National Wildlife Day

[Diane CBPFC]

It is national wildlife day. I thought I would type out a list of birds and animals I have noticed in our garden.
 
Moose
Deer
Bear (one time only)
Beaver
Coyote
Fox
Mink
Weasel
Muskrat
Rabbit
Squirrel
Frogs
Toad
Skunk
Mice (2)
Shrew
Raven
Owls
Magpie
Blue jay
Grey jay
Woodpeckers (2)
Chickadees (2)
Nuthatches (2)
Dark-eyed junco
Common redpoll
Evening grosbeak
Pine grosbeak
Common grackle
Robin
Swallow
Grouse
Pheasant
Sparrow
Blackbirds (2)
Ducks
Canada Goose
Plus all the many types of little creepy-crawlies and flying insects.

[Diane CBPFC]

I can never remember if the furry animals are ferrets or weasels - I will have to remember that we have the kind that go "pop"

[Diane CBPFC]

delete

[Roger Kettle]

Just astonishing, Diane. I get excited when I see exotic wildlife like a hedgehog in my garden. I can't imagine what it would be like to look out my kitchen window and see a bear wandering by. Scary but wonderful, I guess!

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Excellent list. I don't even have a window box these days, so I'm very envious (although I do have a park - currently wildlife running around outside my window consists of dozens of under-11 kids running around playing football supervised by adults/parents getting more animated than perhaps they should be [regular Sunday event]).

I had to Google "Dark-eyed junco". I was hoping to find a malevolent cousin of the Yeti, but it's rather cute... which makes me distrust it even more.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

PS...

Back in the days when I used to have a garden, I once spotted a fox exploring it. It was wearing a light blue collar. Bizarrely, this made me less inclined to try to make friends with it.

Worst was the moles though, and the day I woke up to find my back lawn resembling a miniature version of the Battle Of The Somme. That was the day any faint hop of me ever taking a proper interest in gardening evaporated forever. Thanks, Moles!

[Diane CBPFC]

Hedgehogs are awfully cute, I have never seen them here (other than a family that kept one in a big glass habitat as a pet)

The dark-eyed juncos are utterly adorable, they like to eat off the ground rather than the feeder - sometimes I feel like picking them up and squishing them.

I wonder what would have happened if you had thrown a seed potato in the mole holes? Maybe they were trying to help out :-)

Foxes are getting domesticated in the UK aren't they, going into city gardens and such. 

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

If, by "help out", you mean by putting the final nail in any hope that I might one day realise the joy of gardening, Diane, then they certainly did. And for that, I genuinely do thank them. :-)

Is there some magic in throwing seed potatoes in mole holes that I never discovered? I suspect it might be dark magic. I would never wish to upset a mole, no matter how much they vandalised my property.

I've heard it said that foxes are indeed more commonly found in cities and towns these days than the countryside. Perhaps it's an evolutionary migration to evade Neanderthal fox-hunters on horseback with red coats and far too many dogs? I did once spot two foxes playing delightfully on a small suburban roundabout, and watched them having fun for some time in the full glare of humans, before several car horns behind me reminded me to drive on... presumably so they could have their turn watching.



 

[Max]

In the shipyard where I worked foxes became a very common sight.
As I was an early starter I often came across them on my way from the car park to my office.
I recall seeing one sitting on the bonnet of a newly parked car getting warm from the engine.
Somewhere in my hard drive I have pics of one on the roof of a shed 40 feet up, think it was after the eggs/chicks from the seagull nests.
The foxes seemed pretty fearless of men in the yard, wouldn't really move unless you went right up to them.
They did keep down the rats though, a bonus.

[Diane CBPFC]

Bird feeding/watching is my favourite winter activity, the squirrels are included in this daily activity. The rest of my wildlife spottings are not so regular, for instance the moose hang around one or two times for 10 days a year at the most and I've only seen a bear here that one time.