A couple days ago, "Pooch Pal" caught this 1-minute video of Holly demonstrating how it is to have rear claws that can be used as climbing spikes as she confidently climbed down. She was always hanging on with her forepaws, too, though, in case her climbing spikes slipped. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToYYhu44kXs
 Red fox eating pork with eyes closed |
 Red fox eating pork |
At the WRI, it is nice to start each day seeing Lorie and Judy’s reports of what the video cameras caught overnight of visits by the red foxes, raccoons, and (not recently) the gray fox and Bob Cat. Last night, "Eyes" saw the limpy (not badly, though) red fox briefly but long enough for him to show he was enjoying the pork cubes we put out. In one picture, he has his eyes closed like he is lost in the luxury of boneless, tasty fresh pork. In another picture his mouth is wide open with the pork visible as he vigorously chews it.
Three raccoons took over for most of the night—size big, mid-size, and smallest. The biggest is the one pulling meat and skin off a drumstick. The other is the mid-sized one. We don’t know the relationship among the three—maybe a mother and two half-grown young that are on their own.
 Raccoon biggest |
 Raccoon mid-size |
The American tree sparrow with its rusty crown stripe and dot on the middle of the chest, says sunflower seed hearts are enough to draw him or her back over and over until it is time to continue north.
Maybe Lorie and Judy will catch a bear on the video one of these days. Maybe it will be a bear we know. Crossing our fingers.
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center