Wildlife...

Unknown

Might as well ask, I got another thread off topic (sorry).

What type of wildlife have you seen hanging around your house or close to it?

Wild animals.

boston1450

deer. moose. and some darn groundhog thats gotta move elsewhere

Systems

I have seen some Nutria's around here that look like they have been pumping iron!
Serious "beaver like" weightlifter looking animals.
Not sure we have groundhogs around these parts.

tonyb

Love wildlife, and thats the reason I bought my house so I can have them trampling through the yard. Deer, coyote, possums, red fox, racoons. I swear there's some type of bobcat out there too. At times during a late summer night, there's sounds that come out of the woods that you only hear at the zoo. My neighbor thinks it's a cougar, but I think the only cougars we have are of the other type....wink wink. Along with a variety of birds, Herons, Hawks, Owls, woodpeckers, bluejays, Cardinals, finches, hummingbirds, warblers, and plenty others. The bucks in late fall are massive, watching them chase the females is hilarious as they all look for a place to hide. We have had one crippled deer for about 7 years now, can't run, has a very visible knot on her front knee. She cruises the front yards, munching on whatever she can because she knows in the woods she's dead meat. We all let her eat the hosta's, tops of the tulips and such, it grows back.

For me anyway, it adds to the scerenity of the property and relaxes ones soul to see nature at work. I realize it's not everyones thing but for me it works.

It's funny how the animal world knows whats a predator and whats not. My GS dog, knew the deer where not and viewed them as just a big dog. Since my yard is shaded most the day, it's cool and the deer will lay down and nap. My GS had no problem and they not with him. He'd slowly walk up to a deer laying down and give it a kiss. Now a coyote, I knew was around by the tone of his growl.

Coyote are some of the best pack hunters you'll see, clever suckers. They lay in wait in the tall brush, stalking my neighbors small dogs. I've also seen one let himself be seen and then chased by my GS, only to draw him into a waiting ambush. Needless to say, that ambush needed a few more coyotes, they all scattered. Since then, I never let him chase one again. My wife bless her soul, is nuts. At night, you can hear screams when the coyote's catch something. My wife goes running out into the woods, pitch black out there, yelling. I keep telling her she's crazy, grab a shovel, something.....don't go running into a pack of coyotes empty handed....in the dark yet. I think now she realizes how dangerous that is.

Our deer bowl has been light on the fruit since I bought a juicer. Nuthin' like fresh juice guys. The deer however, missing that in their bowl, look at me as if to say...."Hi ....hope your f%&king juicer breaks". Needless to say 2 weeks later, it actually did break. All is right with the world again through the eyes of a deer.

mark090852

Deer, deer, and more deer. Turkey and bears, too. We can't leave the garbage cans outside overnight at all because of the bears. In cooler weather that is not so bad, but with the summer heat the garage gets to smelling really bad.

tonyb

Bears.....we have the Chicago Bears.:cheesygrin:

Would love to have some bears....the wife would think they are Teddy bears. LOL !! She would be out there with milk and honey for 'em.

drumminman

Enjoyed that post, tonyb.

Down here we see on a regular basis deer (including an albino), foxes, possums, squirrels, beaver, some furry creature I'm not sure of, too many skunks. We're supposed to have a lot of coyotes, though I don't think I've seen any.

Lots of red tailed hawks, falcons, occasional bald eagles, wild turkey, plenty of buzzards.

We have the occasional black bear in our neighborhood.

Good thing squirrels are plentiful as my Staffie thinks its great sport to kill 'em. He doesn't seem that quick, but the count so far is Otis 4, squirrels 0. We call him Otis the wonder dog, as in if he's out of sight I wonder what trouble he's getting into

Drenis

Well living in the city here... most excitement I get is when I see the ODD raccoon.

heiney9

Deer, coyote, possum, wild turkeys, even saw a small red fox awhile ago, but just once, canadian geese, raccoons and various breeds of birds, lots of Cardinals which is the IL state bird. I live in the city but have some woods around me. The wild turkeys stopped major traffic on a 4 laner through the city just earlier this week.

cnh

Here you go, boys! Wild Life. Paul McCartney

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47xwQlrIF-k

cnh

obieone

rabbits, and what I believe is a whooping crane. I don't care if it's endangered, that thing wakes me up at night, just one more time....

BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!

EndersShadow

Lots of birds due to our bird feeders: Sparrows, Pigeons, Robins, and hopefully some Hummingbirds, blue-birds later this year.

Other than that, lots of squirrels, chipmunks too.

tonyb

drumminman wrote: »

Enjoyed that post, tonyb.

Down here we see on a regular basis deer (including an albino), foxes, possums, squirrels, beaver, some furry creature I'm not sure of, too many skunks. We're supposed to have a lot of coyotes, though I don't think I've seen any.

Lots of red tailed hawks, falcons, occasional bald eagles, wild turkey, plenty of buzzards.


We have the occasional black bear in our neighborhood.

Good thing squirrels are plentiful as my Staffie thinks its great sport to kill 'em. He doesn't seem that quick, but the count so far is Otis 4, squirrels 0. We call him Otis the wonder dog, as in if he's out of sight I wonder what trouble he's getting into

Bald Eagles....along the Fox river by me for some reason we suddenly have about half a dozen. Beautiful birds. Now skunks and squirrels.....my GS used to eat them along with rabbits for desert. Nothing like looking in your yard from an elevated deck and saying to yourself, "WTF is that now ?" Then as you go see you find a carcass that looks like it just came back from the butcher. Just skin and bones. The wife used to scream the first time she saw the dog playing with a rabbits head, tossing it in the air and catching it like it was a ball. She'd call me at work..."You know what your son did ?" In reference to the dog. "No, what now ?" He...he...ate a rabbit." "How do you know he actually ate it ?" I know at this point to move the phone away from my ear. " Because I can't find any other parts of the 'effing rabbit.....I'm gonna kill him, plus he's going to get sick from eating it.? " Calm down honey, what do you think dogs ate before people started feeding them ? They didn't have puppy chow trees ya know." This is usually followed by, "Your cleaning it up when you get home....click."

Now, she's a pro at it. Gets the shovel and cleans up the Dexter like yard every so often. Dead moles, squirrels, chipmunks, birds, possums, and any other unidentifiable creature laying out there. The wife loves wildlife as much as me but was never exposed to the cruelty that nature sometimes displays. Kinda like eating beef, but never seeing how that steak came to your plate from a living cow.

Still we both enjoy nature, wildlife as it's suppose to be. Something about it brings you closer....to what I dunno, but you definately feel more grounded and humble at the same time.

mhardy6647

besides the normal nuisance critters and lots of bird species, we get foxes, deer, turkeys, weasels, and fishers (a large, very dark colored weasel) more or less frequently depending on the species. Black bear have been seen in the general vicinity occasionally, but we've yet to see one (or evidence of one's passing through - i.e., devastated bird feeders).