Last month we blogged about interesting wildlife encounters from 27 years of living in the Finger Lakes. One thing I should mention is, that the animals came to me, or at least we blundered upon each other. My point is that much as I love seeing the wildlife, I try very hard not to bother them. Close encounters are nerve-wracking for them, and potentially dangerous for both of us. Social distancing is the way to go!

*That might have been good advice for a red fox I encountered while hiking the Bristol Hills Trail through Hugh Tor, near Naples. At this point the Trail took advantage of an old farm lane, on which we were walking converging courses. He had his head down, schlepping along, until I was about the make my presence known, when all at once he jerked his head up, gaped in astonishment, and lit out for the high timber. I must have interrupted some deep philosophical contemplation.

*Beavers are making a comeback! Forests are up, trapping is down, and stream qualities have been improving. The first good look I ever got at a beaver was in Boughton Park, near Holcomb. He was standing on his hind feet on a log in water, leaning his chest on a branch, and reaching over the branch to strip twigs from the tree, gnawing at them to his heart’s content… he was busy as a beaver. When we first moved to Bath we could watch them from the road near Risingville, and at a farm pond between Wayne and Hammondsport. Like the Lone Ranger, they move on when their job (damming streams) is done. There’s always another stream, just over the next rise.

*I also met some interesting woodchucks near Bath. Right in the village I frequently saw a ‘chuck that was terrified of cats, even though he probably outweighed them two to one. I knew another one that threw up a little parapet for himself, in a slope near Pleasant Valley on State Route 54, and spent his days enjoying the sun and watching the traffic. When we lived on Mitchellsville Road I used to watch a woodchuck from a second-floor window. He was also across the back yard, putting a good amount of distance between us. But as I watched him, he watched me. Just raising my hand would send him scurrying for the safety of his burrow. They must have excellent eyesight.

*I once caught a glimpse of a fisher on the Finger Lakes Trail, west of Mitchellsville. And one night a bobcat scooted across Cold Brook Road in front of our car. It’s been quite recently that either of these predators have moved into our neighborhood in any numbers. There are even experimental hunting and trapping seasons nowadays.

*I’ve read that many European visitors, spotting squirrels on our lawns, are flabbergasted that “wild animals” come up so close to the houses. The gray squirrel is our most common model, but the gray has a naturally-occurring black variant. I see them near Birdseye Hollow Park, and up at Mossy Bank Park, and lately I see them in greater numbers and wider ranges. A friend tells me that the black version was the more common type hundreds of years ago… grays came to the fore as the forest was cut down. Now that so much more of our land is once again forested, blacks are making a comeback – the better to hide beneath the shade of the forest canopy.