@on the bay Wow! How frightening to be face to face with a huge buck. I would love to see a doe and her baby. We don't have deer here, yet. Nearby neighbors have had them. My brother lives
five minutes from us and he can't grow anything in his yard because the deer eat it all. He's not as generous as Mama Wick, feeding her beautiful deer family. Her photos are amazing and so sweet. They love those carrots.
Because of all the building of McMansions, not far from us, so many animals are being driven out of their habitats. I have lived
in my house since 1978 and we never saw a turkey until about 10
years ago.
It was cute when the mothers came with their babies, but not cute when the males were fighting one day. I thought that they would kill each other. Those Toms are fierce.
The turkeys would drink out of the bird baths and got seed from our feeders. Now, there are a couple of neighbors who
feed them daily and they go there. They do dig up and destroy
a lawn. These poor birds are lost and we feel so badly for them.
My son stays up late at night and he has seen foxes and sometimes a coyote. About 15 years ago, a coyote took a cat that a neighbor neglected and we took him in. One night he wanted to go out and that was the last time I saw him. It had
rained and in the garden, I saw what looked like dog tracks. A
piece of lattice below my porch was broken, with a little tuft of
fur on it. A carpenter had made a little door for my cats to go under the porch which sits about 12 feet above the ground.
The cats liked going under there, they were safe behind the lattice and they could watch all the birds and squirrrels. I think
that the cat was trying to escape the coyote and the coyote broke the lattice to get him.
It was so sad. For close to a year I had been feeding that skinny dehydrated cat and now he was healthy with nice shiny
coat. He felt safe with us. Now, no cats in the neighborhood go outside. We had never had coyotes before. Now, my son will see one go through our yard, once in a while.
Your possums and baby racoons must have been cute. I have never seen a possum, but my son told me that he has seen one several times. It lived under the other side of the porch. That side of the wrap around porches is only about 4 feet above ground, because the house is built on a hill. It was a nice safe, little cubby for a possum. He only came out late at night.
We have always had little brown rabbits that come out at night and early in the morning. One would even sit in the yard and eat with the squirrels, when I fed them in the morning.
About five years ago, a female racoon figured out how to get inside one of the cement block columns that support the high side of
the porch. She made a nest and had her babies there. I never saw her going in or out, but my son did. After they vacated, I had my son block the top of the column where she would go in. I didn't want her to nest there every year. I was hoping to see those babies, when they came out, but I never did. I'm sure they left late at night with no people around.
It would have been a nightmare if she or one of the babies died in there. We would have no way to get them out.
Years ago, before coyotes, I had a cat that hung out with racoons. I think that she thought she was one of them. One night, when I called her in, she came up the stairs to the porch.
When she reach the door, a raccoon had come up the stairs right behind her. I got her in and quickly shut the door. That racoon was starting towards the door. I think that it would have come inside if I had let it. That would have been fun.
We love our wildlife, but not in the house. We did have a bat
come inside years ago, but that is another story.
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