The Amazing Animal Encounters Thread

Originally posted by Raxoxane
reply to post by Bedlam

 

Thanks for sharing,it seems to me that deer may be your own totem animal? I love the cats adopting the racoon babies! I did'nt know they would do that,well,a natural solution at its best there.

That was sort of a surprise. Miss Kitty was a good mother, she was about to wean her kitties when the raccoon kits came available. (the ancestral home is in the very northeast tip of Georgia, near a tiny town called Toccoa. They do a lot of coon hunting there, it leaves orphaned kits at times). I was visiting and went outside about 2AM to let the dogs out, and Miss Kitty brought me a kit about 4 months old. It came up to me chirping, and started tapping on my leg like one of my old 'coons. I was a bit reluctant to pick it up, as a little 'coon can eat you alive, but it was nodding and twittering at me (a friendly gesture), and I picked it up. It rolled belly up in my arms to be tickled, which is way better than biting, and was as tame a 'coon as I'd ever had. They're grown adults now, and still friendly.

I'm 1/8 Cherokee, but all you can tell is the round faces and long bodied/short legged builds on us middle three brothers. I have had full blooded Cherokee ask me what band I am, so I guess it shows enough to spot, but most people think I look Irish, which is the other 7/8. My totem is the bear. Yeah, I have one. weird, innit? But I do occasionally have the deer approaching thing, which I can't explain.

When I was a kid, I recall once going to the zoo in Atlanta and having some wild alpaca come up to me as well. They had just gotten them and they were in a temporary enclosure in the middle of the public area that you could reach. I was standing by the enclosure watching the animals watch the people. I suppose I might have been six. There were several females and one male. The male saw me and came up to where I was and began nosing the wire. I put my hand in and my face up to the wire, he started nosing at me and lipping on my fingers. After a while, one of the keepers came up to me and asked me what I thought. I recall telling her I had figured out there was one boy and a number of girls, who he was worried about and was trying to keep the people away from. She agreed, then I told her one of them was going to have babies, she was sort of surprised and asked which, I told her, and she agreed, but asked how I knew. I remember saying - watch how he stands between her and the fence. He's guarding the pregnant one. She thought that was really observant for a boy my age. So I told her I could get the male to come to me and touch me, she said "no, they're wild, not pets at all" So I said - watch, don't move or talk. I called out to the male, he looked around, saw me, and came up to the fence again, I put my hand in and rubbed his nose and he lipped at my face sort of like a horse will. She was freaked out. The females weren't interested. I'm not sure if he had been someone's pet or what. But he liked me.

The deer, that's odd. I have just walked into the woods and had deer stand up from their bedding area and stand there instead of running. They toss their heads in the air make this odd face and make a sound like a vacuum cleaner - it's very distinctive and I'm given to understand that's a warning sound to other deer, but they don't run, just sort of stand there and fidget. I've been no lie within arm's reach and they stand there and do this.

At other times I have been in the woods and have put my rifle down, unloaded it for the day, just standing there watching the woods and had deer being chased by dogs run to me and stand in a group around me, close enough to touch. I don't know if they are coming to me to get the dogs off or they think I'm a tree - every time I've been in a grass field.

Also at times if you stand at the edge of the tree line, a buck will send out a doe to see if you are a threat. THAT is pretty freaky to watch. The buck will hide in the woods and make the doe come to you to see if you will attack it. The doe will stomp and bob her head to see if she can get you to jump at her. If you won't move, she'll come just out of reach to see what you are.

Originally posted by Raxoxane
reply to post by maryhinge

 

How cool to have your own fox! Yes if you can,i would love to see a bigger pic.

thats as big as it gets without going all square (pixel)

have you tried to zoom in

EDIT it goes all fuzzy

reply to post by maryhinge

No i can't seem to zoom in,but its okay-i must say,your dad reminds me of Billy Connoly the excellent comedian

reply to post by Bedlam


I would pay good money to hear that sound like a vacuum cleaner,that would be a HOOT!!!I do believe you can have more than your "primary totem" though-Deer is definitely attracted to you,it seems.The zebras around here make a weird clacking sound,very loud in the night when they're close to the reserve's fence line.The hubby said he's seen some baby wildebeest driving past on his way to town.Its nice,every time we go to town,we see the zebras and usually there's one or two wildebeest with them.You wouldnt believe how filthy they can get from rolling in the mud when its been raining,but its good for their skins and to keep ticks at bat.Gonna keep an eye out for the bebbehs.We want to get a block of minerals for them,only we dont know how close their nearest water supply are to our fenceline.The hubby says its better to put the lick close to a water source.

Originally posted by Raxoxane
reply to post by maryhinge

 

No i can't seem to zoom in,but its okay-i must say,your dad reminds me of Billy Connoly the excellent comedian

With the mind of victor meldrew

First of all I love this thread.
While running in the park one day I had a very up close and personal encounter with an adult red tailed hawk.



It was an extremely humbling and spiritual experience. I see the hawk often, and when I do it gives me this awesome feeling of reassurance.

PLPL

I was born in Arizona and spent the first eight years of my life there. My parents were avid campers so we camped as often as time and money would allow. Christopher creek was a favorite spot and was where my amazing animal encounter occurred.

I was little, maybe five or six, and my mom was walking me down to the restrooms with our shower bag to get cleaned up.

We walk into the restroom, that had an open archway as an entryway, to find a hummingbird beating the crap out of itself against the fluorescent lights mounted to the ceiling. It would head for the door, but, it just couldn't figure out how to get below the top of the arch to get out.

My mom used a towel from our bag and somehow managed to get it to sit on the towel. She put her hand around it and brought it down for me to see it. It sat on her hand for a moment, I reached out and touched it, and it flew right out the doorway leaving a handful of feathers in my mom's hand.

I will never forget it.

I used to have the feathers in a little wooden box, but, have lost track of them now.

Double post.

My favourite animal encounter was when we used to live in Florida. We lived roughly about 5 miles, as the crow flies, from the wildlife preserve around NASA. It was around 8 am in the morning and I heard this crazy racket coming from outside. I knew it was birds but I didn't recognize the bird call. I go outside to look, and there, on the top of our telephone line, were 2 bald eagles. I'm taking a guess here that one was female and one was male, only because they are territorial, and one was smaller then the other. They sat on the telephone line for a good 45 minutes squawking at each other, while I sat there and watched them. It was amazing! I'd never seen an eagle outside of a zoo, that close before. (I could've hit them with a rock if I wanted they were so close). They didn't seem very concerned with me at all. Let me tell you, when they are in their element, they are the most beautiful, majestic birds on the planet! I kept hoping one would drop a feather, but sadly they didn't.

www.abovetopsecret.com...reply to post by Raxoxane


I love the owls too! It's funny that you mention an odd bird call related to them too!
For months after we bought our house I would hear a random electronic beeping out in the woods. The sound would come and go and was never in the same place, but I assumed that it was a distant neighbors smoke alarm or something of the sort. Until one day I saw this little fuzz ball of an owl, and then heard the beeping again shortly thereafter, I looked it up in my bird book and come to find out it had been a pygmy owl all along! He is cute and tiny, but I never realized they made such electronic noises.

Here is a link to the other thread where my owl picture is at, I hope I did it right, he really is pretty and likes to let me close! I am worried for my future chickens hahaha!!

I have one cat story (Whiskey, the horse from before features in this one too).

It was June I think, and my daughter was six. She had wanted to ride the day before, but we had been busy, so I had her up on that horse by 6:00 in the morning. After about an hour of toodling about on the horse, I was honestly thinking about calling it a day, when my daughters gray tabby cat that she had named Senna came sauntering down the drive way.

Now this cat was really only partial to my daughter. I could pet her if I approached carefully, and she wouldn't have much to do with my husband at all. This cat would follow our daughter around like a puppy though. She could approach this cat at a dead run, scoop her up under her arms with her hind end swinging, and the cat would just put up with it. It was weird.

Oddly, when we got her spayed the cat became more skittish and fay. She would wander away for days, and then turn up like everything was normal, but she was always the same to our daughter.

That day, I spotted her as she came in. She sat down in the gravel drive way, and she was just staring at us. She started to meow and head back down the drive. There was just something about how she kept meowing and stopping and looking back that made me feel like she wanted us to follow. I approached (I was leading Whiskey, my daughter still on his back), and petted her. I was surprised she stayed still with the horse right there. She wound around my legs, and then Whiskey's front legs (which was strange), and then she continued walking down the drive way and looking back at us.

Gods truth that horse and I looked at each other, and shared a moment of communication; both of us seemed to be of the same mind that we should follow the cat. So off we go. Senna the cat in front, me leading Whiskey with my daughter, my black german shepherd just behind him, and Senna's sister Sammi decided to go along at the last minute and was taking up the rear. I guess she wondered what the parade was about.

The west end of our property is bordered by a little river, and there is a dirt track road that goes down there; this links to the drive way; and down that road was where Senna wanted to go. She led us all the way to the river. Much of it is wild and overgrown, but the little road cut in goes right up to the waters edge.

Senna had disappeared into the bushes at some point. I looked around and saw nothing, and I was starting to feel a little silly, when I heard the faintest meowing. So I am poking around trying to find this cat I'm hearing, and not having much luck, when Whiskey turns against the lead rope, taking it out of my hand, moves a few paces into the trees and points his nose into the brush. I walk up, grab the lead rope, and go to walk off, and it was like pulling on a wall. It must have looked like a Charlie Chaplin skit. I turned toward him, and pulled the lead; he would give his head, but his legs were locked into the ground. I was getting irritated, I must admit, this wasn't like Whiskey, and my kid was up there. It finally occurred to me that the meowing was really loud, and about then out pops an orange kitten. I look around and there is Senna lying on the ground all cool and calm, waiting for us to catch on.

I just walked up to that kitten and scooped him up, kind of without thinking. Once he was in my arms I was surprised he didn't run or struggle, but he relaxed; just sort of melted and got limp.

So the whole parade troops back home, and it was there that we figured out how injured he was. I don't know what got a hold of him, but it took part of his left ear, about 2/3's of his tail (there was bone sticking out, and maggots in it), and his paw pads were just sores. But after some minor surgery on the tail (which the vet did for free), some antibiotics and a lot of food he came out of it alright. Strange little cat though... Even stranger how the whole rescue played out like some Lassie parody, but it really did happen that way.

Great thread!

One of my favorite animal ‘encounters’? I was living in a tiny little house in a tiny little town in a very cold region where Christmas was always white.

My first year alone in the house? A black and white cat showed up on my door Christmas Eve. I let him in and gave him some yummies as didn't have to spend the holidays alone!

He stayed through Christmas Eve and the next day and I was sorry when he ‘disappeared’ Christmas Day night.

I hoped he would come back - he didn’t.

Next year? Guess who showed up - again - Christmas Eve?

CHRISTMAS KITTY!

I’ve got pics somewhere I'll post if I can find them.

I had to move before the next Christmas but I went so far as to inform the new tenants of CK!

Was so lovely!

peace

This speaks for itself - and yeah - amazing!!!



WOW!!!

peace

My Wild Dolphin Encounter

Now this story sounds unbelievable, but I promise it really happened.

I was in Florida on a vacation. It was early morning, the beach was fairly deserted. Mostly just folks walking the beach and the occasional over-eager swimmer (which was me and my friends).

Suddenly we noticed a fin in the water. We were out about waist deep, so weren't too concerned (and didn't know at the time that sharks can attack in shallow water). Anyway, it was a dolphin swimming nearby.

Then we saw the second fin. A baby! Right next to Mom!

This is where it gets interesting. The mother kinda "nudged" the baby towards us. It actually came close enough for us to touch it. It saw around us a couple of times, we petted its back and fin. Then mom made a clicking noise, baby swam back, and both swam out to sea.

It was beyond magical. Almost like the mother was bringing the baby and introducing her to humans.

I just hope we made a favorable impression!

reply to post by maryhinge

Victor Meldrew..
He is our ansolute,ALLTIME favorite character out of every movie or TV show EVER!!! OMG poor MargaretSeriously,One Foot In The Grave is the one series i could watch reruns of every day in my life and it would never get old.Except for Frasier,we prefer Brit-comedy to American-there's just no comparison.Oh and we love Fawlty Towers..Que???Manuel was priceless!

reply to post by Minori

That is one stunning bird.I know the feeling,i once was sitting outside on a gloomy day,cloudy and coldish(love days like that
and one of the massive crows that live in this area came flying sloowly over me,and it was such a spiritual experience.I found tears running down my cheeks,such a wonderful feeling of love and connectedness with all of life,what came into my mind was: "see the Spirit of Life"

reply to post by daryllyn

Thanks for sharing.Yeah i like to keep feathers too,if i can find an owl feather,i always keep it,also crow feathers and of hadedas.Theirs has a gorgeous mother-of-pearl type teal-turquoise-purple hue to it when the light catches it at a certain angle.Glad your mom could help the humming-bird,they are amazing little birds.

reply to post by redhorse

Aaww that's a wonderful story,i had fun picturing it
So glad you found the injured kitty,she must have been in a lot of pain-that tail wound,does'nt bear thinking about..That was truely a wonderment,this experience.I love how you and that horse communicate!

reply to post by silo13

Heyy silo13
That Is strange,how the cat only came at Chrismas?But awesome.I hope the new tenants kept a saucer of milk and a delicious nibble or two for it.