In A Nutshell
So a conversation with a friend is having me try and remember all the wildlife encounters I've had...
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I think my earliest memory of one was, of all things, a porcupine. And I knew enough not to touch it. 
I just followed it around going 8o watching it do its thing.
I just followed it around going 8o watching it do its thing.
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They're such weird-looking things, it's bizarre actually SEEING one
They're such weird-looking things, it's bizarre actually SEEING one
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Then there was the American Bobcat. 
Which my parents cautioned me not to pet. And, against all odds, I listened.
Which my parents cautioned me not to pet. And, against all odds, I listened.
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The third one is more of an odd story. It was a deer I knew as a faun, since my neighbor had apparently nursed her back to health after finding her sick in the woods. (Or with her mother shot? I forget.)
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I used to see her at my neighbor's farm, hanging out with the goats. A year or two later she just wandered over to my family's place, and was so human-accustomed she approached us for pets long after she lost her spots.
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Rumor has it she was eventually struck by a car. 
RIP Raisin. You were too pure for this world; a deer who WASN'T an obnoxious pest.
RIP Raisin. You were too pure for this world; a deer who WASN'T an obnoxious pest.
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Not her, but... I mean, you all know what a deer looks like anyway.
Not her, but... I mean, you all know what a deer looks like anyway.
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After that was... 
A mink.
A mink.
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Only ever saw glimpses of it; couldn't exactly get close to it and probably for the best.
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It lived in a gulley near a stone wall. ...Seriously, grow up in rural New England and you see all the best wildlife, apparently
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Like, say, having a Black Bear and its cub pass right by your house. 
aaand it's probably for the best that that, too, was, uh... very much a see-from-afar sort of affair.
aaand it's probably for the best that that, too, was, uh... very much a see-from-afar sort of affair.
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Foxes, meanwhile, have never even seemed to notice me. I've had them walk right past me while I've been outside. Once flat-out crossed paths with one while taking out the trash at my first college.
Foxes, meanwhile, have never even seemed to notice me. I've had them walk right past me while I've been outside. Once flat-out crossed paths with one while taking out the trash at my first college.
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Turkeys, on the other hand... I almost had a Disney princess moment there.
Turkeys, on the other hand... I almost had a Disney princess moment there.
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Turkey poults are goofy-looking, adorable little things.
Turkey poults are goofy-looking, adorable little things.
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And even long after I moved to a more suburban area (Concord, MA)... I mean, you live in New England you're going to see turkeys.
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But I was out in the backyard, gathering some clover for tea, and two poults start slowly approaching me, looking at me with curiosity.
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I try and play it cool, I keep gathering flowers (I nibble on one in front of them to try and say 'it's okay I eat these which means I probably won't eat you') and they alternately draw near, then back off, then draw near...
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...and right as they're about to come close to me and the Disney musical number's about to start, momma turkey hen pokes her head up from the tall grass and gives the sort of call I can only describe as the loud, warbling turkey equivalent of "DON'T TOUCH THAT YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE IT'S BEEN" and they hurriedly scoot back to her as she walks off.
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phooey.
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Of course I've seen my share of raccoons- actually saw one run away from the dumpster as I was carrying trash out to it one night, while I was living in Amherst
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you all know these losers
you all know these losers
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And more recently, as I think you all know, I finally saw a coyote for the first time. 
It was actually kind of a humbling experience, bringing my car to a hard stop to try and let it cross, and watching it regard us with its head bowed, its tail between its legs, and a look on its face that said "please don't hurt me"
It was actually kind of a humbling experience, bringing my car to a hard stop to try and let it cross, and watching it regard us with its head bowed, its tail between its legs, and a look on its face that said "please don't hurt me"
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And given how you usually see photos of them with a certain regal majesty... man, I don't know. It was actually kind of eye-opening and heart-wrenching to see something typically viewed as a noble predator look fearful and cowed, and shed a lot of perspective on just how rough they have it, like any other earth-born
And given how you usually see photos of them with a certain regal majesty... man, I don't know. It was actually kind of eye-opening and heart-wrenching to see something typically viewed as a noble predator look fearful and cowed, and shed a lot of perspective on just how rough they have it, like any other earth-born
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and fellow mortal out there.
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...I'd say the look in its eyes haunted me but the next time we drove past we saw it turn around and look at the car with a "borf?" German Shepherd head tilt so
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that took the sting out
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Ah, yes, I'm forgetting my favorite one. 
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So... at one point my parents apparently scored some sort of travel deal on Martha's Vineyard vis-a-vis a friend that needed extra people in on the package or something?
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We went to this one area... I wish I could recall the name, but there was an ice cream shop set against some big, clay beachside cliffs.
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And skunks. were. everywhere.
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like-- at least a dozen. bipping and bopping and chuffling and snuffling around the place for food scraps.
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usually even casually walking under the table where we were eating, much to our "o-o;;;"
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some snot-nosed brat hucks his half-eaten ice cream cone at a skunk, we all hit the deck--
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...and the skunk just turns around all "?", sniffs the cone, and starts licking it.
?", sniffs the cone, and starts licking it.
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...so yeah. From that day on I kinda realized skunks were a lot sweeter and cuter than most people think. 
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AH
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right!
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So I've had a few touch-and-go encounters with stuff like, oh, garter snakes.
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There was a time I was sitting by a waterfall for several minutes before I realized that, the entire time, there was a water snake right beside me, probably hoping I wasn't going to notice it
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I politely excused myself and carefully left the area, coming back a few minutes later to see that it had done the same
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and some bug stories too, but those are a bit more mundane. (Though there was the time I was five years old and helped nurse an exhausted bee back to vitality with some sugar water, I felt good about that!)
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BUT
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I think one of my more interesting and involved stories was of WaXx0r.
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So around this area especially cedar waxwings are a common sight. 
AKA "pidgeys".
AKA "pidgeys".
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So one time, while at my first college, I noticed there was a little grey bird bumbling about on the ground in the spring, trying to fly and... not doing a very good job of it.
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(not my photo)
(not my photo)
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feeling concerned, and noticing it didn't seem TOO young, me and a couple friends decided, uh, maybe we should do something...?
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I grabbed a box, a little water dish, and helped it into said box.
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we took it to a nearby professor (who happened to have some ornithological know-how) who said, oh, yeah, that's a juvenile cedar waxwing. Dunno if it's injured but I know a local wildlife place that can come by for it.
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...tomorrow.
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So that night I helped tend to and feed a young cedar waxwing until I could hand it off the next morning.
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it kept hopping out to explore my room!
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--oh right, I was on the Gaming hall at that college so people started calling it WaXx0r.
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you know, waxwing plus haxxor hahaaahaha 
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I... think that's the long and short of it for the wildlife I've actually gotten kinda close t-- wait, wait, one more. ooooone more.
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So I was on vacation in Florida with my family, near Sanibel. I had just bought a pair of sunglasses at my parents' request and was making my way back to the car. Now this parking lot was right next to a small pond which we parked right ne-- 
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...so as someone who had never actually seen one before, I was... intimidated.
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Since it seemed to be looking at me too.
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So it was more or less
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"o-o;"
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"8|"
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"o-o;;;"
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"8|"
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"o-o;;;;;;;"
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"8V"
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I... very carefully made my way back to the car. In hindsight I shouldn't have worried; it was a good fifteen feet away, and crocodiles don't exactly chase down people on land
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probably was just saying "dis pond mine. not yours."
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and I of course had no interest in trying to conquer its pond.
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BUT it was still pretty intense, you know, for a twelve-year-old.
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...also saw one of these. 
poking around near the door of our room. hnnngggg it was cute and I loved armadillos forever after that.
poking around near the door of our room. hnnngggg it was cute and I loved armadillos forever after that.
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WHEW. Anyway! Those are my "i saw a thing" wildlife stories. Some more interesting than others. But as someone who got into biology later in life due to being so subject to the natural world as a child, they all apparently left their mark on me.
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The moral of the story is: skunks are cute.
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da end.
papermint tiger
Oh man this just makes me think of all the wildlife i've run into over the years. Not nearly as much as you but i've got some stories
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My stories aren't especially impressive I admit
papermint tiger
The scariest one was when we accedentallt got within 20 feet of a pair of bison. The one that made my brain go 'wtf' the most was the time i touched a praying mantis but was trying to touch the butterfly it was eating
papermint tiger
for some reason my brain kept trying to insist it was a flower while my fingers were going 'but it's hard and pointy'
lucineblue
ANIMALS
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GUH BISON... I saw a bull at a farm and those are terrifying enough
papermint tiger
oh man it was terrifying. So the story goes... we were walking down this little, disused trail in Yellowstone, 'we' being my dad, brother, sister, and me. My mother was the smart one and took the car and was meeting us later. Anyway
papermint tiger
we're basically a little more than halfway to where we're going and there are just. Two bison there. Just chilling on the side of the path.
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so the choices are: we do the smart thing and quietly back away and take like three times as long to meet my mother, since we have to walk back like two miles and then go the long way around by the road
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or we could just. You know. Sneak past the bison
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to this day i am endlessly astonished that my dad decided this was the best thing to do
papermint tiger
the bison didn't give a fuck about us but we'd seen things all over the park about not getting within 100 yards of the things so it was just a bit scary
papermint tiger
...i swear a few years later when we were at a different park i remember one of them trying to climb into the car with us but i'm honestly not sure if that's real or bullshit my brain made up, but it's there so. That might be a thing too
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g-guh. Angry bovines are terrifying, it's a good thing it went... fairly well
papermint tiger
god yeah, if they hadn't been chill, i probably wouldn't... have ever met y'all