What Did You See In Your Yard Today?

[Tim W. SoCal]

Three red Dragonflies engaged in a long running dogfight.

[TarheelRick]

Two empty adult beverage cans ?, at least they could have left one of them full. School starts this week so I should be getting my share of candy wrappers and other garbage from the buses that traverse by my house.

[Rodent]

Wild turkey "exhaust" as Bill calls it. It's amazing how much they can poop.

[Ace-Garageguy]

7 minutes ago, TarheelRick said:

Two empty adult beverage cans ?, at least they could have left one of them full. School starts this week so I should be getting my share of candy wrappers and other garbage from the buses that traverse by my house.

I've got a whole 12-pack full of empties across the street, and somebody hit the box overnight, so now the "spill" is spreading. And the habit here now is whenever the drive-byers see trash on the road, they throw out MORE to keep it company, so there's a trash-bag full of trash now.

I'm deciding whether or not to clean it up, but one thing I'm 100% sure of: NOBODY ELSE WILL.

Funny thing is that this county was CLEAN when I moved here, and lots of the inhabitants were "rednecks".

Now, with our rapidly evolving demographics, it's becoming a pigsty.

[slusher]

Neighbors  chickens come over and scratch for bugs and go back..

[bobss396]

I have 2 rabbits. I chase the little one out of the garden now and then.

[bobss396]

Anyone got Lantern Flies? These are in stage 3 of 4... they all over the place...

[StevenGuthmiller]

The usual obstacles to avoid while mowing.

Frogs and lots of garter snakes.

 

 

 

Steve

[TonyK]

Sounds like you have a healthy yard.

[espo]

46 minutes ago, bobss396 said:

I have 2 rabbits. I chase the little one out of the garden now and then.

We share your Rabbit infestation issues. My wife is getting closer to letting me end them if they get into her flowers in the front planter again. My problem is the close proximity to the golf cart trail by our house limits my hunting times. 

[Falcon Ranchero]

Blue Jays eating my raspberries from the bush in the back of our lawn. I’ve been having to pick them before they’re ripe in order to save them. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

29 minutes ago, TonyK said:

Sounds like you have a healthy yard.

Well, the critters seem to like it.

We’ve had all kinds of visitors to our yard.

Rabbits, deer, raccoons, turkeys, pheasants, ducks, geese, owls, hawks, even a pair of bald eagles at one point.

And we live in town! ?

 

 

Steve

Edited August 11, 2024 by StevenGuthmiller

[Rob Hall]

Saw a deer eating leaves off a tree less than 20 feet from my back slider when I went out on the patio this morning to enjoy my first coffee of the day.  She looked at me and kept eating as I sat down and enjoyed my coffee.  She moseyed off before I let the dogs out. I have a 4ft fence but the deer hop it easily.   Didn’t get a pic of the deer, but it’s the tree on the right of the pic, right off the patio. 

[jaymcminn]

Today just the usual Muscovy ducks (with ducklings!). I get iguanas, raccoons, possums and even river otters from time to time, however. No gators lately, but they're definitely out there!

[Bills72sj]

My wife has converted 2/3s of our back yard into a garden. We get daily visits from a pair of yellow finches to decimate some of the variety of sunflowers we have.

[LDO]

A stray cat. There have been a couple that lounge around on my porch, but run off when I walk up. I can only guess that concrete in the shade is a relief from August weather in Texas. I started setting out food and water. Today I put out food and one was eating within a few seconds. He must have been hiding out, waiting for dinner. I know plenty of people would not approve of feeding strays, but they have no malice. They’re just trying to survive. 

Edited August 12, 2024 by LDO

[JollySipper]

5 hours ago, espo said:

We share your Rabbit infestation issues. My wife is getting closer to letting me end them if they get into her flowers in the front planter again. My problem is the close proximity to the golf cart trail by our house limits my hunting times. 

I've heard of folks tying a tin pie plate to a string and hanging it from a small post........... It makes a noise when the wind moves the plate, and is supposed to scare the pests away. Then there's always live traps..........

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 minute ago, JollySipper said:

I've heard of folks tying a tin pie plate to a string and hanging it from a small post........... It makes a noise when the wind moves the plate, and is supposed to scare the pests away. Then there's always live traps..........

...and rabbit stew.    

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 hours ago, LDO said:

...I know plenty of people would not approve of feeding strays, but they have no malice. They’re just trying to survive. 

I feed the strays/ferals here, and occasionally take one in if it's tame. My white cat Spooky lived with me for 14 years after somebody abandoned her in my old neighborhood. One can of tuna, she figured out she'd found a home. My current indoor cat was abandoned as a kitten 5 years ago. Another wild kitten whose mother was run over just as it was being weaned lives outside in a big cage so the raccoons won't get it, and I'll turn it in to the Humane Society for sterilization/adoption shortly. Another feral kitten whose mother was also run over has adopted me (his sister WAS eaten by raccoons), and is full grown now. He lives "wild", and is as tame as any housecat but avoids other humans. I'm on the fence about letting him inside, as I don't know how two adult unfixed males will get along. Only one way to find out, I guess...

In general, our local outdoor cats have a hard life, and usually only live 2 or 3 years before getting squashed in the street, shot, poisoned, or eaten by coyotes.

I had one of the sweetest ones...but not quite tame enough to bring inside yet...drag itself back here to die after some nice neighbor shot an arrow through its neck.

So anybody who doesn't "approve" can go to h...armonica.

EDIT: The ferals here have done an A1UltraPlus job of controlling the destructive rodents (I live on a large wooded lot in a semi-rural area) that used to get in the house, so we have a mutually beneficial relationship.

There is also a genuinely concerned woman who live-traps ferals around town, has them neutered and rabies-vaxxed at her own expense, and releases them back into the social groups where she caught them.

 

Edited August 12, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[atomicholiday]

This little guy getting a drink.  Ignore the tv playing in the background.?

 

Edited August 12, 2024 by atomicholiday

[JollySipper]

10 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

...and rabbit stew.    

Bill, I don't believe you can make rabbit stew with a live rabbit............ Silly! It does look good though, and I've heard it tastes like chicken.

[LDO]

A small update on the cats: when I walked to my work van this morning, a cat came running up the driveway. Apparently he associates the sound of closing the front door with food. 

[slusher]

10 hours ago, JollySipper said:

I've heard of folks tying a tin pie plate to a string and hanging it from a small post........... It makes a noise when the wind moves the plate, and is supposed to scare the pests away. Then there's always live traps..........

Pie tins work on ground hogs and rabbits and moth balls also

[stavanzer]

Our Resident California Scrub Jay, has a Beak like this one. He's been in our yard for over 5 years now.

We call him "Mr. Beak". He is mated, and we used to see Mrs. Beak, but I have not seen her in a while.

[LDO]

I’d call him Clarence Beeks.