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| Well, the thread about all the dead animals people have found in their gardens is a little depressing. So on a much happier note, I am wondering what sort of *live* animals you have encountered in your yard or garden? Bonus point if you have photos.
(I apologize in advance if this topic has already been covered - I'm new here!) Our favorite sighting by far was a badger. He spent about three days hanging around and he was a sight to see. But mostly we just have deer and cats. Occasionally they spend time together!
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| karin - what a precious photo! No pics, but we have a groundhog who has lived in our yard for years - we named him Hoover (after the vacuum cleaner) because of his habit of climbing onto a low tray type bird feeder and scarfing the birdseed. We regularly have racoons, skunks, squirrels, occasionally chipmunks, and presumably shrews although we've only seen dead ones. No deer, or badgers!! Jan |
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| What a sweet photo. I have every imaginable critter there is in my yard. I could fill up a couple pages of a critters. Here are a few. |
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| No photos, but lots of critters! Deer, of course, and turkeys, pheasants, rabbits, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, chipmunks, mice/voles, snakes, chickens (the neighbors chickens across the street get loose occasionally) and do I need to even say squirrels? Or dogs and cats, for that matter, lol? And birds of all sorts, including hawks, vultures, owls plus those mentioned above. And bats. When the kids were young we used to sit on the front steps in the summer evenings and watch the bats circle the house. Great picture, Karin! Dee |
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| I would KILL to have a turkey in my yard. They are so cool. I have squirrels and squirrels and a few more squirrels and in reality - a whole mess of squirrels. Rabbits have become a rarity for some unknown reason (thank God), but I do have at least one raccoon. I've never seen him, but his damage to my pond is proof of his existence. Did I mention I have squirrels? Kevin |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Mon, Aug 6, 12 at 10:44
| Still trying to get a pic of a hummer although I see it (them?) about every day. Squirrels and a TON of different birds. Saw an armadillo running across the front yard early one morning this spring. Also see a ton of other butterflies (besides the one pictured below) but too lazy to take pics of them the past few years. Had a pic of a Mediterranean house gecko sleeping in the hose reel box but can't find it at the moment... Woodpecker Gulf fritillary on Lantana Toad jumped out of this pot while repotting: Baby anole on Begonia leaf: Adult anoles in love: Skink: |
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| We have the usual assortment plus a few that are more unusual. There have been bear sightings in my neighborhood, although fortunately I haven't seen any. One did move my filled grbage can once and rummaged through it. On my one way to my favorite nursery, I had to stop once as a turkey calmly stepped out from the suburban yards on one side of the road and walked across the street to the woods. And finally, I accidentally uncovered a rabbit den in the middle of my garden as I was doing spring clean up. I don't know who was more startled - me or mom! Here's a picture of the babies from the next day:
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| Great photos! We don't have woodchucks anymore. We have seen a bobcat a few times, usually see a bear once or twice a year, most recently when we had visitors and the kids spotted him about 100 yds away. Sometimes we watch a porcupine grazing. Deer are frequent visitors but don't usually get close to the garden. We've seen eastern coyotes fairly frequently. Once a moose. One winter we saw an unusual animal scurry across the field. I think it may have been a river otter.My husband thought it was a fisher cat. We keep binoculars handy. We have at least one brazen, tomato chomping chipmunk but the squirrels don't usually come around until winter and the bird feeders are out. Our town was one of the towns in NH where wild turkeys were re-introduced quite a few years ago (70s?). Right now we've seen two hens with chicks. One has 3 chicks about the size of pigeons. The other only has one chick about the size of a robin. They spend more time in flocks during the winter. We know we have a skunk fairly close. |
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| Great photos, everyone! |
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| Wow, what interesting photos and lists of animal visitors! Purpleinopp, you have a way with the camera - very nice. The green anole on the red begonia leaf is terrific. And those baby bunnies A2Z, adorable. I like the little white streak on the tops of their heads. We've had some good bird visitors lately. We had a big family of gray partridges the other day. Mom and Dad kept sharp lookout on top of a stone wall while about 9 chicks did some exploring and pecking on various things. This morning we had a hummingbird stop by and perch on our 2nd story balcony railing. It seems so out of place to see a hummingbird perched. Totally cute! There are hanging planters of bright red geraniums so he was enjoying the flowers. We had some less cute visitors this spring when a pair of crows nested in the yard behind ours. They have a gross habit of dismembering other birds that they had caught and they took to doing that on our birdbath. It was a really disgusting sight to see during the morning coffee/garden walkabout rounds. But it's all part of nature so it is interesting even if disturbing. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Aug 7, 12 at 8:51
| Thanks for the compliments, Karin! I will pass them on to my honey, he's the photographer. The two fuzzy ones are my pics (skink and toad) with my phone. And forgot to include this wren nest yesterday (in the no-longer-used mailbox on the front of the house):
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| Deer, deer, and more DEER, rabbits, skunks (based on scent, no visual), lots of feral cats, birds, the rare human sighting, a beautiful red fox, racoons, and a groundhog the size of a mature capybara. |
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| On Saturday, there was a hummingbird imposter feeding on my petunias. A beautiful hummingbird moth. My first time seeing one. Way cool. |
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| Love those moths. Amazing how much they look like hummingbirds in their shape and movement pattern. Purpleinopp, those eggs look like fancy chocolate truffles! |
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| What a terrific thread! We live outside DC and are lucky to have several wooded acres behind our home. We have deer, raccoons, opossums, and all the normal everyday critters. Also, a coyote. Overrun with chipmunks which are causing our flagstone path out front to collapse along with areas around the foundation-hate those rodents. The other morning, very early, I was filling the bird feeders and heard what sounded like a dog, but maybe a hurt one. Thought one of ours was the pup in trouble, but they had run to the back fence and were looking to the woods. Got them in and walked down to a neighbor's house where it is easy to get into the woods. When I was partway back , there was a little fox barking at the edge of their yard next to the woods. So cute. I have seen the adult ones, but this little fellow was young. We looked at each other and then he headed down the hill to the safety of the trees. I do love having the animals share space with us, but wish we left more wild spots for them. Our woods will likely be developed within the next ten years. Can't begin to say how sad I will be when that happens. |
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- Posted by tsugajunkie z5 SE WI (My Page) on Wed, Aug 8, 12 at 22:18
| Well, not actually in my garden but the pix were taken from my garden... Great Blue Heron 30 feet up in the neighbor's Norway Spruce tree.
Red Fox in another neighbor's yard.
tj |
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| Great pics all. I wish I we had a fox or two. We need them to cull the deer herds. We are getting over run with deer and they are destroying the gardens and trees. |
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| That's a nice looking fox! The last one running around my yard was so mangy that we weren't even sure what kind of animal it was for a few days. We had decided it was a chupacabra, but after a few more sightings agreed that it was only a fox after all, just a really sickly, mangy one. I never thought of robins as "wild"life, but here are a few pics. These darn bird nests are the only reason why there is still a pieris outside my picture window, a pieris that wants to grow like Jack's beanstalk but which I keep whacking down to 6 or 8 feet. My family does not want me to take away the seemingly-favorite place in the yard for nests! These are from two winters ago, taken through the picture window.
This is my favorite - love the little guy in the lower left! Bunnies to come! Just need to find the photos! Dee |
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| Marquest, our foxes have gotten rid of rabbits which makes me sad, but ours aren't near big enough to take down a deer. Not sure what has done away with the feral cats-could be the fox or the coyote, I guess. Wonderful pictures everyone! |
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| Here are the bunnies! Two years ago, I went out to my raised beds, in which I had planted a winter cover crop of vetch. Me being me, I never turned it under when I should have, and so it was well over 18 inches tall when I finally got around to tending to it. There was a big indentation in one part of the vetch, and lots of fur. These beds are cinder block, two levels high, so I was kind of confused as to what caused the big indentation - did a deer fall over into the bed? LOL, it was odd, to say the least. So I just happened to show my husband to see if he could figure it out. So he picked up a stick and poked at the fur, not wanting to touch it with his fingers. Well, we got the shock of our lives when the fur poked back, lol! We must have both jumped back a few feet in surprise! Then it dawned on us that this was a nest! But a nest of what? These teeny tiny little heads poked out and they were so small we couldn't figure out what they were. I thought perhaps chipmunks, my DH thought squirrels, mostly because of the grey fur. It wasn't till a few days later that the little critters morphed enough to tell that they were rabbits! While I was over the moon with how friggin cute they were, I also groaned because I had visions of my destroyed garden (even though it wasn't even planted yet!) What luck - a nest of goodness knows how many rabbits smack in the middle of my veggie garden. DH says, "You want me to take care of them?" I laughed and asked who he was, Tony Soprano? But I couldn't harm these little things. How could I? And luckily for me, they grew up and moved away. Never had a bit of damage... thank goodness! A few days after we found the nest: Another few days later: And still another few days:
As cute as these little guys were, I'm content to look at the pictures and hope that I don't find anymore in my vegetable garden! Dee |
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- Posted by socks12345 Zone 9 (My Page) on Fri, Aug 10, 12 at 10:26
| Our usuals are skunks-opossums-raccoons. It's the suburbs here, and I have no idea how the poor things survive, but they do. No deer, no rabbits. Birds: jays, doves, hummers, black phoebes, finches, sparrows, hawks, murders of crows, and flocks of screeching parrots. Occasional flyover of Canada geese. We have had a bumper crop of lizards the past few years. Saw a little 1-incher recently, so cute. |
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