Right There in Black and White

Striped skunk (Seneca Falls, NY 3/11)

I checked my three camera traps today and got some nice skunk photos from last night. At 11:34, this skunk passed the camera and at 12:59, a DIFFERENT was photographed going in the other direction. As you can see we had some snow last night but it was melted by the time I checked the cameras. I have yet to have a bad experience with skunks. I have been way too close on several occasions, yet not sprayed. It really is a last-resort defense. Click on the photo above and check out the long front
claws typical of striped skunks.

Striped skunk (Seneca Falls, NY 3/11)

When Danika was little, we had a "Tag Along" bike for her. Picture a bike with no front tire, attached to my bike like a trailer and you have the idea. She could peddle or free wheel and we went everywhere. Once, we rode out to Montezuma with Laura and on the way back, with Danika and I far in the lead, we came upon a skunk foraging right along the side of the road. Danika was enthralled and asked if she could get closer. I told her to quietly get off and slowly walk towards the skunk, but if it changed what it was doing in any way to stop. If it lifted its head, retreat! Well, she crept up closer and closer until she was about 15 feet away (It was at that point that I wondered if a five-year-old would try to pet a skunk). That was the extent of her comfort zone. She stopped and quietly watched the skunk for a few minutes. I will never know how close that skunk was going to allow her to get, nor will I ever know how long Danika's patience would've lasted because it was then that Laura caught up to us and put a quick end to the great skunk experiment of 2001!