Urban Wildlife

[Westernskies]

Saw a coyote in the desert bordering my back yard a few days ago, snapped this picture before he took off.... Wondered what other urban wildlife the folks on this forum are seeing?

[Notmuchlonger]

We got a lot of ducks around here. Plenty of little man made ponds and lakes. Pretty neat seeing the mama's drag around the little ones. No coyotes though!

[FUEGO]

Ducks, geese, other waterfowl, turtles, birds, squirrels, deer, great blue heron, hawks, snakes, rabbits, beavers, possums, foxes. All in 1/3 acre in an urban area on a lake.

This time of year is pretty neat with all the baby ducklings and goslings trailing along behind their parents on the lake. I wish I had a telephoto lens a few days ago - a family of ducklings, a family of goslings, and a great blue heron were all lounging on a tiny peninsula sticking out into the lake from my backyard all within 15 feet of each other. Picture perfect as they say.

Last night we went out on a walk around the neighborhood with our kids. They wanted to go to the park but it was too late and about to rain, so we distracted them by telling them to look for animals instead. All we saw out of the ordinary was a rabbit. But the kids loved it. And completely forgot about the park.

No coyotes though...

[tuixiu]

Great pic!

We often have coyotes trotting thru the neighborhood, sometimes in pairs.

Before I moved to Arizona I'd never seen one, didn't realize how small they were. Sometimes I have evil thoughts about the neighbors cat that poops in our yard and it's relationship in the suburban the food chain to the coyote.

Our other issues are bark scorpions, used to find mainly outside on the block wall fence but sometimes inside. I've never been stung but my wife has gotten in twice... once reaching inside the washing machine and once putting on a shirt.

I vow to someday catch one of the black widows we in their messy webs and put it in a jar with scorpion, but probably not a fair fight since widow is an trap and ambush predator whereas scorpion is built to fight head on.

[tuixiu]

Attached is one of the bark scorpions in question.

We briefly enslaved it in a terrarium, until it became winter and too difficult to catch crickets to feed it so let it go.

[Purron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westernskies Saw a coyote in the desert bordering my back yard a few days ago, snapped this picture before he took off.... Wondered what the other urban folks on this forum are seeing?

Cool picture! I've seen many coyotes when visiting my family in Kansas. Also lots of jackalopes

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Same as Fuego, but throw in gators near the water hazards, ibis pecking away at the neighborhood lawns, owls, hawks, wood storks.

[Coach]

The other morning I stepped out on my front porch to see a red fox trotting down the street -- I'm in a city neighborhood. And a day to two ago I was out walking and saw a hawk that had just gotten a small snake.

Last week I was driving in the foothills and saw the first wild turkey I've ever seen. That's a big bird!

Coach

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa Same as Fuego, but throw in gators near the water hazards, ibis pecking away at the neighborhood lawns, owls, hawks, wood storks.

Forgot to mention the owls and hawks and other raptors. And catfish. The latter was apparently dropped by a hawk on our front lawn. Mmmm... catfish.

[CyclingInvestor]

In the suburbs of Los Angeles I frequently see possums before dawn. My friend's dog catches several each year in her backyard. Many lizards sunning on my concrete walls. Black widows under debris. A hawk used to sit on the roof near my office (before retirement), scanning the cemetary across the street, diving off on occasion.

[Bestwifeever]

Two foxes have been running down our street, and we believe a skunk is now living disturbingly close to our house. Perhaps the foxes will get hungry enough to take out the skunk.

[travelover]

I live in the suburbs, but have a small (60 foot diameter) pond. Yesterday I saw a large (14" or so shell) snapper on the lawn next to the pond. I ran down from the house and was able to intercept him long enough to get a good look, but not a picture. Also saw a coyote and a red fox in the same area - I think they want the wood ducks.

[ziggy29]

Really not much for me here in town. But recently I've been seeing a lot of raccoons. This morning, being a commute-to-Austin morning before sunup, I drove toward a big fat coon which was just standing there in the road.

[WanderALot]

I'm in Orange County, CA and I see at least a few hawks and turkey vultures everyday right off the freeway. Possums go through our yard on a regular basis (we just found a dead one under some wood last week!) and we have had coyote warnings in our area because of cats disappearing. There's also the occasional bobcat sighting and the very rare mountain lion sighting in the hiking/biking open space areas. Tons of egrets and a few blue herons out in the wetlands close to our house. Bunnies in the parks.

Oh, and rattlesnakes too. My coworker who leaves close to a canyon sees rattlesnakes quite frequently.

It's all pretty amazing to see this much wildlife in the middle of dense suburbia.

[JOHNNIE36]

Echo Rich in Tampa as I live in the burbs. Don't see much around here except for hawks and sand hill cranes. The cranes I can't even call wild life with a straight face. They walk around the malls looking for handouts and are all over our neighborhood. Love the babies and still haven't figured out how they get those long legs folded up inside the egg. I see most wildlife on the golf courses such as gators, fox, eagles, osprey and a couple varities of hawks.

[freebird5825]

Miss Country Girl here sees it all. Does it count if I drive to a small city and then see wildlife at home?
Just kidding.
The local critter collection consists of: whitetail deer, red fox, hawks, eagles, turkey vultures, huge flocks of crows, wild turkeys, herons, gulls, wild ducks, Canadian geese, rabbits, constantly hear but do not see coy dogs, chipmunks, squirrels, moles, woodchucks, skunks, porcupines, raccoons, field mice, garden snakes, bull frogs, toads, salamanders, bats (living in 2 bathouses I built), dairy cows , feral cats. Whew!
No elephants, giraffes or aardvarks.

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover I live in the suburbs, but have a small (60 foot diameter) pond. Yesterday I saw a large (14" or so shell) snapper on the lawn next to the pond. I ran down from the house and was able to intercept him long enough to get a good look, but not a picture.

We see these quite often. We have had a few of these guys get stuck in our yard somehow. It always requires careful removal with a shovel. These guys are usually 14-18" and have tails 12-18" long and necks probably 6" long, so removal with anything longer than a shovel could result in serious injury and/or dismemberment. It is amazing how heavy they are - probably 10 pounds. And amazing how delicious they are...

One turtle even tried to make her nest underneath my kids' swing set until I scared her off. Here's some pics of these scary beasts.

[FIREd]

Deers, squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, chipmunks, mice, armadillos, eagles, snakes, frogs, lizards, scorpions, bobcats, coyotes, possums, black widows, and all kinds of birds (woodpeckers, cardinals, morning doves, blue jays, etc...). I live in suburbia, but my house is right on the edge of a huge, heavily wooded nature preserve.

[NW-Bound]

On the metropolitan freeways, I often encounter urban wildlife on SUVs speeding and zigzagging across lanes.

[samclem]

We live inthe suburbs, but have lots of animals around. We feed the birds and squirrels, have a good time watching the chipmunks, and have an occasional groundhog in a neighbor's yard. We're big groundhog fans and are trying to figure out how to get one to set up housekeeping in a corner of our lot.

Biggest events lately:
- We've seen a reticulated woodpecker in opur backyard twice in the last month. That's a big bird. (File photo attached)


- Yesterday when I was outside a big six-point buck came running past me through the neighbor's yard. He hopped the low fence like it was nothing and was on his way. There was nothing quiet about him, the noise of his approach was what alerted me to the whole thing. It was about 11 AM, I was surpised he was dashing about in mid day like that.