Two weeks ago in this space I amused myself by making up a new set of awards – the Tories, named in honor of Roger Tory Peterson, the Field Guide man, whom I once had the pleasure of meeting, on the fiftieth anniversary of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.
The premise is simple – an award for my most memorable encounter with any given type of wildlife. It had to be a good encounter (no bear attacks), and it had to be an encounter in which I was not stressing, pursuing, or threatening the wildlife, not that I ever do. Given the focus of this blog, the encounters had to be in the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier, and they had to be true wild encounters – no releases, captive animals, or the like.
In that first blog we awarded Tories for woodchucks, deer, bear, skunk, mink, and short-tailed weasels. So for our second installment we start with one of my all-time favorites, the
BEAVER: and the Tory goes to… a beaver I discovered just after dark at Boughton Park near Bloomfield. It was standing in the branches of a tree that had fallen (or been dropped?) into the pond, hanging on with one foreleg and using the other paw to strip greenery from the shoots, then stuff it into its mouth. Lovely sighting, even if it was increasingly in silhouette as the night darkened.
Honorable mention A family of beavers I used to visit at a farm on Mount Washington Road, near the Bath-Urbana line. I used to stop of an evening and just watch them for a while. Nothing’s more restful than paddling beavers going about their business.
RED FOX: and the Tory goes to… a fox I spotted in a field along a country road between Victor and Bloomfield, hard by an obscure monument to the creation of the Northern Spy. This fox trotted from the woods out into the field this summer afternoon, intent on its own business and minding the same. But there were in that same field a herd of deer, who took exception and disputed the passage. Because of the size differential this fox posed no threat to the deer, but one or more of them kept charging him, heads lowered. They never actually got close enough to butt, but they sure got close enough to threaten. The fox kept trying to circle around, but the deer were having none of it. Finally the fox gave up and stamped off back where it came from, at the least minute throwing its head over its shoulder and making a few parting comments. Since I was watching through binoculars I couldn’t hear what the fox said, but it was probably unprintable anyway.
Honorable mention The inattentive and very startled fox that almost walked into me on the Bristol Hills Trail in High Tor, above Naples.
COYOTE: and the Tory goes to… a coyote that took me completely by surprise. I was a step-on bus guide for a New England group riding from their hotel in Elmira to Sonnenberg Gardens, telling them local stories along the way. We’d been discussing wildlife when someone asked, “do you have any coyotes?” I assured them “yes, but you won’t see any this trip.” So there I was standing and talking, facing backward at the bus passengers as we rolled up Main Street in Canandaigua. I glanced to my left as we passed over the old railroad way and there’s a coyote, at ten o’clock on a sunny morning, just standing there and looking things over like he’s planning to buy the place.
Don’t we live in a delightful region for wildlife? Anyhow – how about you? What are YOUR most memorable wildlife encounters? (Good ones… not counting gorings and such.) Chime in on the comments, or just think about it yourself. Ask the kids for their memories. Make a specific list when you take long trips. Have fun!