As I was biking into school last week I realized that throughout my entire life in Wichita, I have lived very close to the river that flows through town. The places I have called home, all three of them, have literally been a stone's throw from the banks of the Arkansas (locally pronounced "Are-Kansas").
This occurred to me on my ride as the path took me along the river and I startled a beaver in the water. He quickly dove into the brown water and my view of him changed from a swimming nose to the characteristic large flat tail. This was my second wild beaver-sighting in here in Wichita (more than I ever saw in Oregon, the proverbial Beaver State); the first was shortly after I got married. I was taking out the trash at night and in glancing down the street I saw a very large, short-legged animal duck into the storm drain. By "large" I mean larger than most dogs, maybe the weight (but not height) of a St. Bernard. Again, the tail gave him away; definitely a beaver.
Last week on a bike ride along a storm-water canal running right through the center of the city my wife and I saw a fox running through the weeds and grass growing along the bottom. The bright orange was easy to follow but it moved quickly, faster than we could bicycle. This was also my second fox sighting, the first being along the same bike path by the river on the way home from school. The dark of the night and the quietness of my bike lead to a very startled orange blur moving from the bath into the bushes.
The birds here are different than where I grew up. I see cardinals every year, often in the winter and early spring. I grew up around blue jays and blue birds which are equally vibrant but somehow the cardinal red seems more special and unique; it feels like something I am privileged to see. There are owls that frequent the banks of the river near our house now. We hear them often at night with their characteristic hooting. The first time I heard them I didn't even notice as it seemed perfectly appropriate, like the right soundtrack cue was being played. I eventually noticed I don't live in a TV show and that this was the first time I had ever heard a live owl.
We even have birds of prey. Several times I've seen a hawk or falcon (I don't know which) flying through the neighborhood; there was even one on campus yesterday, hanging out on the lightpole. Famously, there is a bald eagle that has taken up residence at a small lake a few blocks south of our house. I haven't seen the bird myself but there is a regular small crowd at a nearby parking lot hoping to catch sight.
And of course there are rabbits. Many rabbits. My morning walk with the dogs is not complete without there multiple attempts to catch a rabbit. Most of the time the are frustrated by the leash before they get close enough to claim the spoils of a hunt. Occasionally they just aren't paying attention and a perfectly capture-able bunny escapes before they even know what happened. Our dogs love the thrill of the chase.
