Over the last week, in my backyard and the field behind it, we’ve seen the following animals (suburban NJ):
A fox family
A bunny family
A herd of eight deer
A very large turtle
A groundhog in a tree (just a few feet, dogs were bothering)
A young cat/older kitten
Every bird invented + a cement one in neighbor’s yard dogs fervently believe to be real
A garter snake
A bat (lives on our porch rafters for last three years)
The kitty was sitting in the field on the other side of the fence. The pitties went berserk and she just sat there like a badass. I got the dogs in and went to check on her, but she was gone.
Last week I was sitting in my desk and heard rustling at the dog food bowl. I realized my dog was sitting on my foot. I thought, “Why is a cat eating the dog food?” looked up and saw a small opossum munching down. We locked eyes and it took off back in to the closet, spilling the bowl all over the floor. It was small, smaller than my cats anyway but I was worried it wasn’t alone. I had a broom so I knocked around in the closet (stuffed with junk and old toys in boxes) until I found the hole going in to the attic (this is the second floor). I covered the hole and hoped for the best.
I haven’t heard anything since but today I was downstairs getting a bun and realized there was a big hole in the bag and chunks taken out of some of the buns. And then I noticed a big hole in the bread and chunks gone out of that too. I don’t know if it’s that opossum or something else! We had a few rats in the garage earlier this year and had to buy big metal bins to store the pet food in. We haven’t seen any in months. I sure hope one of the cats developed a taste for hot dog buns but I’m not counting on it.
Funny I should find this right now. I just had to “guide” out a dozen wild horses out of my mom’s back yard. They’re back there chillin’, eating the trees, taking massive dumps.
God, I hate these guys.
Other than that, bats, snakes, quail, lizards, rabbits, doves and coyotes. Same old, same old. Oh, and the crows have been sniffin’ around.
I see every thing indigenous to this area. The weirdest thing was a feral hog trying to get in the hunting dogs kennel. They are badass. Mr.Wrekker advises not to try them. I have shot coyote out there. But apparently hogs are hard to kill cleanly.
According to local legend (meaning its probably not true) there is a Komodo dragon roaming these woods. Seems someone ditched one out here. Eh, never seen it, I’m skeptical.
Juvenile five-lined skink
A red-spotted purple (basically this morph)
Two kinds of frog (not sure of the species, possibly a wood frog and a spring peeper)
A round green bug that probably was a literal true bug
Dragonflies (various species)
Some very pretty golden-colored ants
My cats
And the gang at work, consisting of (deep breath): an iguana, a savanna monitor, a ball python, two leopard geckos, a crested gecko, a Cayman lizard, three guinea pigs, two rabbits, a bearded dragon, two hamsters, a (probable) yellow-eared slider, and uncounted feeder fish and crickets.
Been staying indoors as much as possible because of the heat so just a couple of the neighborhood cats on my list. And spiders, spiders, spiders. Indoors and out.
Unusual number of leopard frogs this year. They are all over the place. Previously I might see one or two a year. I saw five different ones just while mowing yesterday
A Northern Short-tailed shrew. Apparently common in Michigan but certainly the first I’ve ever seen. They’re venomous! Really!
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