It is dusk. As I water the plants, the light fades. I hear the frightened squeak of a squirrel on a nearby tree. I look to see why. It's unusual to hear a squirrel squeak like this at this time of the day. Is it a snake I wonder, or an early owl? The squirrel comes racing down the tree and runs past me. As I watch, I see a head poking down--a weasely sort of head and then an animal comes down the tree, so intent on the chase, it doesn't seem to notice me. I instinctively turn the hose on it, so that the squirrel can escape. The animal is startled and runs away. There is not enough light for me to see any markings clearly. The general shape is between that of a cat and a giant squirrel. It's probably a toddy cat and rare to see at that time in the day, it being very much a nocturnal creature. As usual, no photo!
* After some googling, I think what I saw was an Asian Palm civet.
HGM, you enjoy such great encounters with nature. I imagine you living in a setting similar to some books from Poornachandra Tejaswi. He stayed in Chickmanglur and has written a book about his experiences there. Its nice to read something different from the usual things we see day after day in this concrete jungle.
ReplyDeleteDee for U, where I stay is a small town in Kerala. It is rapidly filling up with multi-storied flats. But there are still some patches of greenery around and I live in one of them :-)
ReplyDeletelast night two raccoon visited our back deck. they were enjoying the bird seed dish. but your little adventure sounds much more interesting.
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