New Member of the Zoo

We meet folks in our subdivision through various methods. Some we meet at the monthly dinners we attend. Some we meet on the trips over to the Manor where we often go for lunch. And some we meet on our walks. In the last couple of months, we've met a friendly gentleman named David. David and I roughly walk about the same time of morning, though lately we've been walking at other times of the day as the weather has started to change some. However, David seems to walk only about 1 or 2 miles, while I normally try to get 4 or 5 miles in each session.

David lives on the northern edge of our subdivision. To his north and west is some open land, so he sees quite a few animals there. When we stop to visit, our conversations often turn to the animals we encounter. Deer and turkeys, of course, are regular sightings for both of us. And I often see skunks. I've noted in this column before that I have even spotted some foxes. But something David said a week or two ago has caused me to reconsider this. All of my fox sightings have been in the dark, so I've really only seen their silhouettes and their bushy tails. I've not seen them very close. But I feel sure they were foxes as we have spotted grey foxes just down the road at the state park on numerous occasions during daylight.

Recently David mentioned that he has been seeing ring tail cats. On our last visit, I asked him about these critters, and he provided some information. Then I came home and did a bit of research.

Last night, I was on the patio with my daughter and son-in-law. We had been watching the deer move along the edge of the mesquites down the street in their regular evening meanderings. We thought the show was over and were getting ready to go inside when I saw something loping along the curb on the street opposite us. At first, I thought it was a cat, as we do have some feral cats out here. Then it entered the light from the street lamp, and I saw the coloring and long tail and recognized it as a ring tail cat.

I won't go through a description of this little critter, as you can find out more on Wikipedia or other online sources: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring-tailed_cat. I will add that the tail makes this nocturnal animal pretty obvious, so I feel confident that it was a ring tail cat I saw. Here are a couple of pictures I downloaded from the internet. Hopefully, I'll be able to snap my own pictures soon.