I saw a COYOTE today!
Jul. 11th, 2003 12:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynMany things happened today, beginning with picking ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cadhla up in Jersey City and driving her to Great Swamp. We took a more circuitous route than necessary, because I wanted her to see as much of the state as possible within a reasonable time frame. (Hint to people whose only view of NJ is provided by watching The Sopranos or from the drive along the Turnpike or the Pulaski Skyway: that ain't us.) We got to the Swamp border and started driving in - it's at least four miles long in that area - and cadhla squee'd like a fangirl, because the brown thing with thick tail that she spotted turned out to be a marmot... We spent some time in the section of Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge that has boardwalks, and the mosquitos pretty much all went for cadhla. Which was odd as she had used repellent, and I had used... um, nothing really; I had a T-shirt and jeans on, but no special insect-repelling items or scents.
The problem with boardwalks is that they are generally dotted with NO ADMITTANCE PAST THIS SIGN markers, so we then decided to use one of the more accessible, less maintained trails. This necessitated getting back in the car and driving across the Swamp some more, past the inexplicable Department of Homeland Security sign (it's the same size and shape as the No Parking signs, and it's not attached to a building - it's in the middle of a bloody wildlife refuge!) and down the ostensibly dead-end street. It was then that I thought I saw a fox, so we stopped the car to look. Foxes aren't that big, and they don't have ears that size... it was an Eastern coyote pup, and it spent some time staring at us before deciding that looking around on the ground was a good idea. We went the rest of the way in, parked the car, started into the Swamp, got to muddy bits, thought about ticks, and turned back.
The pup was still there. Eventually he ran away, with a bounding gait I'd never seen anything outside my dreams except a deer use. We drove on.cadhla spotted a fisher by a local pond, but the little weasel got away before I could see it. Still... coyote! Real live coyote! In my territory! So cool.
cadhla up in Jersey City and driving her to Great Swamp. We took a more circuitous route than necessary, because I wanted her to see as much of the state as possible within a reasonable time frame. (Hint to people whose only view of NJ is provided by watching The Sopranos or from the drive along the Turnpike or the Pulaski Skyway: that ain't us.) We got to the Swamp border and started driving in - it's at least four miles long in that area - and cadhla squee'd like a fangirl, because the brown thing with thick tail that she spotted turned out to be a marmot... We spent some time in the section of Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge that has boardwalks, and the mosquitos pretty much all went for cadhla. Which was odd as she had used repellent, and I had used... um, nothing really; I had a T-shirt and jeans on, but no special insect-repelling items or scents.The problem with boardwalks is that they are generally dotted with NO ADMITTANCE PAST THIS SIGN markers, so we then decided to use one of the more accessible, less maintained trails. This necessitated getting back in the car and driving across the Swamp some more, past the inexplicable Department of Homeland Security sign (it's the same size and shape as the No Parking signs, and it's not attached to a building - it's in the middle of a bloody wildlife refuge!) and down the ostensibly dead-end street. It was then that I thought I saw a fox, so we stopped the car to look. Foxes aren't that big, and they don't have ears that size... it was an Eastern coyote pup, and it spent some time staring at us before deciding that looking around on the ground was a good idea. We went the rest of the way in, parked the car, started into the Swamp, got to muddy bits, thought about ticks, and turned back.
The pup was still there. Eventually he ran away, with a bounding gait I'd never seen anything outside my dreams except a deer use. We drove on.
cadhla spotted a fisher by a local pond, but the little weasel got away before I could see it. Still... coyote! Real live coyote! In my territory! So cool.
