Backyard wildlife

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Fun to read this thread.

I may be one of the people that Seeler referred to in the opening post.
We came from a city lot in the old area of town. Fairly large lot for the city, with rabbits residing under the shed, foxes that walked down the road to the railway tracks, and lots and lots of squirrels. (no rats, thank goodness). Mice would get into the house occasionally, bats lived in the trees and chimney of the old greenhouse. Standard birds. Lots of mosquitoes at times in the backyard. most folks complained about raccoons, but, we were pretty lucky

Now, we live in the country.
We have a lot less squirrels, rarely is there a mice to be seen.
We do have all other kinds of wildlife, including snakes, toads, frogs, more insects than i can begin to know, lots of birds of different types, then the bigger animals, saw a mole, saw raccoons a couple of times, hear coyotes and have caught them on the trail cam. See deer, lots of deer. See foxes sometimes. Birds include smaller hawks to eagles. Heard an owl the other night.
Something was being aggressive around our house in the evenings. Not sure what, but though our chipmunk population had grown, it is now way down.
 
Fun to read this thread.

I may be one of the people that Seeler referred to in the opening post.
We came from a city lot in the old area of town. Fairly large lot for the city, with rabbits residing under the shed, foxes that walked down the road to the railway tracks, and lots and lots of squirrels. (no rats, thank goodness). Mice would get into the house occasionally, bats lived in the trees and chimney of the old greenhouse. Standard birds. Lots of mosquitoes at times in the backyard. most folks complained about raccoons, but, we were pretty lucky

Now, we live in the country.
We have a lot less squirrels, rarely is there a mice to be seen.
We do have all other kinds of wildlife, including snakes, toads, frogs, more insects than i can begin to know, lots of birds of different types, then the bigger animals, saw a mole, saw raccoons a couple of times, hear coyotes and have caught them on the trail cam. See deer, lots of deer. See foxes sometimes. Birds include smaller hawks to eagles. Heard an owl the other night.
Something was being aggressive around our house in the evenings. Not sure what, but though our chipmunk population had grown, it is now way down.
Might be the owl. The barred owls make a racket when they're territorial. Not sure. Chipmunks are definitely on the buffet. They hunt with their owlets during the day.
 
I passed a woman yesterday walking a huge lumbering golden brown bulldog and a spry miniature dog with the same colour coat. They were a funny duo. I wanted to go back and take a photo, and title it "siblings", but I missed the moment.
 
My neighbour has frequently expressed her dislike of cats. The usual reasons - they kill the birds, they do their messes in the vegetable patch etc.. She putout unsuccessful traps.

Covid seems to have changed her mind and now she is trying to tame a local stray. Several times every day I hear her calling "Kitty, kitty, kitty" and clinking bowls of tempting food. Yesterday morning she told me she had bought Anti Flea pills online because Kitty is still unwilling to be touched. In the afternoon she shared that her hubby had surprised her with a pretty little cat house.

Confession - when she said that she didn't know why she was obsessed with this cat and spending time and money on it, saying things like "This just isn't like me "I ALMOST said "Nothing to get concerned about - it is just the Change".
 
just the Change ...

All that's left of the flying $ ... governing bills ... some cannot see fortunes going to support war mongers! Such is typical topo*gra*phix .. not simple black and white ... as it enters gray matter! Is grey manna a thing of trade or exchangeable? Who was critical of such trades without proper cause? Pah rabble ... it'll cost yah ...

Life is really a payne intuit situation ... thus root stories and wabbits!
 
So, I am sitting eating dinner tonight. My chair faces the tree on the West side of the deck. And I see:

20201011_182530.jpg

I have to say, they've been very quiet neighbours. I have stood near or even under that nest many times over the summer and never noticed them. In fact, I think I saw fewer wasps this summer than usual. Once winter comes so I can be sure they are finished, I will cut it down. Though I kind of like it. It fits in very nicely with the tree.
 
November 15, 2020 Sunday morning.



The sun shining in the den window's promise of a bright clear day – fresh air and sunshine, humidity below 50, a bit chilly for some, but my kind of weather.



I hear Seelerman chuckling in the kitchen and I know that he is sitting by the deck door, watching the backyard wildlife put on their show.



We both grew up in small villages surrounded by forest; the squirrels were small, and red, not much bigger than their chipmunk cousins. They were timid creatures mainly staying in the treetops, chattering away at anybody who passed by under their domain. It was only after we moved to the city that we became familiar with the big grey squirrels in our parks and backyards. Therefore, we were quite surprised when a little red squirrel began visiting our backyard where Seelerman fed the local birds and squirrels this summer. We worried when he stayed around. He would be no match we thought for the much larger greys. They would kill him.



But no, he is still here. In fact, he is the first one on the deck by the door when Seelerman rattles the doorknob and throws out the bread crusts and peanuts. He eats a few, then grabs one in his mouth and takes off: up onto the deck railing, the opening for the gate, along the railing and until he can jump into the maple tree; from there along the branches to where he can jump onto a fir tree and from there to the telephone line. The quick run along it, then a right turn along the wire the back of the property to a big poplar tree. Climbing up a few feet. He comes to a hole where a branch broke off in the storm last year. He stuffs his prize into the hole and reverses his journey back for another load.



In the meantime other visitors have come for some treats. Seelerman has put out a scattering of pumpkin seeds and two large blue jays and a fat grey squirrel are practising safe spacing as they checked out this unusual food. No one notices Little Red approaching until he is ready to launch himself from the railing to the deck. The blue jays are first to react and they immediately take flight providing enough distraction for the grey squirrel to escape across the deck, up to the railing and along it to the maple was l
Little Red on his tail. He only gave up the chase when he sensed the blue jays were returning and he had to put them to flight once again. Back and forth, he ran defending his territory until they seemed to give up. Now he had time to grab a mouthful of seeds and carried them away to his ladder.



On his return, he discovered the intruders again. And again great grey scampered away and the jays took flight, but this time they stopped in the bare branches of the maple tree.It's Little Red's maple tree! He took off at warp speed – deck, railing, overhanging branch, and up. Perhaps the jays thought they had an advantage, for they didn't leave the tree but kept flying from branch to branch, and little red seemed to be flying too as he leaped through the air a blurr of red. Then the Blue Jays cheated and took off across the open lawn.

Little red returned to his post defending his pumpkin seeds. At one point he seemed to be holding off three grey squirrels.



(Unbeknownst to little red, blue jays and discovered his hiding spot in the tree)
 
Our love of nature is winderful

i have started to follow on Instagram National parks in the USA. I love the photos. Makes me appreciate nature

my kids are big canoers and I live vicariously through their experiences. My daughter did a solo trip this year and I was in awe

today we saw nature with a temper. Wild winds and storms. But beautiful
 
It's my understanding that the reds are more related to the greys, and the black ones are a bit foreign to both. Here, I see conflicts between grey and black. Black are a bit more ubiquitous, but seem to "lose" to greys. Tons of chippies. I put out peanuts every day. Can't seem to find the "right spot" for feeders these days. I've tried a few places, a few types, so far, just not so much luck.
 
Haven't spotted anything particularly interesting around here. There are new rabbit tracks every morning - they come to clean up under the bird feeder. However, the next town along the highway seems to have a lynx. it has been seen on security cameras. Some residents seem to not have a cat anymore.
 
If you hang out on revjohn's fb page, you'll see lovely pictures of a hungry young lady moose. Very cute.
 
Some residents seem to not have a cat anymore.
Yeah, domestic cat vs. lynx would probably not go well for the domestic. Lynx are cute kitties, but pretty big compared to domestics. My son was obsessed with them for a while after doing a project on lynx for school.

Mostly just birds and squirrels around here. Have a jay hanging out in my yard, which is nice. Adds a splash of colour. I think I saw a cardinal the other day, too.
 
Here it is coyotes that are probably behind disappearance of small pets. We have an increasing population of them - in an urban area & they are less and less wary of people it seems.
 
Here it is coyotes that are probably behind disappearance of small pets. We have an increasing population of them - in an urban area & they are less and less wary of people it seems.
Vancouver had them too, in and around the south Cambie/ Queen Elizabeth park area. People were afraid for their cats.

And actually, I just remembered, there was an injured coyote, once, in the bushes in front of our apartment (where a raccoon family once lived too - maybe they ganged up on the coyote) in the West End that had to be removed by animal control officers. That one made it across town - or else, hopefully they're not populating Stanley Park. They'd have some competition in the woods there and on the North Shore, I think.
 
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Here it is coyotes that are probably behind disappearance of small pets. We have an increasing population of them - in an urban area & they are less and less wary of people it seems.
We supposedly have them over in the ravine down the street so if I had a pet, I would certainly be cautious. Never seen one, though.
 
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