Wild Animals Galore by Skeeter
The Saint and I live in what is considered the Country. We are surrounded by woods and are blessed with wild animals galore! We enjoy observing the many critter visitors we have trot, fly, slither, crawl, hop, etc through the yard from the serenity of our sunroom windows. I have documented 54 different types of birds in our yard by observation through those 9 windows! The sunroom remains my favorite room in the house for its many hours of free entertainment!
Some people say that you should not feed wild animals for it will unbalance nature. But I find it hard not to assist in their meals. We regularly feed the birds, squirrels, rabbits, deer and butterflies amongst other critters.
We have not seen wild Turkey in our yard as of yet but my parents recently snapped the above picture of wild turkey eating under their bird feeders while a young Buck was nibbling nearby corn! (If you click on the picture, it will enlarge it for a better view) I find it interesting how different types of animals can eat together in harmony with one another and we do learn a lot of information by pure observation.
Our neighbor’s chickens use to get out of their yard and find their way to the corn piles we put out for the deer and squirrels. We enjoyed watching them peck around the yard. The chickens disappeared one by one. I like to think they went through the woods to the farm type land behind us and took up residence there as our neighbors did not care for them properly. They were given to their kids as tiny chicks as an Easter gift by some of their friends. I think only a person with an agriculture type license should be able to purchase baby chickens and ducks! That will be a good topic to chat about come Easter time...
We use to feed the foxes and one of my fondest memories of the foxes is when three showed up to eat at the same time the deer were nibbling on corn! We had to stop feeding the fox for reasons I will explain on a future Posting.
I cannot begin to explain the feelings of excitement when discovering a new animal in the yard. One morning I had to drag the Saint out of bed to see the Bob White Quail family. There were three little chicks with both mommy and daddy! We were both glad I woke him up as we never saw that adorable little family again.
The wild animals in the yard don’t seem to have much fear of us. I don’t know if that is due to us not having a fear of them or the fact that we spend a lot of time in the yard and they are use to us being around them. We do respect them and usually leave them alone. But we could not resist taking a picture of the above Raccoon with the Saint standing nearby to prove their lack of fear! One time a Doe, Buck and two fawns, that’s right, an entire deer family came into the yard to eat corn as we sat at the patio table and watched them! They are that tame with us.
A couple of weeks ago a mother Doe was allowing her two adorable spotted baby fawns to nurse from her while in the yard! I say allow as she is weaning them and kicks them away most of the time. We have also seen a Doe and Buck mating in our yard! Now that was interesting to say the least. Looking out our sunroom windows is like watching a National Geographic Special about Animals on a very large screen TV!
We fear our exciting days of abundant wild life may be numbered. A new high school and 5 new housing developments are starting to be erected nearby thus taking away many acres of woods and once farm lands. I worry about what happened to all the animals which relied on those woods and land as their food source and shelter. The Saint laughs and says, they will all be in our yard soon! I guess as long as we can afford to feed them and we can all get along in harmony, they are welcome!
posted by Skeeter at 9/14/2007 12:28:00 PM
Pet People
12 Comments:
Skeeter, you do get some great photos of your Zoo! I was also thinking it ws sort of ilke wachingNational Geographic or some other nature show. It's awesome! The animals must all sense that you guys love them and are kind people or they wouldn't get so close to you. What a compliment to you both!
Awesome!
This has been a rough year for wildlife because of the drought... so feed ON!
Skeeter, My mom feeds the deer in her yard. They have gotten so used to her being out there with them while she fills feeders, that they actually let her pet them. Even the bucks when they are in full velvet. She just has to be careful that nobody ever says anything to DOW or she could get fined and the deer shot for being tame.
There was a woman who had found a baby elk who's mother had been hit by a car and killed. She raised it and during hunting season she would tie a red ribbon around her neck so no one would shoot her. When DOW found out they shot the elk saying that is was a danger to people and to her self.
Just becarful!
We rarely get close to the wild animals. This time with the raccoon was a special moment for us. We know it is not really a good thing for our safety as well as the animal’s safety to tame them. So we observe them from a far. I try to be aware of my surroundings when in the yard and just three days ago, I about stepped on a 2 foot long black snake! The Saint saw this and knocked on the window to warn me. He was harmless of course but if I had stepped on him, I am sure he would have turned around and bit me! Not a poisonous snake but I bet the bite would have hurt like heck all the same.
I also am on my guard during rutting season which is about here. The Bucks can be real aggressive during that time of year. I read in our local paper how the deer will be exceptionally aggressive this year with less food due to the late freeze at Easter killing off lots of their food source...
When the deer bed down in our yard, it is very tempting to pet them but we must restrain ourselves… I just wish y’all could see the baby spotted fawns bounce and trot into the yard when mommy brings them from the woods for the first time! They are so adorable it puts such smiles on our faces.
We have seen two of our regular deer killed by cars. One was really bad as a dozen or more buzzards found her. It was a real eerie sight but being the camera hound I am, I had to snap a picture. If anyone is up for the picture, let me know and I will send it to your email address as I will not post such a horrible picture. I think it would put Pam out of service for a few days because it is that sad. I had to hold my breath while snapping the shot and remind myself that the buzzards have to eat too….
I forgot to share this with y'all. I have been working on a photo album of my life from birth to adulthood. I am finding it amazing how many pictures I have of me with animals! Some real, some stuffed toys but animals are everywhere! I have shed a tear or two today when seeing the family dog Molly and also my beloved Skeeter baby. I miss them so much but have some great memories. I am grateful for all the pictures I have of them…
Skeeter,
These pics are awesome! How neat, I have tried to get pics in our yard but my camera does not have a good zoom lens I guess. Hubby plants a garden every year and the deer get much more out of it than we do! We also have tons of wild turkeys come up into our yard to investigate our gray cat MoJo JoJo. I don't know why they are so intrigued by her, but they will come right up to the garage doors to try to get close to her. She is totally freaked by them and just wants to ge away..kind of funny to watch them clucking around her tho.
It is sad to see a deer you know(hmm...that sounds kind of out there doesn't it?) that has been killed. We had a one legged deer in the area and I know it has been killed somehow because I have not seen it for 2 years now.I know what you mean tho skeeter about the buzzards.The cycle of life-thats how its meant to be. Its hard to watch and many times I have to turn my eyes and not think about it. Don't look Pam!!! haha... I am way off on a tangent but that last line made me think of that song "The Streak" by Ray Stevens where he says "...Don't look Ethel..." Maybe we will be saying that to everyone when Dragon dons "the Thong"..hehe..guess I am showing my age by talking abou that song. Oh well....
I love looking at wildlife in our yard. We've seen deer, all manner of birds, a fox and her kits, rabbits, skunks and groundhogs.
But now we have a problem. A groundhog has tunneled under our front steps and made a burrow. OUR FRONT STEPS.
How can we evict it? Normally I'm a live-and-let-live kind of gal, but I can't have a wild animal living where we walk every day.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Hmmm. I don't know what to say about the groundhog! I'd probably call the fish and wildlife service and ask for advice. Maybe there's a way to entice him to a better burrow? Or maybe trap him humanely and move him to a new location? You know, with the traps you use for cats? Cats are Us would lend you one.
I love the pictures Skeeter. Reminds me of my yards. I often see turkey near the bird feeders or just in the yard. Same with deer. The deer even ignore the dogs' barking for the most part, they are so used to it and know the dogs can't get out.
I have one that beats all. Years ago when we first built the house, we were the only house around. I woke up one morning and looked out my front window, and there were about 5 or 6 cows ALL OVER my yard, right up and over my sidewalk to the front door! Down the road, where a bunch of cows used to be kept, had a fence that obviously fell down somewhere!
I had some big cow patties too!
Nope Sandy, You don’t have too much on me with the cow either... One Sunday morning I was reading the newspaper and heard a pack of dogs barking. At the time no one near us had that many dogs so I went outside to investigate. I found a long horn cow being cornered near our brand new Pontoon boat by a small pack of dogs! After convincing the Saint I was not drinking any booze or loosing my mind, he came to check out the scene and by that time several cowboys on horses with lasso's were chasing the cow as the dogs continued to run him all over our yard! We had a full fledged Texas Style Round-Up going on in our yard! It was funny as heck and even drew the attention of our neighbor looking over the fence. I was able to snap a few shots of the action but nothing so great as I was using the camcorder camera portion and was not too great of quality so nothing I could use on a Post on the subject. I will send you a few pictures though...
DOG TREAT WARNING...
Quote...
Federal regulator said they are investigating potential contaminants in dog treats made in China, and the nations leading Vets association posted a warning to pet owners that the products might be making animals sick...
Many unusual cases of dogs suffering from a rare kidney ailment after consuming the treats. Most the products were chicken flavored.
Food and Drug admin. is trying to determine whether the jerky treats pose a threat but it has not singled out individual brands or requested any recalls. Was first reported to Vets about three weeks ago.
Vets advised pet owners not to panic. Initial test of the most likely toxic ingredients including melamine a component in plastics that was behind the massive Menu Food recall earlier this year have come back negative and they are continuing to investigate..
Most of the dogs affected are small breeds that had developed renal problems. Symptoms include vomiting, lethargy and lack of appetite...
Can we just not find food and treats for our pets that are not made in China? It is getting so scarey!!!!
Sandy, you reminded me of my cow pile story of Fly Boy and the pizza, anyone remember that one? I told it way back when we first started on here.
O'Malley, I thought of the same thing abot "The Streak" song when you said"don't look Pam" ha.
Skeeter, The Saint had a mighty big smile on his face in that photo so what was going on behind him? Where were your hands? HEH HEH,
I remember the cow pie in the Pizza Box Pam... That one still makes me laugh....
Yep the Saint did have a big smile on his face. But it was not my hands you naughty thinking gal, my hands were taking the pictures. He just loves all animals that they bring such smiles to his face.... He hates getting his picture taken and he never smiles but yesterday at the zoo with all the birds on him, he was smiling like crazy and he knew the camera was on him. I think our strongest bond is our love for animals….
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