Yesterday I saw a fisher cat! I'm not kidding, Martens pennanti, not 3 feet away from me and Oom.
Here's what I'm talking about:
There we were, on the wild side of our property which, upgrade, is an alder swamp, and, closer to my brook, becomes a marshy shrubby area where we planted lots of red osier dogwood this spring. I was on the scent of something interesting in a brushy bunch of crunchy dead grass, and Oom was two paces behind me, standing and doing whatever it is humans do when they stare into space.
All of the sudden, this incredible distant relative of mine, came loping out of the alder swamp, passed right by me on his way to my brook. He didn't stop to look at me, or Oom who I could tell was trying to decide when to pick me up, but he knew we were there. He just wasn't gonna fuss about it. He had stuff to do and knew we were friendlies.
As soon as he passed us, Oom scooped me up and I scrambled to her shoulders, though she held on to my tail. We were both a little surprised, wondering if we should be a little scared, but mostly we just wanted to watch the big guy more. And he was BIG. I'd say 2 cat bodies ears to butthole, Oom says that's about 2 1/2 to 3 feet. Plus the awesome tail...gorgeous, glossy, fluffy thing. I was a bit jealous.
The big furry dude made two aborted crossings of the brook. Right before this, Oom was thinking, surely this isn't a fisher, maybe it's a mink? But after we saw him shy away from the shallow but fast water (confirmed after checking the animal picture books later in the house), we were both on the same page: fisher!
After the two aborted crossings, he doubled back right in front of us and pawsed, giving us a casual look while no more than 5 feet away. Then he was on his way, loping along our side of the brook into the neighbor's territory. We lost sight of him, but he must of found a dry crossing, and we glimpsed him on his way up into the forest headed toward the Sentinels.
It has made me reassess my use of my territory. It is a shared space. This morning, before heading into the field, I scoped the wild area from the hillock just behind the house.
And, now, I look over my shoulder a bit more.
But mostly, I'm excited that animals like bobcats, turkeys, foxes, broadwinged hawks, and fishers like our little world as much as we do. And I'm glad I'm a cat with a home who gets to go Out but always with at least one of my people.
