Every day:
Wild turkeys
Deer, at least a dozen who are having their way with my fruit trees at the moment
Chickens
Goats
My dog
Just today:
A new, humongous cat appears to have adopted my pasture as his new territory.
This week:
Bunnies
Ravens
Eagle
Geese
Turtles
And a dead skunk in the middle of the road.
It’s been a quiet week for wildlife.
I saw a male house finch this week. That’s probably bog standard in many places in the U.S., but I had never noticed one in Canada before.
A surprisingly lithe and pretty skunk ran across the road in front of me yesterday. It was a good two hours before sunset, so I think something must have scared it into the street.
Your description put me in mind of the prettiest little skunk I ever saw. She was a Western Spotted Skunk, protected as an endangered species, and she took up residence in my hen house.
My own fault. I’d never lost a chicken to a predator and had gotten cavalier about closing up the doors between the chicken run and coop at night. Unfortunately, part of wire on the chicken run had worn through but I didn’t notice until too late. The little skunk found her way in and made a birthing nest in the litter under the hens’ roost in the coop. I lost 2 hens before I figured it out.
I had to dislodge her and naturally she didn’t want to go. I tried to make the place uninviting by hanging ammonia-soaked rags around the coop. She didn’t care.
I resorted to poking at her nest with the business end of a hoe. She gave me a warning shot. She was quite sweet about it, really. She could have really blasted me, but she just squeaked out a tiny leak. Enough to make her point, but not enough to cause me distress.
Finally I hit on the idea of smoking her out. That worked. I kind of hated to see her go, though.
A fond memory of a different week’s roster.
I was riding my motorcycle and saw a black cow come out of the woods and onto the road. Except it wasn’t a cow, it was a bear! I slowed down and revved my engine at him and he shambled back into the woods.
I knew bears were around but never saw a wild one before.
Not exactly this week, but we spent much of the summer in Russia and eastern Europe. We saw many storks and storks’ nests, too many to count after a while. Wonderful birds. Also saw some delightful hedgehogs.
I love North American wildlife, but I do miss European critters when I’m in the US.
Trixie whacked a ground squirrel the other day. Good girl!
All kinds of rabbits and squirrels around my house all day long.
We have a doe and her fawn that pass through the yard every evening.
Once a week or so we have a few turkeys wander through as well.
There is a ground hog that lives in my neighbors culvert pipe under their driveway. I see him every afternoon on my way home, (I swear he waits for me to come home now).
Just this morning, another neighbor had their trash can fall over by the street. I stopped to pick up the can and the bag that fell out of it only to see a skunk stick it’s head out of the bag. (I decided a phone call to the neighbor was a better choice).
Another neighbor, (very long country road), has a miniature moose. She calls him a great dane, but I’m not convinced. He stares at me over the fence a couple times a week.
My favorite are the humming birds that visit our feeders. They are very territorial and animated when another hummer intrudes on “their” feeder…I could watch them all day.
We were on holiday in Sweden and I heard a tiny rustling in the woodlands beside our veranda. I sat very still downwind and I saw a shrew. A shrew! I haven’t been able to ID it further (r/animalid was no help, unlike the amazing skillz of posters on r/whatsthisbird) but I’m pleased to have seen it.
I added about 30 new birds to my life list with no effort. We also saw red deer and red squirrels. But nothing to beat that shrew! Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Dropped in to say I saw the most turkeys I have ever seen this morning. I was looking out of a window and saw movement around the pond. I walked out and still couldn’t figure it out. I went in and got binoculars. I counted 30 birds before I lost my place. At least 45-50 birds in that Troup of Turkeys. We have a lot of wildlife around that pond, but this was unusual. It will be a good Turkey hunting year. Oh, joy.