then saw a bird launch itself from a tree on a trajectory that seemed to indicate it thought the butterfly would make a nice snack. It then either missed or decided that something that shade of orange might not be that tasty after all and headed back towards the tree it came from. The butterfly, however, now left off it's random wandering and followed the bird straight (well, as straight as a butterfly is capable of flying...) back to the tree. This apparently spooked the bird which suddenly changed directions and headed downwind at high speed with the butterfly still in apparent hot pursuit now seemingly covering distance faster than I've ever seen a butterfly move before. Maybe it got caught up in the birds wake? And having something, anything, following it so closely spooked the bird??? Maybe?
Belated trip lengths: 3.3, 2.7, 6.0, 1.2, and 5.3 plus the 3.3 I actually remembered to record on the first for 21.8 miles in June so far and 113.7 miles total.
Edit: It seems I forgot to mention that it had a fairly long somewhat bushy tail and a pointier snout more in keeping with a carnivore/insectivore/omnivore than an herbivore. Hmm, now this could very easily be the what I saw. almost all the pictures I had been finding before had FAR more prominent markings and had much grayer fur. With this picture as a guide, all I'd have to have miss-seen would be the face. (oh, add the way it moved, but then I've never actually watched a raccoon run)
Oddity the Second: My brain insists that I didn't actually see what my eyes insist I saw, namely a butterfly chasing a bird. I saw an orange monarch-like butterfly (I'm fairly sure it wasn't an actual monarch butterfly) fluttering around a field. I then saw a bird launch itself from a tree on a trajectory that seemed to indicate it thought the butterfly would make a nice snack. It then either missed or decided that something that shade of orange might not be that tasty after all and headed back towards the tree it came from. The butterfly, however, now left off it's random wandering and followed the bird straight (well, as straight as a butterfly is capable of flying...) back to the tree. This apparently spooked the bird which suddenly changed directions and headed downwind at high speed with the butterfly still in apparent hot pursuit now seemingly covering distance faster than I've ever seen a butterfly move before. Maybe it got caught up in the birds wake? And having something, anything, following it so closely spooked the bird??? Maybe?
Belated trip lengths: 3.3, 2.7, 6.0, 1.2, and 5.3 plus the 3.3 I actually remembered to record on the first for 21.8 miles in June so far and 113.7 miles total.
