wild kingdom on the patio!

marlin perkins, where are ye when i needs ya?

living in iowa has afforded me many opportunities for personal growth, *ahem* some of which were unwanted...but it has also provided some of the best backyard animal sightings imaginable. and while i know i should be exhibiting texas pictures, i've just gotta share this today instead. i've posted before about the eagles in winter--they are truly magnificent--and i love me some barred owls, but yesterday i caught a brand-new, never-before-seen-by-me animal traipsing through the forest...

this guy. meet urocyon cinereoargenteus, also known as the grey fox. and he was carrying a dead chipmunk in his mouth.

(not like this, although that'd be a welcome sight, too)

more like this, sans the freaky orange eye thing.

i was looking out our big south-facing wall o' windows, watching a white-tailed deer who was lying down, having a rest, in the ravine. that was odd in itself. next to her i saw something move--a black-tipped, red, bushy tail sticking up from the tall weeds--then out popped a grey fox carrying a dead chipmunk. he looked at the deer in the ravine; she looked back. she got up slowly, waddled towards the fox; he stepped onto our back patio then both of them took off into the woods, splitting up after they were undercover of the trees.

sadly, this is usually how you see grey foxes...

or like this...

or this (even the model looks disgusted at wearing this fur)...

or this. yikes. he's available for $800.

amazingly, that wasn't the end of the sightings: a couple of hours later, while i was on the phone with rich telling him of all this animal-y goodness, i watched out the same window as a juvenile bald eagle jumped out of a tree where it had been picking critters from a squirrel's nest, then swooped down right over me and landed on top of the roof of my house.

amazing.

what's next?