Like a lot of people here in rural Pennsylvania, I’m always interested in seeing wildlife, not just when I’m hunting or fishing, but anytime I’m out and about. Sometimes, however, it’s not just about seeing wildlife but where you saw it.

Let me explain. I was at my “branch office” (Dunkin in Muncy) the other day, and somebody pointed out the window and said there was a mink across the street in the grass right next to the busy intersection. When I first heard that, I thought it might be a groundhog, which would certainly not be unusual, but when I glanced across the street, sure enough, there was a mink romping about in the lawn only ten feet from the light at the very busy intersection. Now I have seen a fair number of minks over the years, but those sightings were usually deep in the woods while hunting or along some fairly secluded stream or river-this was indeed an unusual sighting. My guess is the mink was active along Muncy Creek on the opposite side of the road, and for some reason, it decided to pay a visit to the now much more developed other side of the road.

Sighting bald eagles in our area is certainly becoming much more common these days, and sightings can occur almost anywhere at any time. Usually, most people report seeing one or maybe a pair of eagles at any one time, but recently a friend of mine told me he counted five bald eagles circling over the top of his house; what’s interesting is that he lives near Muncy Creek at the edge of Hughesville. Sighting large numbers of bald eagles in one location is common in Alaska and some other states and even in some areas in Northeastern PA along the Delaware River, but circling around Hughesville is a bit out of the ordinary.

Speaking of seeing critters where you don’t expect to see them, I am reminded of the time I was driving out Route 220 towards Montoursville when I glanced to the right and saw a groundhog climbing up a small tree. Granted, the tree had a lot of low branches, but groundhogs live on or in the ground, thus the name “groundhogs.” While telling others of my unusual sighting, they too said they have seen groundhogs do the same thing.

I had a chance to view something really odd this past week. Angie, my daughter-in-law, and granddaughter, Adelle stopped by the house to tell me a red fox was hanging up high on a power line just down the hollow from our place; that’s what you are looking at in the photo that accompanies this article. Now I know foxes are very agile, but they are not capable of climbing telephone poles, and even if they were, they are not capable of pulling off what the Wallendas commonly do — walk tight ropes. The wire where the fox is hanging is 50 feet up in the air, so I doubt anybody threw the fox up onto the wire, which spawns the question, “How did the fox get draped over the line”? My guess is since the carcass appeared to be partially dried up and decayed, it was likely picked up by a large hawk or even an eagle and dropped as the bird flew over the line — what’s your theory?

In the meantime, I plan to be on the lookout for any other “critter situations” that might avail themselves — I’m sure there will be more to come.