Backyard Wildlife

[Swift]

OK, this isn't from my backyard, but I had to show off this picture. My wife and I were on vacation in the Canadian Rockies last week. This picture is taken from the Lake Louise gondola and yes, that is a wolf looking up at us.

[Trebuchet]

Here's Doug, making a visit to our feeder. He's actually a Douglas Squirrel, or Douglas' Squirrel, or Douglass's Squirrel. Unlike the Eastern Gray Tree-rats which infest our cities and suburbs, he's a native Northwesterner. They're about half the size of the grays so don't compete well when the grays move in.


Ain't he cute?

[redshifter]

The only place in WA I can recall seeing the native Douglas squirrels in significant numbers is at Ft. Canby state park, next door to Long Beach on one side, Cape Disappointment on the other.

On the other hand, the Eastern Grays seem to be everywhere...

[Trebuchet]

I think the Douglas Squirrels are actually pretty common if you get away from the developed areas. Ft. Canby, by the way, is now known as Cape Disappointment State Park. Pretty high on my list of favorite places, with not just one but TWO lighthouses.

[LookingSkyward]

American Kestrel - a frequent visitor but usually too quick to catch with the camera.

[geonuc]

American Kestrel - a frequent visitor but usually too quick to catch with the camera.

Nice. How big is it? Hard to tell in that photograph.

[LookingSkyward]

A bit bigger than a robin, smaller than a crow - and very quick

[Solfe]

I have deer in the backyard again. I have three large lilacs in the backyard and the deer have taken to sleeping under them. It makes for an exciting few seconds when I put the trash out and they all jump up and run away. They get a touch too close for my comfort.

[jfribrg]

Last night I was cooking on my deck and heard a Great Horned Owl calling. That is not a common occurance in my neighborhood. I've been here 20 years and have heard the Horned Owl on only 4 seperate occasions ( plus 2 Screech Owls and 1 Saw Whet Owl).

[Swift]

American Kestrel - a frequent visitor but usually too quick to catch with the camera.

Very nice. Yeah, Kestrel's are pretty small, I'd say only a little bigger than a robin. They are mostly insect eaters. That's a male; they are one of the few raptors in North America where the males look different than the females; the males are rather handsome fellows.

[Swift]

I have deer in the backyard again. I have three large lilacs in the backyard and the deer have taken to sleeping under them. It makes for an exciting few seconds when I put the trash out and they all jump up and run away. They get a touch too close for my comfort.

One night years ago I opened my garage to put the trash out and there was a buck with a huge rack standing there. I'm not sure which one of us was more startled, though he is the one that ran away.

[Trebuchet]

American Kestrel - a frequent visitor but usually too quick to catch with the camera.

Nice shot! We've had those on our fence several times but I never manage to get a good picture. They are, of course, looking for a meal around our birdy feeders.

Speaking of feeders, when I got up yesterday morning I discovered the dagnab raccoons had destroyed yet another one. I had put the other ones away but thought this one might be safe. It wasn't. I'm thinking of putting a motion sensor light on the fence to startle them off. At least for a couple of days.

We had an adorable little downy woodpecker on the suet yesterday. Very cute little guy. I took a couple of pictures of him earlier, I'll have to find and post them.

[Trebuchet]

Arrayed around my feeders and suet right now:
Chestnut backed chickadee.
Dark-eyed juncos.
Red-shafted flickers.
Mourning doves.
Some kind of sparrow. Probably Song Sparrow.
Dang starlings
Spotted Towhees.

Correction to above: Not a song sparrow, perhaps a white or golden-crowned one in some sort of winter plumage.

Hmm, here's a junco with white mottling on his head. Moulting??

I'm computing at the dining room table with a big window in front of me looking at the birds. I'm not sure I've ever seen so many at one time!

ETA: Apperantly I have a leucistic junco. It looks very much like the one in this blog post. (Scroll down a few.)

[Trebuchet]

Here's the leucistic junco:

[LookingSkyward]

Nice - the 'oreo and ice cream' Junko

[Trebuchet]

He's a cute little guy. I'm a bit annoyed, however, that the camera focused on the broken feeder instead of the bird!

[jfribrg]

It wasn't in my backyard, but this morning I was waiting for my bus when I noticed a large hawk flying around some nearby buildings. In this area, a large hawk is usually a Red-Tailed Hawk, but not this time. It was a Goshawk.

[swampyankee]

We had a trio of deer wandering out urban neighborhood after the snow here yesterday (the snow is melting -- ) I'm a few hundred feet from a stop on one of the migration paths, so we do get some interesting avian visitors, most of which I can't identify.

[Torsten]

This morning.
Cow moose by the rhubarb patch. Calf on the left in the willows.
Still there, chewing their cud as I post these:

[Swift]

Way cool

[Trebuchet]

Way cool indeed, if somewhat scary. Meese make me nervous.

I just have squirrels. They keep going by on the outside of the front windows on the way to the peanuts my wife's been feeding them. The cats sit on the "cat castle" by the window next to the front door and watch them.

[Torsten]

Way cool

Way cool indeed, if somewhat scary. Meese make me nervous.

I just have squirrels. They keep going by on the outside of the front windows on the way to the peanuts my wife's been feeding them. The cats sit on the "cat castle" by the window next to the front door and watch them.

Thanks!

After two hours they decided to get up and chow down on more twigs:





It's amazing to me that they can digest that stuff. And yes, a cow with her calf can be dangerous. And a bull during rut is just plain stupid.

The funny thing was, before I noticed these, I saw a pair of white tail deer in the clearing behind them. Mule (blacktail) dear are common as crows here, with the white tails being far more elusive, so I thought that was a treat. No pictures though.

Treb, I'm guessing you've got those great huge gray squirrels there. All we have are the scrawny red squirrels. It's amusing to see them running along the utility lines, maybe to avoid the many neighbourhood cats.

[Trebuchet]

The scrawny red squirrels would be an improvement. The eastern grays are an exotic pest, which drive out the native Douglas (red) squirrels. It's bad enough that local park districts have advised folks that if they live-trap squirrels, please don't release them in the park. Just immerse the trap in water for an hour or two.

[Torsten]

The scrawny red squirrels would be an improvement. The eastern grays are an exotic pest, which drive out the native Douglas (red) squirrels. It's bad enough that local park districts have advised folks that if they live-trap squirrels, please don't release them in the park. Just immerse the trap in water for an hour or two.

Hah! I just (again) saw your post #272 where you described them as tree rats. Whenever I go on a visit to the south of the province I see them there and their size just creeps me out.

[Solfe]

Our baby cat (three years old) is bound and determined to go after the deer. It cracks me up that he is so territorial and to a honest, dumb.

My old, old cat (20+) stalked a goose when he was younger. When he got within striking distance, the goose chased him back to me. The two of them ran circles around me 3 or 4 times before the bird decided it was not worth it. I'd swear that cat was mad at for not helping him, but he never tried it again.

[LookingSkyward]

I watched a small clan of geese run off a coyote a couple years ago - I've never seen the local cats work up that kind of crazy, but it would be fun to watch

[Trebuchet]

I watched a small clan of geese run off a coyote a couple years ago - I've never seen the local cats work up that kind of crazy, but it would be fun to watch

Cats are unlikely to work together like that. And coyotes are not going to be intimidated by a cat like a domestic dog will.

[HenrikOlsen]

Geese are pack animals and ganders are very territorial, to the point where they can replace guard dogs for alerting about intruders, I'm not surprised a gaggle of geese would chase off a lone predator.
And no, cats wouldn't do that.

[Solfe]

And no, cats wouldn't do that.

My cats seem bound and determined to work together and trip me every time I enter the house with an armload of groceries. Aside from sleeping on my part of the bed, it is the only thing they do together.

Back to the OP - The deer have cleared out of my backyard. I can't imagine where they go.

[DonM435]

We once lived in an area where the occasional armadillo would wander through our yard.

I remember our cat staring at the strange thing as it waddled on, leaning forward and then back, undecided as to whether he could beat this thing up or instead had to run away from it.

Finally he charged it, and the critter ran away and hid.