Animal Sightings

Thanks! It's actually a much longer story than I made it out to be - I had a pre-existing relationship with the mother, and she actually brought the new batch of kids over to meet me, but other than that time the father would never let me get even slightly close without hissing and ruffling the bird-leaves on his neck and flappers. Even offering food (swan appropriate) didn't work. So researched body language used by mute swans, which I was hoping would be a close enough relative of my local black ones, and learned that the key is to remember that your arms are wings to them (so do not raise them) and that swans greet by bowing. So I basically walked up to the family with my hands behind my back, stopping to bow every three steps or so, and got close enough without him ruffling or hissing that I could feed them all a bit, and now even the dad eats out of my palm. So I'd recommend bowing respectfully and offering fresh peas if anyone wants to be friends with swans.

 

Winformative :)

 

THeres a new outdoor cat in my neighborhood! His name is Rocky, he came to say hello, and Boo (my cat) hates him! I got some pictures of the dapper little gent.

Spoiler: Lorg

 

tis feed store chick season

 

BOWTIE! AN INCREDIBLE SPLOTCHINESS! what a cat * wipes away a year *

 

I feel like bow tie collar is the absolute best idea for an outdoor cat I am immediately in love. What a gentleman out on a walk.

 

!!! I just saw one of our song thrushes in the garden!! They only show up in early spring, so to me it feels like they mean that real winter is finally over :D

 

meanwhile, the nearest tree is full of BLACKBIRD ORBS who are very displeased at all this snow after a week of spring weather

 

the office doggo at the garage i go to :3 her name is Sonya(sp?) and she seems kind of old. Just hangs around the administrative part of the place, she walked around the counter when i was asking about windshield wipers, and sniffspected.

Later she whined to be let into one of th3 offices, presumably because she had important paperwork and or napping to do

 

I saw so many doggos today! I'm currently in Whitby for a few days to take in the sea air and do some beachcombing, and I pet five (5) Very Good Puppers today, to whit -

- beautiful 19-week-old cocker spaniel, who was the colour of butterscotch candies and wagged her tail wildly and snuffled my face while I gave her chin scritches and talked to her owner about the dangers of being too adorable for words

- older black cocker spaniel who surprised everyone involved including himself by jumping over the low wall he had only intended to jump onto. Sproing game too stronk, 13/10

- Jack (jack Russell/west highland terrier mix) and Swiff (Bichon Frise/Poodle) were the white furred noble guardians of a tiny boutique that seemed to sell only tiffany lamps and bespoke embroidered waistcoats. They had dog-sized bunk beds in the window and Swiff immediately leapt down to inspect me thoroughly for contraband when I came in. Jack, who had the top bunk, just leaned over and licked my hand when I pet him :)

- another west highland terrier who when I asked his owner if 'I could say hi' to him immediately got very excited on the word 'hi' and did the whole-body wiggle dance of greeting while I scratched behind his ears and told him how much of a good boy he was (spoiler - very. He was a very good boy.)

besides that, lots and lots of herring gulls, and I also saw some kittiwakes on the cliff, who are basically seagulls with good eyeliner XDD

 

Today I found a frog trapped in between our back doors.

Spoiler: froggo

 

There was a guy in the lobby at work today with the cutest little black dog in his arms.

 

There was a teen doggo in police training at the mall the other day :3 he was so excited by all the people and so excited to be a good boy!!

 

On my way through the park I saw a family of like 20 people feeding ducks, and then my swans waddled out of the water and the family all lost their shit, started screaming and backing away. I walked into the midst of the birds and sat down on the grass and the swans came over to me and I got the seed I always carry out of my bag and fed all 5 of them from my palms, including one juvenile who is really pushy and kept trying to put its face in my bag to look for more food so I had to keep shoving it away, and the whole time I was scritching various swans on their bellies and backs (don't know if they like that but they don't seem to dislike it, and I was going for max effect). I never looked up but in my periphery I could see the family watching me, stunned, occasionally gasping. When my EDC seed ran out I got up, bowed to the swans, and walked away without ever looking back at the family. I felt extremely smug forever the end

 

There's a female house finch who's taken to sitting on the windowsill and/or the AC box outside the office and making angry peeping noises at me through the window. I told her if she wanted to be part of the legislative process, a better way to contact my boss is by phone.

 

that's adorable

yesterday when i was getting ready for uni i heard a sort of thumping noise from the fireplace and went to investigate and there was a sparrow in the fireplace

it Did Not want to be there (hence the thumping noises-it was trying to Leave)

 

We have a bird feeder in the garden and there's this particular jackdaw who gets out there, who has a really unusual amount of grey on him rather than the black they usually are. Partner finally got a picture of him! He's very handsome

Spoiler: Birb

 

Lil smol frog while I was gardening


(He was inside a pot I picked up. There was also I slug that was like twice his size and I'm sure he was doing valiant battle with it)

 

There was a very fluffy puppy on the bus next to me today! I didn't bother him because I figured a puppy on a crowded bus on bad roads would have enough to deal with without strange humans sticking their hands in his face, but very cute.

 

I saw a black stork on the way home today, just chilling in a creek by the roadside. I've never seen a stork of any kind in the wild before, I wish I could have stopped and taken a picture!