walkswithblackflies
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Post by walkswithblackflies on May 14, 2018 7:52:54 GMT -8
A little background: I live on the edge of a village... "sub-rural"", I guess. I have around 3/4 acre of lawn, and 3/4 acre of woods that is transforming to lawn under a relatively high density of trees (ash borer beetle is killing off the ash, which made up 50% of the trees... I mow to keep weeds/bugs down). I live on a creek, with hardwoods and swamps to the north and southeast, village to the west and southwest, and an alpaca farm to the east.
Off the top of my head, I've seen the following in my yard:
Black Bear
Coyote
Gray Fox
Red Fox
Gray, red, and flying squirrels
Chipmunks
White-tailed Deer
Wood rat
Woodchuck
Mice, voles, and shrews
Eastern Cottontail Rabbit
Porcupine
Marten
Beaver
Fisher
Long-tailed Weasel
Mink
Muskrat
Raccoon
River Otter (possible)
Striped Skunk
Bats
Water and garter snakes
Snapping and red-eared turtles
Several species of frogs, toads
Redbacked and blue-spotted salamanders, and Eastern newts
Typical birds at feeder (blue jays, cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches, finches, wrens, doves, etc.)
Northern Mockingbird (first appearance January 2022)
Great blue herons
Green heron
Bittern
Kingfishers
Swans, geese, ducks... including mergansers and wood ducks
Eastern Bluebirds (threatened)
Woodpeckers, including the pileated
Owls. A great horned occasionally hoots from the chimney outside our bedroom window. It's a nice way to wake up.
Several species of hawks (redtails and coopers are the most common), and a neighborhood golden eagle
Turkey (once had a battle-royale of toms in our backyard)
Countless species of insects and worms and spiders, including the ground-dwelling yellowjackets that live just to sting me
Slugs and snails
After the creek flooded my yard: pike, perch, and trout. LOL!
Loon
What animals make your yard home?
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rebeccad
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Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on May 14, 2018 9:43:11 GMT -8
I have a pretty seriously urban back yard (strictly speaking, it's a suburb, but the cities go on for miles in every direction except that one that ends in the ocean). But there is the strip of coastal open space a half mile off, and clumps of undeveloped stuff around the nearby schools. So I see more than I might. Off the top of my head:
raccoons
skunks
rats
assorted birds (I see raptors in the neighborhood, but my yard is too small for them to get into), including hummingbirds
salamanders
bugs and spider
bees going ape in the ceanothus bush
feral cats :(
I think that's it. Not much, but not bad for a tiny yard surrounded by other tiny yards and streets.
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foxalo
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Life is infinitely stranger than anything the mind could invent.---Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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Post by foxalo on May 14, 2018 10:07:47 GMT -8
Since I've moved around a bit, the critters I've seen in my yard(s) vary.
*There have been various kinds of birds depending on the state we were living in at the time. The coolest were indigo buntings, pileated woodpecker, and bobwhites in Arkansas.
*Various reptiles, and amphibians, several of which were saved from the pool.
*A family of rabbits
*Deer
*Squirrels, chipmunks and other rodent-like animals
*Raccoons
*Opossums
*Foxes
*Armadillos
*And of course all the different insects, spiders and crawling things. The South has some pretty cool bugs.
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Post by ecocentric on May 14, 2018 11:08:23 GMT -8
I live on a creek that flows out of a parcel of Indiana state forest. I see lots of deer, skunks, coyotes, and an occasional red fox. I like to go out in the snow and see what I've been missing. I've often seen mink foot prints, but never the mink, until just a couple of weeks ago while quietly sitting on the stream bank with my camera. This is the pool where the mink has a den. I wish we had black bear.  Here is the mink.  |
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walkswithblackflies
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Post by walkswithblackflies on May 14, 2018 11:37:06 GMT -8
We always know when the pileateds are around. They sure like to announce themselves. I saw one totally "destroy" a 2' high by 2' diameter rotting stump in about one hour. He was pulling out some huge grubs. |
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foxalo
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Life is infinitely stranger than anything the mind could invent.---Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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Post by foxalo on May 14, 2018 13:53:01 GMT -8
The one I saw in my backyard was at eye level. I had just happened to be walking past my back door when I saw it. That was before cell phones had cameras, so I had to run and get my regular camera. I didn't get a great picture of it.
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Post by hikingtiger on May 16, 2018 11:46:24 GMT -8
I just edited your list as I felt too lazy to retype it. lol
Coyote...I've heard more at the neighbors (near their chicken houses) than seen in the yard
Gray squirrels
Chipmunks...didn't know we had them until the cat started bringing them to us.
White-tailed Deer...saw the first one Sunday
Mice, voles, and moles...again, thanks to the cat
Eastern Cottontail Rabbit...the only thing the cat brought us that wasn't dead
Marten...five of them most every day/night, though we spell it with an 'i' instead of an 'e' (wink, nudge)
Raccoon...not in my back yard, but I scared the crap out of a family of them two houses down coming back from a run one morning
Skunk
Bats
Water and garter snakes
Several species of frogs, toads
A myriad of birds
Countless species of insects and worms and spiders
Slugs and snails
Not on your list...(O)possum, armadillo (possum on the half-shell)
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Post by k9education on May 17, 2018 0:54:24 GMT -8
I wish we had black bear. We don't have many where I live (unenforced hunting laws largely to blame), but I'm drowning in them where I hike in NJ. |
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Post by cweston on May 25, 2018 5:24:56 GMT -8
We've only lived in the country since October, but I've seen almost all of the animals mentioned here, except black bear and some of the small ground mammals.
We live on a lake, in a forested area (both a bit unusual in Kansas), so we get a great mix of waterfowl, birds of prey, and songbirds, as well as terrestrial animals.
The most commonly seen ones, after birds and squirrels, are deer and coyote.
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walkswithblackflies
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Post by walkswithblackflies on Jun 1, 2018 12:06:34 GMT -8
Not on your list...(O)possum How'd I miss that one? You ain't lived 'til you've been horrified-awake by a possum fight outside your bedroom window. |
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Post by hikingtiger on Jun 4, 2018 6:09:50 GMT -8
How'd I miss that one? You ain't lived 'til you've been horrified-awake by a possum fight outside your bedroom window. Right? Nothing like that. I usually just find them when they've gotten into the garage and are sitting there eating the cat food (sometimes while the cats watch.) I grab them up by the tail, put them in a pet carrier and relocate them a couple of miles down the road. They supposedly eat tons of ticks, so I just give them the opportunity. |
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Post by cweston on Jun 4, 2018 6:44:46 GMT -8
They are ugly and DUMB. I did not know that they eat ticks. I will roll out the red carpet for them, in that case.
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foxalo
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Life is infinitely stranger than anything the mind could invent.---Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Posts: 2,359
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Post by foxalo on Jun 4, 2018 7:03:23 GMT -8
They are ugly and DUMB. I did not know that they eat ticks. I will roll out the red carpet for them, in that case. Never judge a book by its cover!  |
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walkswithblackflies
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Resident terrorist-supporting eco-freak bootlicker
Posts: 6,926
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Post by walkswithblackflies on Jun 4, 2018 8:49:28 GMT -8
Another little known fact: Although it's possible for a possum to get rabies, it's extremely rare. Their low body temperature makes it hard for the virus to survive in their system.
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walkswithblackflies
Trail Wise!
Resident terrorist-supporting eco-freak bootlicker
Posts: 6,926
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Post by walkswithblackflies on Jun 4, 2018 8:50:45 GMT -8
My daughter saw a silver fox this weekend. I never new they are nothing but a rare color pattern of a red fox.
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