Wildlife in Our Own Backyard

So, I've been thinking of starting this blog for a while. Part of the reason is because I think it would be neat to record all of the wildlife that we are fortunate enough to encounter in our lives. Our daughter, AJ, will also probably enjoy helping me record animals we see in our backyard when she gets a little older.

To start out, I'm going to list some of the more memorable wildlife sightings we've had right in our neighborhood, usually within yards of our front door. I'm also adding a master list to the bottom of the blog page thatI can update as we spy new animals in and around our back yard.

Wildlife sightings in our immediate neighborhood:

Deer - many and often!

Racoons

Turkeys

Hawks (I'm still working on learning how to identify various local species)

Coyotes - very occasionally

Foxes - Several sightings, including a family of an adult and 3 juveniles came through our yard

Skunks - Many, including a family of 1 adult and 3 juveniles that were playing in our back yard, just few days after we saw the family of foxes

Great Horned Owls - we had a nesting pair with several chicks spring.summer of 2011

Great Blue Herons - a pair was hunting gophers on our hill for a few weeks summer of 2011

Because we had owls nesting in direct view of our living room window this summer, owl was one of AJ's first few words. She now enjoys pointing out pictures of owls whenever we come across them. Her interest drove our choice for carving her first pumpkin on Halloween. Here are a photo of AJ, dressed as Raggedy Ann, with her owl pumpkin and a photo of the lit pumpkin.