Wildlife around your house

A couple of days ago I caught a quick glimpse of a snake in the backyard, it wasn't one of the small grass snakes that I'm used to seeing.

 

No picture but we had a fisher cut across the hill about 1/4 mile from our house.
Our hens should be nervous.....

 

There are a lot of skunks now. This is a new thing. People with dogs and little kids are freaked out. I'm wondering what about the environment besides too many people, has helped the skunks become so plentiful?

Seeing many bunnies and raccoons, which is normal. The Canada Goose population is starting to blossom--that is entirely unwelcome.

 

One night not long ago, our dog brought a live opossum into the house.

We managed to get it back out again while it was still playing dead.

Once outside in the dark, it ran away.

 

Taken from my front door. No, it's not Molly and yes, it's a bit blurry. Not a chance in hell I'm asking Ms Bear to pose.

 

Don't mess with babies. Mamas are mean if you bug their babies. Some of us have scissors.

 

Yesterday I spotted what I think is soon to become a crow's nest from my office window.

Seeing as crows are, hands down, my favorite birds, I'm a little excited.

 

What makes them your favorite?

 

They always have been. They're beautiful, intelligent, social birds and I've always loved them.

 

My son loves them for the exact same reasons.

 

They are sadly not around my house, but the Cornell University red tail hawk chicks are starting to hatch, and they are unspeakably adorable. Go see!



Seriously, look at that face.

 

A pair of catbirds that has nested in my backyard for the past several summers has returned, and I am overjoyed.

I've already put out a bunch of raisins for them.

I've also been sitting on my back porch for about an hour, looking out on a yard that desperately needs to be mowed (I'm doing it tomorrow, I swear), and a bumblebee—I'm pretty sure it's the same one—keeps hovering in front of me about two feet away, then zooming away, then coming back to hover. If I had a better camera I'd try to take a picture, but for now I'll just stay fascinated by it.

 

Rescued this crazy little bastard from my cat (unfortunately, not before his detachable tail was maimed off of him). These little dudes are everywhere in Hawaii, but they eat a lot of bugs. He wasn't all that grateful for my saving of his life, but I let him go outside anyway.




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Found this much more pleasant and squishy little guy a little more recently. I love geckos, they're so cute with their little sucker-toes and big buggy eyes!
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Geckos (I think) love hanging out around our porch lights. At night the lights provide an all-you-can eat buffet.

 

just deer

 

Not around my house, per se, but I saw tons of great wildlife on two rides I did today:

On the first, a whole ton of turtle families sunning themselves on the logs sticking out of the waters of the C&O Canal, plus three or four Great Blue Herons and a number of families of Canada geese

On the second, a belted Kingfisher that took a midair dump about a foot away from where I was standing, several deer looking for Darwin award nominations for darting across the road in front of us, a copperhead poised in striking position in the middle of a dark dirt road, and this turtle, who was crouched over a hole in the ground and may have been in the process of laying... something.

 

No photo, but I saw a bald eagle cruising our neighborhood. By the time I grabbed the binoculars, and we got outside, it was flying away. My wife had her cell phone but it was too far away to even attempt a photo. Bald eagles will sometimes visit the Armand Bayou area, Johnson Space Center for reference, but I've never before seen one in our area.

 

I got all kinds here in the mid west, we have moles to hawks and almost all indigenous species within a couple miles. I love the country life