Wildlife Around Your Home (post pics if you've got 'em!)

blackhawks

I didn't like lizards until I moved to AZ.  Now I really enjoy them like this horned lizard in our back yard.  We also have had 2 rattlesnakes in our yard this year but I removed them and placed them a quarter mile away in the desert.  They die if you place them more than 1/2 a mile is what the fish and game told us.

Fifthelement

blackhawks said:

I didn't like lizards until I moved to AZ.  Now I really enjoy them like this horned lizard in our back yard.  We also have had 2 rattlesnakes in our yard this year but I removed them and placed them a quarter mile away in the desert.  They die if you place them more than 1/2 a mile is what the fish and game told us.

Beautiful.  Good on you for not killing the snakes.  Watched the saddest documentary on the damage that humans have done to the species.

dankind

https://youtu.be/5k68Uz3w3x8

brianlux

Although she didn't get a photo, my wife tells me the four fox kits we saw a few months ago are back!  She saw them playing in the back yard. Though getting into adolescence, she says they are still quite playful.  I'm a little bummed that I missed seeing them but glad have had the morning to get some much needed sleep.  Anyway, I'm happy to know they are still around here!

brianlux

blackhawks said:

I didn't like lizards until I moved to AZ.  Now I really enjoy them like this horned lizard in our back yard.  We also have had 2 rattlesnakes in our yard this year but I removed them and placed them a quarter mile away in the desert.  They die if you place them more than 1/2 a mile is what the fish and game told us.

I love lizards!  We get a lot of western fence lizards and the occasional larger alligator lizard.  Live watching them do their push ups! 

Thirty Bills Unpaid

This feller was checking us out last night during a twilight round of golf:

And this morning on our mountain bike ride... coyotes howling. We stopped to try and locate them. They were a distance apart.

Then we noticed hikers with two smaller dogs. We figured the coyotes were trying to lure the dogs away from their owners.

brianlux

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

This feller was checking us out last night during a twilight round of golf:

And this morning on our mountain bike ride... coyotes howling. We stopped to try and locate them. They were a distance apart.

Then we noticed hikers with two smaller dogs. We figured the coyotes were trying to lure the dogs away from their owners.

I didn't know they did that?  To what purpose, do you know?

brianlux

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

This feller was checking us out last night during a twilight round of golf:

And this morning on our mountain bike ride... coyotes howling. We stopped to try and locate them. They were a distance apart.

Then we noticed hikers with two smaller dogs. We figured the coyotes were trying to lure the dogs away from their owners.

I love this photo not only because I think coyotes are marvelous, but also because the scene looks like one of those quiet lonely places I so often crave.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

brianlux said:

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

This feller was checking us out last night during a twilight round of golf:

And this morning on our mountain bike ride... coyotes howling. We stopped to try and locate them. They were a distance apart.

Then we noticed hikers with two smaller dogs. We figured the coyotes were trying to lure the dogs away from their owners.

I love this photo not only because I think coyotes are marvelous, but also because the scene looks like one of those quiet lonely places I so often crave.

Cheers!

I'm totally feeling you on the desolate places being therapeutic. 

Being a coyote would be pretty cool (except Spiritual would not approve of your carnivorous lifestyle lol).

Thirty Bills Unpaid

brianlux said:

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

This feller was checking us out last night during a twilight round of golf:

And this morning on our mountain bike ride... coyotes howling. We stopped to try and locate them. They were a distance apart.

Then we noticed hikers with two smaller dogs. We figured the coyotes were trying to lure the dogs away from their owners.

I didn't know they did that?  To what purpose, do you know?

I think they wanted to snack.

dankind

We had a coyote here the other morning. Unfortunately, the bitch was inside. 

Also, I opened the back door to let the bitch out yesterday, and right there on the other side of the door was a little skunk. Little thing looked up at me as if to say “please, no,” so I kept the bitch inside until the little critter could make its way out of the yard. Sucker was cute, calm and collected—unlike the bitch; she was a wild idiot. 

blackhawks

brianlux said:

blackhawks said:

I didn't like lizards until I moved to AZ.  Now I really enjoy them like this horned lizard in our back yard.  We also have had 2 rattlesnakes in our yard this year but I removed them and placed them a quarter mile away in the desert.  They die if you place them more than 1/2 a mile is what the fish and game told us.

I love lizards!  We get a lot of western fence lizards and the occasional larger alligator lizard.  Live watching them do their push ups! 

When they do those push ups it is hilarious!  they are really entertaining.  

On the sad side of the snakes, there is a rare rattlesnake here in AZ that resides in one mountain range in the northern part of the state (we have 16 species of rattlers here).  This year so many poachers came in and took them to sell they closed the whole forest off to humans.  We humans are the worst I tell you.  It is very frustrating to have people take a wild creature to sell to some person as a pet.

blackhawks

I took this picture this summer where I knew a family of Whiskered screech Owls nested.  The fledgelings were bout and about at night and I had the whole mountain to myself!  

Fifthelement

blackhawks said:

brianlux said:

blackhawks said:

I didn't like lizards until I moved to AZ.  Now I really enjoy them like this horned lizard in our back yard.  We also have had 2 rattlesnakes in our yard this year but I removed them and placed them a quarter mile away in the desert.  They die if you place them more than 1/2 a mile is what the fish and game told us.

I love lizards!  We get a lot of western fence lizards and the occasional larger alligator lizard.  Live watching them do their push ups! 

When they do those push ups it is hilarious!  they are really entertaining.  

On the sad side of the snakes, there is a rare rattlesnake here in AZ that resides in one mountain range in the northern part of the state (we have 16 species of rattlers here).  This year so many poachers came in and took them to sell they closed the whole forest off to humans.  We humans are the worst I tell you.  It is very frustrating to have people take a wild creature to sell to some person as a pet.

Yeah, it’s disgusting.  The doc I was talking about stated that in some areas rattlers are losing their rattle because they’ve been so zealously over-hunted.  Makes me sick in my heart.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

blackhawks said:

I took this picture this summer where I knew a family of Whiskered screech Owls nested.  The fledgelings were bout and about at night and I had the whole mountain to myself!  

Good picture 

Fifthelement

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

blackhawks said:

I took this picture this summer where I knew a family of Whiskered screech Owls nested.  The fledgelings were bout and about at night and I had the whole mountain to myself!  

Good picture 

Sorry Blackhawks, it is a great picture.  How far away were you?  It looks like it was just sitting there waiting for you and your camera.

blackhawks

It was 12-15 feet away.  It was just chowing down on whatever those big bugs were that were around.  I have been using the Olympus system with the 300 f4 (which equals a 600mm) because of the close focus distance compared to my regular 600mm (3ft roughly vs 13 feet).  It is very handy for butterflies and larger insects too.  There are limitations with a 4/3 system but I manage using low ISO (high ISO is garbage with them).  

brianlux

blackhawks said:

It was 12-15 feet away.  It was just chowing down on whatever those big bugs were that were around.  I have been using the Olympus system with the 300 f4 (which equals a 600mm) because of the close focus distance compared to my regular 600mm (3ft roughly vs 13 feet).  It is very handy for butterflies and larger insects too.  There are limitations with a 4/3 system but I manage using low ISO (high ISO is garbage with them).  

Well done!

A few of the foxes we saw a while back have been coming around again.  One of them stole one of my wife's gardening shoes even though the were close to the sliding glass door.  Probably not a good idea for her to leave them out!

Fifthelement

wasa1971

My husband came home to this today on the front of our property.
We recently moved to an acreage and have seen 3 moose in the last month.