What Did You See In Your Yard Today?

[A modeler named mike]

On 8/11/2024 at 2:03 PM, Rodent said:

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

Not only do they poo alot, they make nice wreaking balls.

[A modeler named mike]

While sitting outside feeding the Squirrels and my buddy chip I noticed these two ugly guys in the neighbors deadwood either waiting patiently for somethings  demise or just taking in the sun. 

?°° hope they don't know something I don't...

[slusher]

15 hours ago, A modeler named mike said:

Not only do they poo alot, they make nice wreaking balls.

A wild turkey did that, Mike??

[A modeler named mike]

5 hours ago, slusher said:

A wild turkey did that, Mike??

Yep, my wife said she thought someone hit the house. I wasn't home at the time but I did find turkey feathers on the ground but no Turkey. He had to have at least a migraine after that hit..lol

[slusher]

I have a ground hog at the end of my yard..

[bobss396]

On 9/3/2024 at 11:07 AM, slusher said:

I have a ground hog at the end of my yard..

My girlfriend lives in the sticks, east and north of me by 30 miles. She has 2 groundhogs that she has seen in her 1/2 acre + yard. If you have small animals, the hawks will be eyeballing them outside. They will tear smaller birds like bluejays apart on the ground.

She has seen a dozen wild turkeys waltzing down the street going past her house. She is not far from where Tesla had set up shop years ago. RCA had a large tract of property there, I'm not sure if it is still vacant. All the streets in the area have Tesla-ish names like Radio, Echo, etc.

Edit: This is something I came up with the OG RCA property from 1921. It was 9000 acres. I used to camp there around 1969. Packs of wild dogs lived there and it was wise to avoid them.

https://ethw.org/Milestones:RCA_Central,_1921

Edited September 5, 2024 by bobss396

[StevenGuthmiller]

Had this crew meandering through the yard this evening to roost in the trees behind the house.

Actually, I didn’t get a picture when the first bunch came through.

This is about half of them! ?

 

 

 

 

Steve

[bobss396]

My dad lived way out east on the Island and on the way out we would see large flocks of wild turkeys off the road, as many as 30 was one estimate. His place backed up to a county park and we would see small groups of 3 and 4 passing by.

[SSNJim]

On 9/3/2024 at 9:44 AM, A modeler named mike said:

Yep, my wife said she thought someone hit the house. I wasn't home at the time but I did find turkey feathers on the ground but no Turkey. He had to have at least a migraine after that hit..lol

One day I heard a loud boom audible throughout the house. I looked through the upstairs windows but didn't see anything. I sat back down in front of the computer, but my curiosity got the better of me. I went downstairs and looked through the windows, and saw a turkey 10 feet from the house looking kind of dazed. That turkey hit my 1941 house with the very solid wood siding. He did no damage to the house, but it definitely rattled his cage.

We get the occasional small bird strike, but it's very rare for a turkey to do so. 

[bobss396]

11 hours ago, SSNJim said:

One day I heard a loud boom audible throughout the house. I looked through the upstairs windows but didn't see anything. I sat back down in front of the computer, but my curiosity got the better of me. I went downstairs and looked through the windows, and saw a turkey 10 feet from the house looking kind of dazed. That turkey hit my 1941 house with the very solid wood siding. He did no damage to the house, but it definitely rattled his cage.

We get the occasional small bird strike, but it's very rare for a turkey to do so. 

In the spring and fall, birds must think that they can fly through my house. The light must be just right. Some hit my front windows with a loud BONK... most of the time they fly right off, sometimes they break their necks. A couple of times I pick them up and hold them until they recover. I had a catbird do that last. I sat on my front steps and got a great look at him or her. They have some really great rust-colored feathers on their underside.

 

[OldTrucker]

A Hawk carried away one of the pesky squirrels that dig up the wife's flowers!

Tried to catch it on my phone but was too slow.

[slusher]

I have a mole from my neighbors yard, he has to go..

[A modeler named mike]

It's been awhile since I've seen one of these odd looking insect, he was on the garage door this morning. 

[slusher]

5 hours ago, A modeler named mike said:

It's been awhile since I've seen one of these odd looking insect, he was on the garage door this morning. 

A walking stick is what it’s called..

[bobss396]

21 hours ago, OldTrucker said:

A Hawk carried away one of the pesky squirrels that dig up the wife's flowers!

Tried to catch it on my phone but was too slow.

My girlfriend was driving on a back road.. stops for a stop sign and sees a hawk tearing apart a live Bluejay. She said that the hawk looked her right in the eye... like she was next. Her sister has a small-ish puppy and they watch her when she is outside. The crows by me will take off with baby birds from nests.

[Falcon Ranchero]

32 minutes ago, bobss396 said:

The crows by me will take off with baby birds from nests.

Back in 2022, a crow found the robin nest in the cedar tree in our backyard. Woke up to lots of chirping, peeked out the window, and there was a crow in the middle of the lawn picking something apart. Ran outside in my pyjamas and shooed it away to find a quivering baby robin who died shortly after I scared the crow. Turned around and there was a disoriented baby robin coming from under our patio. Ended up caring for it a couple days before it was able to go. Have a photo; I’ll add it on later.

Edited September 8, 2024 by Falcon Ranchero

[Tim W. SoCal]

RAIN!   It is currently 6:00pm, 100 degrees Fahrenheit and raining in my neck of North County San Diego, California!...

[bobss396]

Saw these in my garden. A mix of Scotch Bonnet, Habanero and Ghost peppers.

[Mike C]

Well, not in my yard, but, I had this bug windshield surf on my car all the way home from work, up to 55mph he held on and he waited long enough for me to get my camera and photograph him. He was right in the middle of the windshield.

From inside the car.

[bobss396]

I had some sort of small grasshopper on my side mirror on a 30 mile run last week. Gotta admire the strength in these things.

That is a Katydid. We found some at work, we got moved to an area by the rear garage doors, we had a bug collection in a big glass jar. We lent it out to other groups. It was mint until it started to stink, the crickets we had were cannibals... one big one ate the 4 others...

[Falcon Ranchero]

That's a neat Katydid; like how it looks like a leaf. One of our assignments for the College program right now is collecting "Terrestrial Insects" to pin down like those collections; you know how they do butterflies pinned in a picture frame; that kinda thing. Would've loved to add that Katydid to the collection.

[A modeler named mike]

9 minutes ago, Falcon Ranchero said:

That's a neat Katydid; like how it looks like a leaf. One of our assignments for the College program right now is collecting "Terrestrial Insects" to pin down like those collections; you know how they do butterflies pinned in a picture frame; that kinda thing. Would've loved to add that Katydid to the collection.

As cool as insects and their lifestyles are, and I've gone out of my way to save some but sometimes they can really tic ya off.. I've had my share of winged invaders that made a permanent landing on my freshly sprayed out clearcoat...?  the other photo I'm not sure exactly what it is, moth of some sort? but Terrestrial is definitely a good description. Good luck and let the hunt begin! 

[Falcon Ranchero]

2 hours ago, A modeler named mike said:

some but sometimes they can really tic ya off

My least favourite bugs are wasps, in fact I hate them. Got stung once and that did it for me, but my mom was stung 10 times by 7 wasps. Not to mention they like to make their nests in the ground on the lawn so when I go over it with the riding mower they all shoot up from there and become pissed as well as the ones that insist on making nests under my grandma’s garage roof overhang, which is wood so they like it there and get angry when I go in the garage or walk past it. Just awful little ?

[espo]

20 hours ago, Mike C said:

Well, not in my yard, but, I had this bug windshield surf on my car all the way home from work, up to 55mph he held on and he waited long enough for me to get my camera and photograph him. He was right in the middle of the windshield.

From inside the car.

I have also had a few hitchhikers like this in the past. Never understood how these insects can hang in too such a smooth surface. 

[slusher]

14 hours ago, Falcon Ranchero said:

My least favourite bugs are wasps, in fact I hate them. Got stung once and that did it for me, but my mom was stung 10 times by 7 wasps. Not to mention they like to make their nests in the ground on the lawn so when I go over it with the riding mower they all shoot up from there and become pissed as well as the ones that insist on making nests under my grandma’s garage roof overhang, which is wood so they like it there and get angry when I go in the garage or walk past it. Just awful little ?

That would be yellow jackets and my mother would get stung when mowing over their nest..