Wildlife...
 

My wife and I purchased a new home February this year. It backs to the wood and there is a large pond about 100 yards off our property. We have had several encounters with wildlife. Thus far:

1. Two deer that feed at our bird feeders nightly
2. A groundhog that surprised the heck out of my wife after he was caught sneaking up on her. They locked eyes in surprise and both ran off in opposite directions.
3. A gray fox that runs the same trail behind our house everyday.
4. Birds abound at feeders. Gold Finch, Slate Colored Junco, Blue Jay, Nut Hatch, Hummingbirds, Northern Oriole, various woodpeckers, etc.
5. Toads and frogs galore from the pond out back.
6. Snapping turtles from the same pond.

Today this hawk landed on our newly installed deck. We are living in a zoo!

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...psffe50589.jpg

I so envy you.
I only spot the occasional hedgehog, sometimes a hare. It's a semi-rural area, in the "old world", where wildlife has been massively hunted for centuries.

You forgot to mention the gazillion mosquitoes from the pond.:D

By and large the mosquitoes are fewer at this house than our old home. That home was on a creek that fed the Chesapeake Bay. I suspect the 1000's of frogs in the pond eat a lot of mosquito larvae. When the frogs start making their calls for a female, usually starting about 6pm, we can hardly hear ourselves think. When a mosquito does show up, my wife is their first target. :D Best mosquito repellent for me is my wife. :haha:

Speaking of hares...I forgot to add a baby bunny hopped through the yard two weeks ago. Acted like he owned it.

That explains the hawks.

Actually, just below him is a new small pond with waterfall that I created this past weekend. It has a large ceramic frog sprouting water(from a pump in the lower pond) into the top pond portion and the water falls to the lower pond. Looks like a natural watering hole with fish as far as he is concerned. Sadly, no fish! He will be waiting a long time!

However, I have a 8 pound poodle. Just ripe for picking I'm sure he is thinking!

Isn't nature wonderful, all I see are raptors overhead and the neighbour's cats going on my lawn - unfortunately they cats are never the prey! Don't even get as many foxes or hedgehogs as we did in town!

We also have fallow, muntjac, and roe deer but I've only ever seen muntjac, and only once.

Nature is wonderful to a point. Squirrels can be and are a pain in the butt. Constantly getting after our bird feeders. I'm purchasing a few squirrel proof feeders. The deer love to eat a few of my plants. Hostas are like a salad to them. I planted about 6 hostas. Next day nothing but root left. Sometimes they eat my O'day Lillies. Often they raid our feeders. We cohabitate just fine but some of these buggers are costing me $$$$$. :-?

Remember, squirrels and deer are tasty, just consider your cost $$$$$ as a small outlay on fattening up the dinner

Your very lucky Chris, all we get other than birds is the odd fox or hedgehog.

I remember being fascinated at the sight of squirrels in Neals back garden during the 2008 SubSim Meet.

Seems logical, however, I'm not much for shooting a critter. Once I purchased a 30/30 with scope to deer hunt. I fired the gun only to zero in the scope. Then I sold it the gun. I just did not see myself killing a deer. I have had deer meat though. Sometimes it is grassy tasting. Overall, not bad. Never had squirrel.

The squirrels are fascinating right up to the point were they chew through car wiring and outside light wiring. Destroy plant pots when they knock them over . Empty the feeders by shaking the poles. Just generally being a nuisance. :haha: I'll send you some Royal Post! :yeah:

Glad that somebody else can enjoy this! :sunny:

We used to drop scraps of food right behind our house and watch the foxes come up and take it at night.

I have deer walk through my yard every day...turkeys too. There are more squirrels than you can count and plenty of woods.

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

:haha:
I'm sorry but a quick scan of the whole post I saw.........
Destroy pot plants
:huh:
Man! My eyes snapped back to that REAL quick!
:har:

Squirrel is kinda tough. Hard to describe the taste...

Last one I had I cooked over a fire pit in our yard. They make for good eating.

Deer is good. We eat it all the time...Tacos, Sausage, Chili, Fried, Roasted, etc (Reminds me of Bubba from Forrest Gump)

I would not trade it for anything either. Our last home the only wildlife was yahoos that parked non-running cars and drive 4 wheelers all day in the backyard. Throw in sport bikes racing up and down the street to boot. We would watch this nonsense from our deck. It was time to go. We are now on a private drive with three other homes. Our homes all back to a conservation area. No more building around our homes! No road with bikes whizzing by doing wheelies. No cars with outrageously loud sound systems thumping on by. Just us, nutty squirrels, hawks, deer, rabbits, fox, ground hogs, assortment of birds and more frogs then we can count. Oh, we also have a barred owl. I have heard him twice. Have not seen him. I constructed a 10x16 deck specifically to sit, drink beer and enjoy the wildlife. It is working well. The wildlife is now enjoying our deck as seen today with a visit from a broad shouldered hawk.

Not legal in Maryland......yet. They are working on it. Just something else that can be taxed. :shifty:

I'd hate that too...all the crap going up and down the road. I live on an old hundred year old farm road that branches off of a state highway. The only things off of this very short road is my house and the neighbor's farm.

...and of course the woods. :rock:

The only thing I can see wrong with your situation is that the woods are a conservation area. You can't hunt those animals...and you may not want to...it's something you decide for yourself. Sometimes the conservation areas have controlled hunts.

If I was going to live in the woods, it'd be my own woods that I can know like the back of my hand and hunt whatever lives in it.

Again...a you thing. Hunting is not for everybody. Like you said, you sold the rifle because you couldn't imagine shooting a deer. That's understandable and I'm really glad that you like your new place.

Also, there's a thing...You got to watch those Owls....I don't know if you have Screech Owls...but if you hear one 3 times in a row, it means you're going to have very bad luck. I'm not superstitious....but it's not a good thing to hear 3 times in a row. :arrgh!: :D

And the frogs....the Tree Frogs will get everywhere at least in my experience.

Ever wake up to see a tree frog sitting on your toothbrush? Or on all of the windows? :sunny:


Livin' in the woods.... 'Merica :rock:

Very nice, AVGWarhawk. Me and my wife also recently moved from the city in NJ to rural PA. I can't tell for certain in that photo, but that looks like a Sharp Shinned Hawk. We have one living nearby too. Same thing with mosquitos by me also (2 lakes in our community). Not really a problem. Early in the season, we were inundated with gnats, but they were gone after 2 or 3 weeks. Lots of frogs, newts, land snails and salamanders too, not to mention all kinds of spiders.
Good luck in your new home, mate.:up: