Awesome Backyard Wildlife: Share Your Stories!

[angllady2]

Magnificent owl photography!

I am obsessed with owls just now. I got started when I saw Legend of the Guardians with my daughter, now I am slowly collecting the books. Yes, I know I'm a little old for them, but I love them just the same.

We had a tame fox here a few summers ago. He would come up and eat the scraps our neighbors put out for the wildlife. At first he only came at night, and we got some cool infared video of him. Later he started coming up at dusk. Eventually he came around in the late afternoon. We called him Fearless. By late summer he found a mate and we didn't see him again.

Gale

[MarkS]

That's cool about the fox, the ones in my picture actually raised a litter of pups underneath my neighbors deck. He was telling me how the pups would come out in the evening and sit on the deck staring at him through the sliding glass door while he was sitting in his living room. Kind of like a reverse zoo

[3skulls]

I'm sorry, I'm sure I already derailed this thread enough.
Came home to some more "wild life" today.

[Archimedes]

I'm sorry, I'm sure I already derailed this thread enough.
Came home to some more "wild life" today.

And yet, I am more amused with every derailment. thanks, 3skulls!

[3skulls]

And yet, I am more amused with every derailment. thanks, 3skulls!

We are not all lucky enough to have wolves and deer and elk :p

Haha.

[Raven01]

Owls are nice to hear, so are whipoorwills and, the haunting calls of loons.
But, I can't beat where I work.
We have bald eagles, the odd golden eagle, turkey vultures, an assortment of hawks, turkeys and tame ravens.
The ravens can identify who will feed them and who will shoo them away. They aren`t shy about scolding you(vocally) if you don`t have food for them either.
White tails are common and we have even had moose wander into the mill.
The most interesting to watch have to be the wolves and the river otters though.

[HypoLyf]

Backyard buddies in Maine... hmmm, here are a few.

1) When I was younger, my mom kept horses in the field behind my house. One afternoon, a bull moose decided he didn't like the horses, so he busted through the fencing and chased them around. My mom and my grandfather had a fun time getting the horses into the barn after that!

2) There's always been a black bear wandering through the field across from my house every summer. One day, when I was probably 14 or 15, my mom and I (mostly my mom) decided to videotape him. We hopped onto the four-wheeler, her driving and me operating the camera, and sped through the field toward the bear, stopping about 150 feet from him. I started taping and everything was fine until the bear looked up at us and took a step toward us. My mom freaked out, yelled "Hold on Timmy!" and gunned it down the field toward our house, almost throwing me off. The camera recorded the entire scene of me holding on for dear life as my mom turned into a backyard NASCAR driver, almost throwing me off multiple times as she seemed to hit every bump in the field at full speed (her driving scared me 1000x more than the bear ). I'll need to find the tape the next time I'm home to relieve that wonderful moment. On a side note, the bear didn't move from his spot and continued on his merry way across the field.

3) Other wildlife I've encountered include: a baby raccoon, coyotes, garter snakes, deer, foxes, and a host of others. At my girlfriend's, it's common to come across a rafter of turkeys, deer, a bear, coyotes, and a few months ago a Canadian Lynx (I believe that's what it was) stopped by on their front porch.

[Beegee]

Hey did you ever catch a glimpse of a Lynx?

[Lupe]

We get the occasional skunk and possum at the back door, we have coons that like to hang in the oak tree down by the corner of our property or down by the creek. We have coyotes that I can hear some nights. Oh and we had a fox that hung around for a while. Once in a blue moon I'll see deer near my house.
Let's see... I found the body of what appeared to be a small ferret like critter that one of the cats had caught. There is a group of 5-10 turkey vultures that live in the area. I know there are owls in the area because twice last summer my windshield had close calls with them. And if I'm lucky I can find a big bull snake.
I'll try to get some pictures this summer though. I do have a video of a group of deer near the lake (including a 3 legged deer my friends have named Flower) if anyone want's to see it.

[I-KandyReptiles]

Not much wild life here.

I'll see deer on my way home from work and we've had moose in our front lawn.

We had a massive porcupine we named Chewy. He'd come and eat the bird seeds on the ground by the feeder. We think he found a girlfriend though. Haven't seen him this year.