Saturday, May 12, 2007

Any Idea What Type of Animal This Is?

I have a small pond in my backyard where I keep my turtles. It’s not unusual to find animals drinking out of the pond, especially my dogs. We had a rainstorm today and right after the storm I saw this little guy drinking out of the pond. He would hop down off the fence, drink out of the pond, then jump back up and disappear behind the fence.



At first I thought it was a squirrel but it was a little too big to be a squirrel. Plus it was more white and brown and the only squirrels we have around here are gray.



Then I thought maybe it was a fox squirrel. I have seen them down on the coast where my parents live. They are a little larger than regular squirrels and I think they come in white and brown (I’ve only seen the black ones with the white faces).



I tried to get a closer look but it sort of grunted (like piggish sounding?) and jumped away into the tree. It was a nice jump too, about 15 feet from the fence to the tree. Sort of looked like it glided (flying squirrel). Then it jumped to the other tree and it was gone.

3 comments:

Karen Lee said...

Jokester That you are I can't always tell when your pulling a prank.

I did crack out my well-worn and much-loved North American Wildlife and found this guy:

Long-tailed Weasel
Length: head and body, 7.5 - 15 in.
What to look for: long slim body; tail black at tip; feet and legs brown; body brown above, pale below blah blah blah
habitat: open country, forests, many other areas, usually near water (well, duh)( a google search said they tolerate proximity to humans)

..It hunts birds, especially ground nesters, and can cause considerable damage to chicken coops (secure your coop)...changes colors twice a year...molting occurs during a period of about four weeks, and the gradual nature of this process explains the part-white, part-brown individuals that are sometimes encountered (you maybe encountered one)....

Or maybe you're just a goof.

K

Karen Lee said...

Or a flying squirrel. But they are nocturnal. They can leap and glide 20 -30 feet but they are wee little - only about 6". (says N American Wildlife)

Kathleen Rietz said...

This is what happens when you cry WOLF too many times.

Nice yard, BTW.