What wildlife inhabits your backyard?

Mary Zieten

I'm sitting here this morning listening to the many birds the come into my backyard, and wondering if anyone has interesting critters that show up in yours!  Our cats enjoy watching the multitude that show up in our yard...





We have Blue Jays, Mockingbirds, Mourning doves, Grackles, an occasional woodpecker, and, of course, squirrels!




We even get flocks if Ibis going through the backyard sometimes (which absolutely fascinates my cats!):



We even had a hawk take down another bird in our yard! 




So, what's in your backyard?  Anything fun?  Are you getting more visitors now that things are quieter outside?



 

Susan Raymer

Sandhill Cranes - I've had the same pair for 4 years, return every spring.  Bring the kids over after they are hatched.  Hang out all the way through fall.  Sorry no pictures right now.  In fact, it is snowing, been a weird spring in Michigan weather wise too.

Therese Morris

Fox, skunk, deer, squirrels, lots of birds, in particular a pair of pileated wood peckers, northern flickers, cardinals and blue jays. Our cats also enjoy the spectacle often running from window to window....

Elizabeth Johnson

We are pretty new to our house and now are home all the time so I think we are seeing lots but keeping more away. Our dog Echo is helping.


We have lots of birds: chickadees, yellow finches, blue jays, robins, tufted titmice, mourning doves, turkey vultures, cardinals, woodpeckers, kestrel hawks, quail, turkeys and just for Kirk Lilwall‍ barred owls can be heard most days. We have seen deer. Seen evidence of coyotes and foxes. Lots of peepers and green frogs in the neighborhood. My son and I are going to start studying bird silhouettes as we have a lot of open sky and decent elevation. 

Cheryl Haimann

Regular inhabitants - squirrel, chipmunk, rabbits, groundhog, robins, house finches, goldfinches, and some wasps building a nest in my [fake] office window.


A couple of blocks up the street, there are some wild turkeys. More than once, I've been startled to see a turkey standing next to a pickup parked on the street, as if he is ready to open the door and hop in.

Suzan Swartzentrover

This was taken last fall while I was mowing the yard - they didn't care about me and just headed straight for the Persimmons. 

Kirk Lilwall

There's a nice maple tree outside my window where I spot cardinals, woodpeckers, nuthatches and other birds often. Don't know how this guy got the doughnut or how he got it up the tree but he seemed pretty pleased with himself as he sat there and ate the whole thing.

Liz Hackett

Im in inner city Melbourne Australia, besides the currawongs, magpies, corellas, butcherbirds, ravens & rainbow lorrikeets, I've had grey-headed flying foxes in the trees outside my apartment!

Lauren Marcus Eisenberg

This photo is remarkable because of where it was taken: I live in the NYC suburbs where the homes are relatively close to one another. Earlier this week, my husband captured these beauties in the synagogue parking lot across the street from us.


More mundanely - we seem to have several families of chipmunks who decided to homestead in our lawn, joining the squirrels, and rabbits. 

Tara Dustrude

LOVING this thread! I have several bird feeders so I have a lot of bird visitors. Also squirrels, chipmunks, and a thirteen-lined ground squirrel who is quite cute. We're having some flowers planted so I hope to see more butterflies.

Elizabeth Perron

Tree frogs!!


My hubby says there are probably only 3 or 4 but it sounds like 200!

JoAnn Strommen

Wow, I want to come sit in some of your backyards!!


Here, a variety of birds: doves, finch, sparrow, wren, black birds and unfriendly blue jays. In the past a number of squirrels but this year they seem to have been replaced by rabbits. Can almost always find at least one rabbit in view. Watched four eating/playing one evening.


Also a population of bumble bees hovering on some of my flowers/sage plant. What a wonder they are to watch. How God enables them to fly!


And we have deer.  They bed down in the neighbor's yard so we can see them through the chain link fence. 

And my personal least favorite - garter snakes. I can watch them crawl through grass, just don't like it when they startle me. Was amazed once to watch two smaller ones seeming to chase and play in the grass in the front yard. 

Liz Hackett

I'm now staying with my parents in rural Victoria, Australia and we have crimson rosella, yellow rosella, sulfur-crested Cockatoo, pied currawong, Australian Magpie, Red Wattlebirds, Eastern Rosella, King parrot (that's five types of parrot!!) and at night, brush-tail possums

Aldera Chisholm

I live in downtown Calgary (Alberta, Canada), so I don't really have a yard, but I do have lots of pigeons who sit on the roof of the building next door and enjoy taunting my cats through the balcony doors. Otherwise, my only wildlife would be the flock of shopping carts that seem to get left in the alley behind us!  ?

Yvonne Mann

Hmmm, we live in the country 40 minutes south of Fort Worth Texas, so we have seen, (not counting horses, goats, cats, dogs, chickens and ducks) wild turkeys (15 of them the other day), coyotes, foxes, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, scorpions, armadillos, possums, wild pack dogs, hawks, owls, buzzards, turtles,and a couple of unknown creatures - large.  Typical day at our house.

Mary Zieten

This one is in my front yard, rather than my back yard, but I have a new friend!  He's a Burrowing Owl.  They generally live in burrows, but I think he got lazy and decided my culvert would make a good home.  I need to figure out what to do to make sure he's protected, and maybe offer him a spot to burrow in...


 

Liz Hackett

Oh my goodness, Mary Zieten‍ !!! you made my day! I'd LOVE to see a burrowing owl in the wild, you are so lucky! ?

 

Mary Zieten

Liz Hackett‍ I understand this completely!  It makes me happy every time I see him!

Aldera Chisholm

Mary Zieten‍ Aw that's fantastic! Those little guys are endangered here in Canada. The zoo I worked at did a lot of work with tracking and breeding them. Thank you for posting the picture of him!

Jan Brand

Since the quarantine began, we have nightly visits from the herd.  While only three are visiting in this photo, we have had as many as 20.  They show up shortly before dusk as they move to the nearby park.  I enjoy watching the mamas with their fawns.  Earlier this week I saw a doe with three, possibly four fawns.  She had her hands (hooves?) full!

Patti Hommes

We live on a small canal in Fort Lauderdale, so aside from birds and butterflies (and mosquitoes) we mostly have iguanas! The shot of the young iguana with my cat is truly priceless!  We have never had one come that close to the window let alone have a stare-down with a cat at least 5 times it's size!



 

Shannon Brower

Patti - that picture of your cat and the iguana just made my day!!


I live in the midwest, near a park, so we have the usual birds, squirrels, chipmunks, groundhogs, raccoons, snakes, possum, and deer, and sometimes coyote. The most unusual thing is when I'm awakened some mornings by a Barred Owl. It's a great sound. Google it if you've never heard it. 

Elizabeth Perron

Congratulations for winning the Superlatives Poll for most favorite question during September 2020!!

Mary Zieten

Elizabeth Perron:

Congratulations for winning the Superlatives Poll for most favorite question during September 2020!!

Yay!  Thank you!    It was fun to see everyone's pictures.