{"id":42660,"date":"2026-09-22T01:13:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T05:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/?p=42660"},"modified":"2026-09-22T01:13:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T05:13:21","slug":"estate-finds-64-65","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/2026\/09\/estate-finds-64-65\/","title":{"rendered":"Estate Finds 64 &#038; 65"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A twofer, except they&#8217;re both half-assed, no real luck with the video this time, so consider these a teaser until I get better evidence. The video will illustrate it well enough.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1229047793?badge=0&amp;autopause=0&amp;player_id=0&amp;app_id=58479\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" title=\"Estate Finds 64 &amp; 65\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/api\/player.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>So, right after we first moved in, we&#8217;d found some fox scat on the driveway, and then not another sign at all, save for a neighbor telling us she&#8217;d seen one in the past. When I&#8217;m in the upstairs bathroom window watching for the morning activity of the wood ducks, the view down lower, closer to the house, is largely blocked because I stand back from the window so the ducks are less likely to see me. So the grey fox (<em>Urocyon cinereoargenteus<\/em>) appeared rather abruptly on the path leading down to the water&#8217;s edge, before I&#8217;d even seen any sign of ducks<strong>;<\/strong> the camera and microphone were switched off because of this, and the fox didn&#8217;t wait around as I was correcting this. Thus the abysmal clip.<\/p>\n<p>[Note<strong>:<\/strong> red foxes and grey foxes would be distinguishable by the overall color of their coats, you would think, but this is hardly the case. Both often sport a good mix of red and grey throughout, so the only dependable way to tell them apart is, red foxes have a white tailtip, just like the cartoons, while grey foxes have a black strip that runs down their entire spine and to the tailtip. To date, I believe I have only seen grey foxes anywhere in NC<strong>;<\/strong> this is not to say they&#8217;re the only species around, only that they&#8217;re the one I&#8217;ve had the privilege of seeing.]<\/p>\n<p>Also, while it occurred well out of sight a few hundred meters distant, I&#8217;m fairly certain the cat squall was only a warning and not the cat falling prey to the fox, though there&#8217;s a decent chance it was indeed from an encounter<strong>;<\/strong> cats have a distinctive warning cry, different from when they&#8217;re injured. Foxes tend to take smaller prey like field mice and small birds, since they&#8217;re only marginally bigger than cats to begin with &#8211; fluffier, but pretty lean under that coat. Would they take a wood duck? Perhaps, especially since those are smaller and possess no defensive measures. But a nutria, even a small one? Unlikely. A house cat? Also unlikely &#8211; house cats are fierce fighters. I wouldn&#8217;t rule either out, but foxes really do seek other, easier meals.<\/p>\n<p>As for the wild turkeys (<em>Meleagris gallopavo<\/em>,) The Girlfriend was the one that spotted them while I was napping, quickly waking me because of course, and my initial view was of all four collecting on the lawn leading down to the pond&#8217;s edge, a near-perfect view. The camera equipment was still tucked away in Deep 13 from an unsuccessful project the day before though, down two flights of stairs, so by the time I arrived and set up, the turkeys had moved along. After the brief clips, I did go down onto the deck, and then down in the yard, to chase frames as they moved on.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/NotTheGrassThanks.jpg\" alt=\"female wild turkey Meleagris gallopavo peeking from tall grasses on Walkabout Estates\" width=\"750\" height=\"1038\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42662\" \/><br clear=\"all\"\/>Since I was handholding the long lens at this time, I wanted to count on autofocus so I could have a steadier grip without playing with the focus ring (which is, unhelpfully, towards the <em>base<\/em> of the lens,) but the environment simply wouldn&#8217;t allow it and focus went all over the place, so I had to switch to manual. This meant few sharp images, especially when there was virtually no perspective that wasn&#8217;t semi-obscured by foliage. Again, proof of their presence, but none of these are going to become prints.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SurveillanceVid.jpg\" alt=\"trio of female wild turkeys Meleagris gallopavo disappearing into undergrowth at edge of property\" width=\"750\" height=\"522\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42663\" \/><br clear=\"all\"\/>At no time have we lived in an area that <em>didn&#8217;t<\/em> host wild turkeys, but my views of them have been few and far between, and I think I&#8217;ve only heard their calls once. Here&#8217;s hoping that this is the beginning of their visits, though we&#8217;ve had enough one-off species come by that I&#8217;m not holding my breath. The camera is staying ready on the tripod, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A twofer, except they&#8217;re both half-assed, no real luck with the video this time, so consider these a teaser until I get better evidence. The video will illustrate it well enough. So, right after we first moved in, we&#8217;d found some fox scat on the driveway, and then not another sign at all, save for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,3809],"tags":[4948,4049,945,6942,6940,4053,944,4947],"class_list":["post-42660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature","category-photo","category-video","tag-aix-sponsa","tag-grey-fox","tag-meleagris-gallopavo","tag-myocastor-coypus","tag-nutria","tag-urocyon-cinereoargenteus","tag-wild-turkey","tag-wood-duck"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42660"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42665,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42660\/revisions\/42665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}