hummingbirds, young buck and grey fox

Lisa's mother bought us a hummingbird feeder on Thursday and we hung it outside our kitchen window. Within an hour or so they had found it; one male and two females have been visiting it regularly.

We sat on the front porch for several hours yesterday afternoon and into the evening. I played my guitar out there for a while and we waved at the many vehicles driving by, many loaded up with camping equipment on their way to a weekend in the wilderness.

At one point it came into my mind to cross the street to look at the spring that forms a pool at the edge of the road. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a young whitetail buck, velvet on its small antlers, lying dead and half-eaten at the edge of the pool.

The flora in and around the pool had been trampled down. Something had been busy in there.

This morning I went across again to see the deer. It was gone! Then I heard noises in the brush, and could see the tops of the brush moving. I moved a couple of feet down the road to get a better vantage point and saw a large grey fox feeding on the carcass and dragging it further up into the undergrowth, away from the water.

The fox looked very healthy and well-fed. Not too surprising given the lush forest on the mountain where it lives.

Last night Rocko woke me up with a loud bark from the side of the bed; he trotted over to the next room and stuck his head out the window. The hounds at our neighbor's farm were barking, too, and it sounded like foxes were barking on the other mountain - the one behind us.

Life in the Pisgah National Forest is wonderful. We are blessed.