Before they started tearing down all the abandoned and burned out houses in the neighborhood, I used to enjoy walking about at dusk and watching the bats streak about the sky, sucking up all the annoying bugs that plague us in the hellish summers of Detroit. They’re all but gone now that those houses are gone. Sad, really. I miss them.
It’s odd living in a completely urban environment and encountering wildlife on an almost daily basis. This morning there were half a dozen wild turkeys walking about in the empty lot next door to me. I watched them out the window, watched as a large ginger cat stalked them. Silly cat. Those birds were 3 times his size. When he finally made his move, they turned on him en masse and chased him up a tree. The turkeys are gone but the poor cat is still up there. I may have to break out the ladder and rescue him if he doesn’t find his way back down soon.
In the early morning, both here and at Eliza Howell park, there are two Canadian Geese that fly over head honking their heads off. I’m pretty sure it’s always the same two though who knows. Sometimes they are joined by several dozen others, flying in that V formation. It used to be that dozens of Geese would flock in the football field at the park. I think they may have gotten tired of being chased by dogs as I rarely see them there any more.
White Tailed Deer are not something one would expect to see in an urban setting, but you sure as hell can expect to see them here. I have woke up early in the morning to see them in my front yard. In my early morning neighborhood walks with Jessie, we have flushed up to a dozen at a time from the empty lots around here. I’ve seen foxes, snowy owls, rabbits, raccoons, groundhogs and opossums, even the occasional coyote in the winter (but never the road runner, not yet anyway).
There aren’t a lot of things I like about being back in the city of my birth. The winters are too harsh for too long, the summers are hellish with humidity and bugs and spring lasts a week or two if you’re lucky. The only decent season here is fall. Probably why I want to get back to Albuquerque so badly. But, when I finally do make my move I will miss Eliza Howell park and the constant parade of urban wildlife around here.
