Photos by Donna

The Oyster Cove community where I live is situated on a narrow peninsula surrounded by water, allowing us to experience birds galore which I enjoy sharing with you.  As I meander around the community, I’ve been photographing some of the critters that we also have amongst us.  Of course, we have the typical rabbits.   I’ve yet to photograph one, I never have my camera with me when I see one.  I had a neighbor tell me about a single deer that had gotten ‘trapped’ in our community and eventually jumped into the water and swam to shore on the other side.  He made it okay she said!  But about a week ago another neighbor said they had sighted a fox our vicinity.  I’ve been looking for the fox in the early morning when I ‘loop’ before leaving for work, but haven’t sighted him.  Hopefully, he has moved on to somewhere else, we really don’t want him around our other critters and birds!

First I’ll share Mr. Squirrel enjoying his breakfast.

Squirrel

We do have a few feral cats on the property.  Our management doesn’t do anything about them, and we have some neighbors that feed them.  So of course they are happy and have no reason to leave.  They are very skittish so it’s almost impossible to get close to one; and 95% of the time, they stay hidden out of sight.  I happen to catch this one out & about early one morning.  He heard my camera shutter, looked up, and was gone!  (UPDATE – His name is Lucky, he’s lived 10 years at OC, and he is neutered!)

“Lucky” a feral cat ‘resident’ of OC for 10 years!  (thanks Lucy for info!)

A few weeks ago I had spotted an otter alongside our property by the tennis courts from the highway but would miss him by the time I cruised into the community and over there.   With him enticing me and the weather being quite nice early in the mornings, when cruising my loop before work, I’ve been getting out of the car and walking down alongside the marsh and peering through the brush.  Finally, one morning I spotted one!  He was across the water inlet and as I started taking some photos, he began to swim across and directly at me.  🙂   (UPDATE –  now I’m questioning my ID on this critter, is he an otter or muskrat?)  (NEW UPDATE – it was a muskrat!)

Muskrat

Muskrat

Muskrat

He disappeared just below me and was gone.  I don’t even think he saw me.   As I looked up and around, another was approaching me.

Muskrat #2

Muskrat #2

 Muskrat #2

And then he/she was gone!  I wondered if they had a home below me in the embankment.  I’ve continued to look for them in the mornings and have them several times since.

One evening from my balcony, I noticed there was some movement in the water to my right.  At first, I thought it was a fish….until I saw all of him.

Snake

I don’t know snakes and tried to identify him with the next cropped shot but couldn’t.  It was the closest crop I could do without any more blurriness.  Probably too poor a shot but maybe someone might know what kind?

Snake

Finally, while photographing barn swallows and purple martins by the marina a few mornings ago, I happen to see a jelly fish in the water.  As he rose to the top, the sunshine was shining nice on him, and I wondered if I could actually get a decent photo, so I tried, taking a few dozen.  He continued to stay on top, pulsating around.  Excuse the dirty water!

Jelly Fish

Jelly Fish

Jelly Fish

Jelly Fish

I  haven’t had time to identify what type of jellyfish it was as yet.  But he was pretty and the sunlight on him was perfect!

Well, that begins my photo collection of the critters that roam around our community, I hope you enjoyed them.  And, as always, thank you very much for stopping by!