Wildlife in our backyards

[hubcapsc]

The Blue Ridge ends in the northern part of South Carolina,
I can see it over there... bears don't generally come around where
I live but there's plenty of them just a few miles away.

There's some foxes... the female was screaming out this creepy
mating song recently... some other stuff out in the woods makes
some pretty weird sounds... most of our animals (that I see) are
the normal squirrel, possum, racoon whatever kind...

-Mike

[Tnfiddler]

Coyotes are starting to become a major thing here in Middle Tn! They’ve always been here, but they seem to be getting larger in presence and MUCH closer to people’s homes.

[KevWind]

I checked "Any annoying or dangerous animal you can think of, we deal with" .
Because we do unfortunately have to occasionally deal with by far the most "Annoying" and by exponential magnitudes the most dangerous species on the planet, Homo Sapiens

Your poll however lacks one category about wildlife, that being the one that is the diametrically opposite category in perspective, to the last selection (which unfortunately represents one glaring and significant factor of things that are if fact "wrong with the world") Given it is we humans that are the illegal aliens, who have invaded , converted, and decimated, what was once natural wildlife habitat. There should be a "Feel privileged to able to be in close contact with wildlife" selection

Count us in that category we have Deer, Elk, Moose, Pronghorn Antelope, Black Bear, (Griz about 3-5 miles away) Bobcat, Lynx, Marten, Squirrel, Chipmunk, Fox , Coyote, (occasional) Wolf comes through, only once in 40 years a Mt Lion in our garage , Hawks , Eagles, Sandhill Cranes, Ducks, Geese, Jays, Robins , multiple song birds and Hummingbirds

My family has the perspective we have the privilege of temporarily borrowing some ground in the wild critters world

This is Kitty Kitty who came by for a short visit one winters morning

[MrDB]

Town ends at the end of our street and farms and wooded areas begin. So we have deer, turkey, fox and coyote sightings on occasion. Mostly we just have squirrels and rabbits along with the owls and hawks that hunt them.

[kkrell]

I'm smack in the middle of Los Angeles. We get coyotes, raccoons, skunks, opossums, domestic & feral cats, squirrels, mice, rats, hawks, falcons, crows and the rare small lizard. Perhaps a surprising amount of wildlife considering being in the city.

[frances50]

I live on a 54 acre lake in South Carolina. Deer eat everything so you can't really plant any pretty flowers or bushes that aren't fenced in. Snakes, Canadian geese, squirrels, raccoons, possums, moles, voles, rabbits, egrets, herons, ducks (which I love), skinks, rats and mice, owls, eagles, other birds of prey, beavers which damage trees by the water, you name it. No bears or alligators though.

[jpd]

The usual suburban racoons, squirrels, hawks, ...the real wildlife is the mess of oversized, lifted up, U.S. made trucks with NASCAR sound effects- and their totally bonkers owners

[Slothead56]

I can’t compete with Lions, tigers and bears (oh, my!). But I’ll share my tale nonetheless.

We have a second home on a barrier island in South New Jersey. It’s a resort town with about 11,000 permanent residents and Summer visitors numbering upwards of 200,000 on a weekend.

There are copious dunes and wetlands, as well as a State Park, on the island which support the usual mammal suspects-rabbits, possum, skunk....and foxes.

Last year it was discovered that some of the foxes had mange. I believe most of those afflicted were captured and destroyed. For some reason a very large percentage of the healthy foxes were relocated off the island.

Net? We are being overrun by bunnies. Without any natural predators they are breeding like...well, you get it.

Took my dogs for a 2-3 mile walk around town just after sunset last week and counted no fewer that 30 bunnies. They are brazen, fearless and everywhere.

The foxes are slowly making their way back (saw a couple in the dunes while on a bike ride) but it sure shows how disrupting the natural order has consequences!

[hairpuller]

We also get mountain lions, lots of deer, raccoons, and squirrels. We also have bats, rattlesnakes, opossums, and foxes. And here I live a mile from downtown.


scott

[DCCougar]

We live in the forest....

[KenL]

Let's see, on my little slice of the world I've actually seen deer (daily), coyotes, bobcats, antelope, one bear, and best of all about 25 elk wandered through one day. An elk herd of about 80 winters just below me in a preserve set aside for them.

Had evidence of a mountain lion kill right off my deck a couple of years ago. Of all the critters, that's the one I fear. About a mile up the county road from me is cougar country, lots of deer spines to be seen, perfect habitat for the lions. They've killed a couple of people in Colorado in the past decade or so.

I've yet to see a moose in my neighborhood, but they wander through a few times a year. I've seen scat and tracks. I'll keep my distance, but I hope to see one some day.

[Chickee]

A huge American Eagle just did a fly-by over the back yard. We have foxes, coyotes, rabbits, beavers, ground hogs, peregrine falcons, red tailed hawks, owls and a herd of fourteen does and two bucks. This is in north western NJ. Oh, i forgot the bats, raccoons, opossums. Yes, its like little wildlife zoo in the back yard.

[DanR]

I see squirrels and rabbits pretty much daily. My little town is a suburb of Detroit and is definitely not rural.

[fenderball]

my backyard includes the occasional shark, lots of stingray, occasional dolphin (think Flipper), tarpon, snook, amber jack, manatees, occasional sea turtle, pelicans, plus snakes, raccoons, squirrels, exotic lizards....love my south Florida life!

[catndahats]

Personally, I have an irrational fear of bears---thank goodness we don't have those.

In the Texas hill country, we have the usual whitetail deer that are somewhat tame--it is fawn season and they are cute as can be, a few daily fox, racoons (which are the most destructive cute animal on earth), possums, hear coyotes daily but rarely see them, rumors of mountain lions, a variety of snakes (venemous/and non)....

But the 2 that really get my attention are the smallest: scorpions and tarantulas...I find the tarantulas interesting, but scorpions are just evil.

At our coastal home, alligators are commonly seen even in the yard or on the porch...keep a healthy distance from them!