#6 - Living Creatures

This past year I have been continually fascinated by all the close contact with Columbus' native fauna, many of which I never really saw first hand in Utah. (My theory is that since there are no mountains/valleys here we tend to bump into the animals a lot more).

Here are some highlights of animals I've seen over the past year:

GRAY SQUIRREL

There are a bajillion of these guys running around all over Columbus. They are all over campus and in the parks, and any tree in the city (including the tree that we tie our hammock to at our home... just try taking a nap when one of them is munching on nuts right above your head).

As a side note, I was driving about 2 minutes away from home and saw one of these scurry across the road...

Only to be eaten by one of these...

It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life.

Other birds of note:

TURKEY BUZZARD

CANADIAN GOOSE

Ohio shares a maritine border with Canada. I can only assume that's why we have so many of these messy birds in our parks.

CARDINAL

The cardinal is Ohio's state bird. They are so beautiful and I see them all the time right outside my kitchen window.

Also in my back yard:

HARE

The last two creatures were uncomfortably close to home:

OPOSSUM

A few weeks ago we talking by the hammock at night, and heard some rustling noises coming from the underbrush. I ran and got my flashlight and saw these glowing eyes staring back at me. My first live opossum experience.

SKUNK

A couple days ago we spotted one of these prancing across our front porch as we were saying goodnight to guests. Of course the goodbyes were delayed for a couple of minutes as we made sure everyone was safe to leave the house.