Topper is Back

News for anyone catching my blog who is not one of my social media friends... one of the Toppers showed up Saturday evening. It was World Wildlife Day and what a nice surprise to end the day.

Quick recap... last Summer I caught an injured Skunk and brought her into TWC. Her injuries were quite severe and they said there was no way they could ethically release her back home even though she was a lactating mother Skunk (meaning she had babies in the neighbourhood somewhere). I was asked to keep watch for any little Skunks. I informed a few neighbours to do so as well. We saw none until a few weeks later, when up to 4 little Skunks appeared the occasional evening. Two of them were almost like twins and they stuck around near our property the remainder of the Summer, right into late Autumn. Angie named them both Topper. I could tell the difference between them by the bit of striping on the shoulder blades. One had more there than the other. Neither had striping on the back. So with the white cap, like a topper, that is how they got the name. We could only assume these young Skunks were from that mother. I did read that once baby Skunks leave the den, they are on their own. So maybe, lack of a better term, the timing worked out for them when their mom was taken away? It certainly adds to their story though.

They were a treat to see so often. The Toppers really educated us on sharing the backyard with Skunks. I hoped my posting about them through social media educated others to be more accepting of these animals and not see them as ready to spray upon sight.

Anyway, happy that one of them surfaced again. I suppose he slept all winter and is now just waking up. I don't know if we will be blessed with early morning and early evening views like last year but I can hope.

I sure had fun with them, especially in my time of healing after the accident I had.

If you'd like to revisit the Topper blog, click here.

I hope I will be sharing more blogs about the Toppers this year.

Meet Topper

I returned to work yesterday (Sept 05) and it will probably take me a bit of time to adjust to the "back to the routine" gig. I woke up much too early this morning just because that's what I've been doing during my time off. It was nice to see our backyard Skunk though with me getting up so early. Angie has named him "Topper" and you can see why...

There's not a lot of white fur on him, just a patch on his head that runs into his shoulders and then a bit on the tip of his tail.

Topper has been sleeping under our shed most days. We are okay with that. We hope he spends much of his life here in the backyard with us and stays away from the roads.

Watching him morning and evening the last few weeks, I can see his routines. He knows where to look for food out back, finding stuff under the bird feeders, but also he's made some pretty big holes in the lawn too. Once again, we are okay with that. Angie and I would rather have a lived in backyard, enjoyed by the wildlife, than a well manicured lawn that you cringe whenever a dandelion pops up or a Skunk digs a hole in. We get joy from the wildlife. We don't need the stress of worrying about perfect grass.

One morning while snapping some photos of him, this happened.

Of course it gave me the idea of a potential photo op another morning.

Part of Topper's routine is to sniff out our deck steps. We have a suet feeder above the steps and sometimes pieces of the suet fall down when the Downy Woodpeckers are hammering away at it. Topper cleans it up.

I also occasionally feed some of my Pigeon buds there and they throw stuff around, which Topper is also finding. As you might notice in one of the first photos, the Pigeons don't really know what to make of him.

This morning I set out the measuring tape to try and give people an idea on his size. He's quite small in my opinion.

I know I've mentioned it recently with the young Skunks we have been seeing... I'd like to believe they are the young ones of that poor mother Skunk I tried to help back in July. You may recall she could not be saved because her injuries were too severe. But she was given peace, an end to her suffering. It was the humane thing to do. It's nice to believe that we are now helping her young, more so one of them by letting him claim our backyard as his territory (not a lot of people would allow that to happen with a Skunk). Without any proof either way, nothing wrong with thinking this way; is there?

He loves our fountain.

Topper is not habituated by any means. I have a decent camera with some long lenses that allow me to pull him right in through photos. The key is to remain quiet and still, let him roam around and do his thing. If he wanders too close, I make him aware I am there. I find with the Skunks is that when they are busy looking for food they are rather oblivious to everything else. They let their noses do the work, face to the ground, and don't look up a whole lot. So there are times when suddenly Topper is coming right at me. I don't need to be drastic, just slide my foot along the ground seems to work better than a light cough, clearing of my throat, or a "psst" noise. Once he's aware, he looks right at me, sometimes the fur flares, the tail goes up and he freezes; other times he immediately backs off and goes another way. It's when the fur flaring tail popping moment happens that I don't do anything else in the moment. Would he spray? Why spook him any further to find out? Moments later he calms down and goes elsewhere away from me.

I'm no expert on these animals. I just use common sense although some people think I'm off my rocker enjoying the sights of them out back. What's not to love? They are omnivores, which means they eat both plant matter and animals including mice and rats. Toronto had quite the rat issue in 2016, hundreds of complaints from all over the city. If they promoted the benefits of Skunks in our community, people might have a little more appreciation for them.

Skunks can be a carrier of rabies, here is a list of reported cases in Ontario from past years. But who is out there trying to touch one? Certainly not me. The not wanting to get sprayed factor keeps me well enough away. There's risk in messing with any wildlife be it viruses or just plain ol' blood shed. I don't like to use the word "rabies" with any animal. Rabies spreads fear and misunderstanding. It justifies some people to harm these animals. Just enjoy them. Don't f**k with them. But enough about that, you get what I'm saying and what I'm about with our local wildlife.

We will enjoy Topper for as long as he stays with us. Naming him has added an emotional attachment but even all we don't name, we still have a love for them. He is here. He has made our backyard all the more special. And I hope to share more about his life in our backyard in another blog.

Sunday with the Skunks

Most evenings I am going out back a couple times, checking out what kind of nocturnal creatures are lurking about. In this heat wave I am often refreshing the bird baths and basins for the animals.

Last night was epic with my late night outing! And blog worthy in my mind...

Skunk is a word that brings fear and panic to many people. On my street, with some of the neighbours, a Skunk is like Bigfoot roaming the land... a mysterious creature to always fear, to run from, because it is going to spray you and ruin your day.

For us, a Skunk is exciting to see since we don't see them often. There is the odd sighting this summer. Spring of 2014 we had a big beauty who came out a few mid-mornings giving us some great views.

Two summers ago we had one show up in the evening while we had a few friends over for a BBQ. The women went inside while the boys stayed outside trying to get better views. Notice I said women and boys? Seems there was some debate over our maturity level that night. LoL!

I know we've lost 2 in the last year to car strikes. Years ago Angie and I had a mother Skunk and 5 babies in the garden late one night. It was back in the good old days, our younger days, where we stayed up late playing music, having drinks and we'd shine a flashlight down in the garden on occasion to see what may be wandering about and looking back up at us.

The other night I was out looking for meteors and had some company.

The next morning I am washing the back deck and took notice to a Skunk underneath. I think I gave him a bit of a soaking but not enough to flee. A bit later I looked and found him curled up asleep.

And then, last night. I am down at the back when I took notice to one in the garden, under the bird feeders. I watched him for a bit and suddenly a second Skunk surfaced in the vicinity. I'm thinking how cool this is. We have a lot of vegetation for the animals to hide in throughout the summer months. It's great cover for the birds, Squirrels and Chipmunks (which we are thrilled to see once again). The animals like to travel along the fence line, behind the wall of green as well. I bring this up because as I'm watching the 2 in the garden, a third one surfaces to the right of me along the fence line. "Holy s**t!" This one is maybe 5 feet from me, just doing his thing, wandering about.

The other 2 are maybe 10 feet from me.

With such close proximity, the fear of spraying sits in the back of my mind. I'm not going to do any sudden moves with them so close, not taking any chances on startling any of them. As I always tell people, keep your cool, don't lose your s**t around wild animals, and all will be fine. The problem is that as I stay in my spot here on the lawn, hunkered down, I begin to notice a number of Raccoon wandering about. I'm sure the older ones know not to mess with a Skunk, but the young ones ??? Last year one of our more sociable and curious born that season did get a good spraying. I felt bad for him because it was weeks before the smell wore down to just a faint scent. Poor guy couldn't get the stink off for anything. And last night there was a couple smaller Raccoon in the mix.

All I need is one of these new to the world little guys do something stupid in his lessons of life and we all feel the wrath from a Skunk on the defense.

I remained still, watching, trying to snap some photos. I had my macro lens on because part of my reason this night was to look for some moths. I've been seeing some neat ones after dark some work nights.

The macro is a very sensitive lens and any slight movement throws the shot off. I'm shooting free hand if I can call it that, not having the tri-pod out there with me for stability.

One of the first two wandering around on my left, some very close moments.

Money shot!  LoL!  Definitely not the end I want to be face to face with.

I don't know how long I was out there but I felt it was time for me to vacate the area. Too many critters wandering about, some of the Raccoons were getting close to the Skunks, all wanting a share of the food about the ground. It seems the House Sparrows threw a lot of the black oil sunflower seed on the ground that afternoon, or maybe a Raccoon climbed the pole and gave one of the feeders a good shake, as there was seed everywhere.

With me wanting to get back to the house, I had a problem just ahead of me. 2 Skunks on my left, one on my right. I have a small open spot to get through, less than 5 feet wide. Is that too close for comfort? Even as I do my best stealth like moves across the grass?

I took this shot just now, to give you an idea of the spot I had to get through using the old blue bin as reference to the width.

Getting to the other side of the garden, it's way more open, and I'd feel a lot safer there. A view from the other side.

I could easily see the 2 Skunks on the left. I lost the other one in the vegetation. I kept pondering making a break for it, walking light and quick, but didn't... yet. Minutes pass, many perhaps, when I hear the dogs a few yards over being let out and they were barking like crazy. Lucky for me as the third Skunk showed himself now. He raced up the lawn towards the house, and then up the walkway to the front. A couple Raccoons scattered up the trees thanks to the dogs. Now it was my turn. I kept one eye on the two foraging to my left. Raccoons in the trees were watching me now. I swear I could hear them placing bets on my outcome as I passed the Skunks. LoL!

All went well as I hoped and really did expect to play out.

I stopped for a moment, watching the action under the feeder pole. Thanks to the dogs, I was now down to one Skunk and one Raccoon.

Good ground cover down there as you can see.

I think this is a great candidate for "CAPTION THIS"

Just as I was about to leave the area and go inside, one last photo opportunity presented itself...

I do wonder with all these Skunks about if our very nearby Great Horned Owl will ever find her way to our backyard? This species of Owl loves to feast on Skunks because they have no sense of smell. I recon the Skunk's bright white stripes even on the darkest of nights are like a bull's eye. It certainly would be a bitter sweet moment if it ever does happen. I have heard a Great Horned Owl from our backyard but yet to see one.

Spot the our local Owl?

Thanks for stopping in! I hope all of you in Southern Ontario are keeping cool through this nasty heat wave we are experiencing.