Boy, you were fast with the comment! LOL

A second skunk in my surfeit can be found at http://www.sofurry.com/view/405524. I have at least six skunks stopping by for dinner nightly. They are generally quite mellow, except when the neighbor's dog that likes to get loose decides to hold a loud argument with one. It was fun watching him carry the dog back tot he house at arms-length. it was also AFTER the stores closed, so he had to deal with a very smelly dog all night! :-D

He has a pretty good pelt. His fur is just thrown up in all directions.

This guy is also almost totally white from above. I hope that the owls do not see him. He really stands out at night, and there is a nearby street light to help illuminate him. :(

I guess the shagginess just makes it look a little thin on the tail to me then. But I still do like skunks and the way they look, even if a lot of other people don't. They're really not that bad of animals.

Are owls and other flying predators prevalent where you're at for things to look somewhat grim for this one?

Not a problem. I just wanted to correct the misperception. He seems to be in good health.

Among my other backyard visitors on a reasonably reglar basis are red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures/buzzards. Hinkley, OH is just down the road from me a few miles. I do not know how many owls are out at night to be honest, but I do know that they are one of the major predators of skunks becasue they have a poor sense of smell and skunks stand out nicely at night with their white stripes.

Buzzard links:
http://www.clemetparks.com/events/buzzards.asp
http://hinckleytwp.org/content/buzzard-day-history

(Radio station WMMS used to be The Buzzard, but that was back when they played real rock and roll and were a station worth listening to.)

It's a shame that WMMS went through the changes it did. Back when he was still on the air, and there no less, Maxwell used to talk about some of the company stuff from time to time I remember. I miss both him and good radio around here. All I'm really left with is WKHR, the big band station, WCLV, the classical station, and WCPN, the NPR station.

Other than that problematic raccoon, the only animals I ever get much chance to see up in Warrensville are deer and rabbits. But there's no way I'd be able to get anywhere near those soft little bunnies. They bolt the minute I try to open the door.

I arrived in Cleveland in January 1985 at the height of WMMS. They truly were different and exceptionally good. Now, they are a bottom dweller in the ratings for good reason. I /wish/ that they would bring back some of the things that made them magical, but the corporate owners will never allow it.

Currently I listen to a fair number of Akron stations with my favorite being WONE. WBWC out of Baldwin Wallace University, available on the Internet, is another favorite. Third Rock, an Internet radio station, is also a frequent companion.

Our bunny rabbits are urban rabbits. They thump us if we bother them! LOL Seriously, I have had several over the years who are quite happy to ignore me. One doe had a litter in my front yard and raised them there two years ago.

Deer are a problem here. They are eating everything that is still growing because of the drought. I cannot blame them, but I hate to go out in the morning and see my flowers pruned off. I am not sure of the current neighborhood herd size, but we had three does in pretty much constant attendance, and I saw two fawns yesterday.

Work is crazy at times. The deer will come right up to you. I once walked through a herd of thirty deer to get to my car, and none bolted. They know that we are no threat to hem.

Do *NOT* get me started on the Canadian Geese. I am an advocate of serving "free range goose" to the hungry. We could solve hunger for a year in Cleveland that way.

I have had plenty of Mallard ducks drop by for some food and water. They will even spend some time in my little pond.

I have not seen foxes lately, but there have been plenty over the years. Some liked to sit and watch me watching them.

I bring in plenty of songbirds to the feeders. I have sparrows, starlings, Blue jays, cardinals, gold finches, red-winged blackbirds, various blackbirds, crows and ravens. Robins are a regular sight. One time i was photographing an albino one when a pair of red-tailed hawks came hunting. Very exciting to have one dancing on its wings trying to catch a robin on the wing less than 10 feet from me.

i have three squirrels regularly visiting my feeders in the morning. There are several chipmunks in residence, and a woodchuck now lives next door.

Overall, i have a lot of wildlife, and I enjoy it that way, even with some of the problems that they bring.

It sounds like you've got a whole lot more going on than I do, but Hinkley and that area south is a more rural and wooded area. Some animals tend to not live in the city so well.

Other than the couple of local radio stations that I can also hear over the net, SomaFM.com plays a lot of ambient music I like too. WONE isn't a bad station. It's kind of a mix between WMMS and WNCX I think. They're really the only big three rock stations in north east Ohio, and none are willing to do anything outside of the box anymore. Bland and stale is a bad thing; the dinosaurs refuse to take any chances.

Back when I was working in Solon, I had to deal with those -vermin with wings- regularly. They have no fear of humans or cars, are very aggressive, and one time a small flock of them had walked inside the warehouse I was at. Needless to say they left a trail of droppings all over the shipping dock floor. The custodian at the time was quite displeased.

But most of the critters here are otherwise afraid of people, or at least enough to flee whenever I try to do more than watch from the window or door. The little mottled brown rabbits, the occasional doe, and the birds and squirrels.

I've never been fortunate enough to spot any foxes however. In the more than two decades I've lived in this city or times spent hiking and biking around the metroparks and woodland there hasn't been a one I can recall. Not even out at my grandparents in Geauga county. I'd really like to see some, but there's not exactly much I can do about it.

Between SF's summer photo contest and the usual influx of animal and nature pictures I keep seeing, I've been wanting to try and find more time to spend out in the parks and woods again. That, or check out the new aquarium downtown. I really wish the admission wasn't as steep as it was though. Maybe some happy medium will present itself soon, one can hope.

I am actually in Strongsville. We are approaching 100% built rather quickly, much to my displeasure. I liked the green spaces.

WNCX is not bad. Unfortunately, even stations proclaiming "Today's Greatest hits" normally play stuff that is 10-30 years old. Frustrating, to say the least. I know that Rap is the king these days, but a lot of people like me still want to ehar rock and shut off the radio rather than listen to rap.

Personally, I love the Ohio zoos. Akron and Cleavland are not too far from you, and Pittsburgh may be almost as close. All three are well worth the trip, but Akron is torn up right now for constructing the new exhibits, so I would go to the others.


I have not been to the aquarium yet. I do understand that they are a private company and want to make a profit, and I know that maintaining such a large collection is expensive, but the cost does seem higher than it should be. Still, it will be a worthwhile trip one day this fall, I am sure.

I haven't been to the Akron zoo, but the Cleveland zoo isn't too bad for a little half-day visit and walk. Maybe a bit of a weekend trip out to someplace else might be in order one of these days.

I tend to open and close the zoos that I visit, but that is, in part, because I go to photograph the animals. I do love watching them as well.

Just you and Photoshop! ;-)

Good job lol Though scanning through the other comments it doesn't really seem like anyone has noticed.

No... Chance... ! LOL

I am a bit concerned that this one may be an escaped pet. From what I have read, they get out and keep going. I am not, however, going to try to pick him up to see if he is tame! :-D

Are you sure you don't wanna pick him up..? I mean you get to bathe in speghetti sauce.. just throw some pasta in there!! D:

Uhhhhhhh...

HECK, YES!

LOL

If he or one of the others wants to climb up onto my lap, that is fine. Otherwise, I am just watching.

Thanks!

No problem. I hope you continue to enjoy your furry friends. :) I get an occasional coon or two, a possum, and I think there's been a groundhog around before. I usually end up with the various stray cats and have had many make their home here over the years. They come and go, usually, though one day they seem to disappear and are not seen again. Sometimes the coons will get under my house (I don't have a basement) and they get to squabbling about something...at times it seems like they're having a knock-down-drag-out fight going on, which really gets my Malamute upset. I grew up and lived much of my life out in the country, so I've been around a lot of various animals, wild and domestic. I'm one of those people who seem to get along better with wild animals than I do with people sometimes. :P I live in a small town in MO now, but I'm hoping to get to move up to Fairbanks, AK eventually. :)

Most of my surfeit has apparently dispersed for the winter, but I usually still have one come by.