slo’s FRIDAY 6/21 poll - Wild Animals 🦝🐿️🦨🐇

[slo]

Sometimes wild animals can be a lot of fun to see, and sometimes they can be a real nuisance. So….lets animal talk today……

What type(s) of wild animals do you see by your home?
(multiple choice)

*Sorry if I didn’t mention an animal by you. I tried to come up with several different types, but at 5:30am, this is all I could come up with - LOL!


For Me…..I live next to a forest in NW Indiana. We have raccoons (they’ve invaded our attic), opossums, squirrels, rabbits, deer, foxes, ground hogs, beavers, coyotes and thank God no skunks. What inspired this poll today is me doing this…..



For the first time deer are eating my begonias. I started planting begonias due to them eating my impatiens. So I stuck those sticks in the pot until I buy some deer repellent spray. I have no idea if the sticks will scare them or not, but it’s worth a try. I love our deer, but I don’t love the, eating my flowers Never a dull moment around here with the wildlife.

Edited to add…,we currently have a resident snake living under our front deck…


We are not happy about this guy hanging around, but we can’t catch him. He likes sunnying himself and as soon as the front door opens he goes right back under the deck. He must think he’s got squatters rights - LOL!

 

[Kitty 34]

Gosh I really hope the deer don't eat our begonias, Slo. That's why I buy so many hanging ones.

We have all the little woodland critters.

 

[Karalee402]

We have a resident raccoon who visits almost every morning. We've gotten rather attached to him. My daughter has named him Rocket because, of course, it always comes back to Disney

 

[Micca]

Everything except the XL and ocean creatures. Most of them not in abundance, but they do appear from time to time.

 

[slo]

Gosh I really hope the deer don't eat our begonias, Slo. That's why I buy so many hanging ones.

We have all the little woodland critters.

I hope not too - it’s so frustrating. I normally get a big beautiful dome on that pot, but not this year - the whole one side is gone. They must taste really good this year - LOL!

We have a resident raccoon who visits almost every morning. We've gotten rather attached to him. My daughter has named him Rocket because, of course, it always comes back to Disney

I love it!
I’m currently watching Guardians of the Galaxy 2 when I’m at the gym. I’m actually watching all the Marvel movies in timeline order. The Guardians movies really are great.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

We have plenty of squirrels, opossums and we have raccoons that visit on a daily basis.
We have a variety of birds… notably every now and then owls.

 

[Karalee402]

I hope not too - it’s so frustrating. I normally get a big beautiful dome on that pot, but not this year - the whole one side is gone. They must taste really good this year - LOL!

I love it!
I’m currently watching Guardians of the Galaxy 2 when I’m at the gym. I’m actually watching all the Marvel movies in timeline order. The Guardians movies really are great.

We watched the Marvel movies in timeline order during the pandemic! It was so much fun, and I couldn't agree more - the Guardians movies are a blast!

 

[Wood Nymph]

I stuck those sticks in the pot until I buy some deer repellent spray. I have no idea if the sticks will scare them or not, but it’s worth a try.

I've used wooden skewers, pointed side up, to stop squirrels and other rodents from digging up my bedding plants. It works very well, although I need to be careful not to poke myself when weeding.

We live in a Chicago suburb that only 15 miles away from downtown Chicago. We have an amazing collection of animals around here. We've seen deer, coyotes, foxes, skunks, possums, raccoons, etc.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We live in a forested area not far from fresh water, but also fairly close to salt water, so we get a lot of variety.

Alligators, feral hogs, coyotes, bobcats, and venomous snakes (five kinds, I believe) are the biggest threats around. Sharks are also a concern in the saltwater spots.

River otters, raccoons, opossums, armadillo, nutria, squirrels, turtles, skunks, skinks, salamander, tree frogs, deer are some of the cuter critters. Our nearby saltwater areas have dolphins.

Bald eagles, a variety of hawks, a variety of owls, and peregrine falcons make up the bulk of the birds of prey. We have some barrred owls that really like the tree outside of my bedroom.

Pelicans, spoonbills, herons, egrets, Egyptian geese, various ducks, kingfishers, and cormorants are common…especially closer to water. We get a number of songbirds as well. We saw a lot of eastern bluebirds this year and had wrens nesting in our overhang.

Most recently (last week), I went outside in my backyard and startled a large hawk (4’+ wingspan) that had just caught a squirrel. It was being divebombed by robins.

 

[slo]

I've used wooden skewers, pointed side up, to stop squirrels and other rodents from digging up my bedding plants. It works very well, although I need to be careful not to poke myself when weeding.

We live in a Chicago suburb that only 15 miles away from downtown Chicago. We have an amazing collection of animals around here. We've seen deer, coyotes, foxes, skunks, possums, raccoons, etc.

I’m glad to hear that sticks help. They look incredibly stupid in my pot, but that’s ok - it’ll give the mail person and delivery people something to laugh at - LOL!

You and I are like neighbors. We really should do a Chicago DIS meet - I’ve been saying this for awhile. You, me and @Dan Murphy can be there

 

[bobbiwoz]

Cape May is really a seaside city. Definitely we have small to medium animals, and ocean dwellers are very visible from the Boardwalk and coast.

Recently we could see Horseshoe crabs mating, this happens mainly during high tide periods in May and June. It’s exciting because during this time, birds are migrating to the Arctic and rest here to get nourishment, the eggs, for the rest of their flight. The egg laying and migration have happened for centuries and longer!




This picture shows a female horseshoe crab in front, the male is attached to her. She will lay eggs on the shore, and he will fertilize them as he passes over.

We have shore birds. One day I saw this bald Eagle as I was bike riding.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We live in a forested area not far from fresh water, but also fairly close to salt water, so we get a lot of variety.

Alligators, feral hogs, coyotes, bobcats, and venomous snakes (five kinds, I believe) are the biggest threats around. Sharks are also a concern in the saltwater spots.

River otters, raccoons, opossums, armadillo, nutria, squirrels, turtles, skunks, skinks, salamander, tree frogs, deer are some of the cuter critters. Our nearby saltwater areas have dolphins.

Bald eagles, a variety of hawks, a variety of owls, and peregrine falcons make up the bulk of the birds of prey. We have some barrred owls that really like the tree outside of my bedroom.

Pelicans, spoonbills, herons, egrets, Egyptian geese, various ducks, kingfishers, and cormorants are common…especially closer to water. We get a number of songbirds as well. We saw a lot of eastern bluebirds this year and had wrens nesting in our overhang.

Most recently (last week), I went outside in my backyard and startled a large hawk (4’+ wingspan) that had just caught a squirrel. It was being divebombed by robins.

 

[GAN]

I'm in the Northeast and have all the usual suspects. I butt against a large wooded area so get a lot of deer traffic, coyotes are fairly active, and we had a bobcat this spring spending quite a bit of time in the neighborhood. Post-covid the rabbit population took off, so coyotes and the like have been enjoying the area more than usual. I have run into them a couple times walking the dog later at night, but fortunately he's much bigger and one bark usually sends them on their way.

 

[Meriweather]

desert here, so snakes, frogs (poisonous ones), lots of birds, rabbits.
We live on a dead end, but a busy road is by that. So we don't see too many in our yard.
At least lately the ducks have stayed away.....bad for a pool
We haven't seen scorpions in our house, DS and DD have in their houses.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Mostly squirrels here in SoCal. Touching true squirrel story is that many years ago dad and I along with dad's closest friend George, created a small memorial garden outside George's apartment sliding door for our beloved dog Champ. God had my dad move 6 blocks away from George after the 1994 earthquake. I was home then on college break. The 3 of us being perfectly fine was a miracle from God to us in itself. Our apartment was condemned and dad had to move quickly with our wire hair fox terrier Champ.

Short version is for quite some time George shared with us how a visiting squirrel would pay his respects to Champ by standing just outside the small fence around the garden. The squirrel, George once got a picture that sadly we no longer have, of the squirrel standing up against his sliding door as if checking on George. Reminder to me that to me God works through all squirrels included and that Champ and George by His grace are with dad and I always.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Everything except the XL and ocean creatures. Most of them not in abundance, but they do appear from time to time.

Same.

This morning's visitor was a groundhog, and I'm currently listening to lots of birds. (Merlin app says wrens and sparrows.)

And we relocated this little guy recently when we opened to pool:

 

[Moliphino]

I live in the woods, we get all kinds of critters. The only ones I didn't pick are XL and sea. Technically we do get moose in the area on rare occasions, but I've never seen one near my house so I didn't count them.

 

[amcnj]

Right around here I see all but the extra large and ocean. Plus there are some fresh water sources around, streams, brooks, rivers and ponds, with their ducks, geese, fish, etc.

I guess the ones I see most commonly are birds, squirrels, chipmunks and deer. They tend to be everyday visitors. Though the deer sometimes take a day or two off to go eat someone else’s plants to get a little variety in their diet.

 

[mjkacmom]

This year our yard is full of bunnies and groundhogs. We live in a suburban/urban area outside NYC, a week ago there was a black bear a mile from my house, I’ve seen deer walk down our sidewalk (once a city bus crashed into a storefront to avoid a deer on a busy street). The poor critters just ended up going east instead of west. We do have eagles in town, and we’ve always had a decent amount of hawks. And crazy wild turkeys.

 

[BrianL]

Same.

This morning's visitor was a groundhog, and I'm currently listening to lots of birds. (Merlin app says wrens and sparrows.)

And we relocated this little guy recently when we opened to pool:
View attachment 869942

Man, I've got frogs - and tabpoles. My pool is in a state and I don't want to just murder them all. I don't really mind a couple of frogs. I scooped the tadpoles into a kiddie pool and apparently they will just eventually leave (or get eaten by birds - circle of life). Anyway, I am dealing with that.

I have squirrels around and the some racoons, though I don't see them much. Frogs and snakes are around for sure and I once found a pretty big turtle passing through. I sometimes hear an owl and I saw him once - he's BIG. He was on my diving board then flew up to on top of my shed. I whish I had gotten a picture - what a beauty!