Saw the little opossum below come take a drink from the pond yesterday morning. Don't see them as much lately as we did when we first moved in. We never had them in large numbers but it was not unusual to see 3 or 4 per week. This is the first one I've seen here in a few years.
CrabAppleLane Backyard Visitor - January 10, 2009
He/she was a little slow getting around and couldn't outrun me if it came to that. Decided to stay still so I wouldn't notice. A better poser doesn't exist.
I saw one the other night at work. I was taking out the trash and there it was! Scared me it did I have a BIG phobia of rodents (rats, mice ,bats, squirels, oppossum)... well you get the picture. Working so close to the river I see quite alot of wildlife.
They truly are more frightened of you than you are of them, Beth. This one was very anxious.
That may be true Rob, but fear is fear. Anyway, I forgot to mention... nice picture! as is, all of your pictures!
I only see squished ones on my road and every now and then one crossing. I accidentally hit one crossing once. I felt bad about it. It is dark on Hwy 1088 and I didn't see it until too late. With all the deforestation going on around here - I see more and more road kill these days. It's sad. Cool that you got a picture of it.
How are you, Beth?
Fear is fine, Beth. I don't want to see one in a dark alley, either. :)
I see a lot of roadkill, too, Janine. The slower moving nocturnals are the most vulnerable but I see rabbits and deer, too. Haven't hit anything in a long time, though. Knock, knock.
There's nothing like a possum to get me to write. Here in Minneapolis these creatures are in abundance. We have had one die under our deck (their life span is about 2yrs). More than one of the kids have run into them on our deck on their way outside and most recently and most unsettling, we had a baby get into our kitchen! I went to put some spices away in our second kitchen when I looked down and there at my feet was the possum. I screamed a blood curdling scream and ran to the living room where my children seemed unaffected by my hysterics. After hearing the explanation for my excitement the kids called Hyder to come home immediately, screaming through the phone - "there's a possum in the kitchen!" It took about 45 minutes for us to coax the dumb thing out of the kitchen and through the back door. How he got in is still a mystery but I think he was living in a back room for at least a few days before he showed himself. (our cats would go crazy whenever we opened that door) I did find out that they very rarely are the carriers of rabies, which was a worry with our cats meeting up with him. They are by far the ugliest and dumbest creatures I've seen.
Why do you suppose you have so many when you live in the very heart of a busy city? I never have seen one alive; I've seen many killed by cars -- but not on my street. Who comes up a winner in a tussle between cat and possum? How did you coax him out the back door? But listen: what else did you have that was interesting enough to talk about that day? See that? There's a reason for everything. Hyder came home early from work, the children and you got your blood flowing nicely, everyone worked together for the common good -- what more could you ask out of life? Well sure, a house free of possums, but what else?
I think the draw for them is the river and the easy access to garbage. They've only really shown up over the last five years. From what I've read, it would be the cat or dog that comes out on top. The only thing fierce about them is their ferocious hiss. Yes Aunt Ginnie it did provide some family bonding time. At least it will suffice until the next adventure. I think I need to move to the suburbs where they don't have as much wild life excitement. Some other favorite family bonding moments include the year we had bats in our living room and bedroom 4 different times, Omar feeding raccoons from his hand and the many, many animals that we've rescued and brought to the raptor center at the U of M.