A Visitor in the Night

      I have lived on this mountain for almost half a century. I recognize many animals by sound, not only by their howls and yips, but also by their step. I know the click of deer hooves and the heavy step of a bear. I know when a skunk is pattering across the deck and when it's a chipmunk, a squirrel, or a fox. So the other night when I heard a footstep I didn't recognize, I opened the back door and turned on the porch light to investigate.

      No one was there, of course. Whatever it was scampered off as soon as I opened the door. Nonetheless, I stood in the doorway and waited. And waited, listening, though there was no sound.

      Suddenly a little inquisitive head with large sharply pointed ears, popped over the step. He was looking at me, and I was looking at him, and I didn't know what he was.

      He was charcoal-tan and had darling dark eyes and pointy ears, big for his face, like a bat's. He was bigger but thinner than a squirrel, not as large as a raccoon. "Who are you?" I asked him, quietly, curiously. He stared at me without answering. "I don't know who you are," I said. "Who are you?"

       I waited. He waited. I waited. Then he turned tail and scurried off the porch and across the yard, switching behind him a beautiful, bushy tail, longer than the rest of his body, its black and white rings identifying him unmistakably as a ringtail cat.

      I was so honored! In all these fifty years I have only seen one other ringtail cat, not only because they're nocturnal but because they're supposedly shy of humans. And here was one, visiting me on my doorstep.

      I understand that miners in the old days used to tame them and keep them as mousers. That might be a good idea, except that I also understand that one of their defenses is to release a very foul-smelling secretion. Apparently they are also good acrobats and can even do cartwheels. I'd like to see that! They are related not to cats but to raccoons. If you want to know more about ringtail cats, Google "The cutest US mammal you've probably never seen," a blog post by Lisa Feldkamp. The photo above is also from her blog (Cool Green Science). I was too interested in communicating with my ringtail visitor to think about taking a picture.