Nature & Wildlife Thread

[Nick83]

Haha squirrels are all over my property and30 rabbits like to forage for bugs and grass on my front lawn early in the morning around 3-5am. I really enjoy watching all the squirrels that chase eachother up and down and all around in the trees and nibble on fallen pinecones. My outside cat caught a sugar glider a few nights ago and brought to the door. I'm kind of surrounded by predators though. I can't go to my mailbox without a weapon at night because of the bobcat family and coyotes.
Since I basically live on a nature preserve, I get alot of interesting wildlife like raptors, diamondbacks, coral snakes, owls, cranes, boar, gopher tortoise and so on. I won't even begin to list the insects lol.

Everything in the pictures below are from my property.

 

[Burd]

My squirrels won't eat pine cones, lmao. They won't even eat almonds.

 

[JamieB]

We’ve got way too many coyotes out here. Every spring when the cats breed, we loose many. Two years ago, I ended up hand raising 9 kittens, then our oldest female got tired of tending her 5, so we had to finish raising them too. 14 kittens. That was a hassle. I’m a sucker for cats. I managed to find homes for most of them, those that the coyotes and owls didn’t get, then we have 4 savvy ones that are still around.
We have barn owls and I think hoot owls come by. Oddly, the cats keep the snakes down, even the poisonous ones.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Pretty exciting day today as my 10 free trees from the Arbor Day Foundation arrived! Looks like I'll be out planting them in 25°-30°F weather tomorrow.

Sure, they won't be much of anything for 10 or 20 years (just 6" to 12" tall right now), but it's still nice thinking about what they could be, even if I may no longer even live here.

I actually looked back at photos of my house from 1965 a few days ago and saw a young spruce tree in the front yard. That young spruce tree just died off this year and will have to be removed next spring. I'm thankful for whoever planted it as well as the other trees in my yard because a yard without trees would be sad.

Now, maybe some of these small trees will grow to be large, healthy, wildlife-friendly trees and someone living here 45 years from now will get to enjoy having them.

 

[JamieB]

I’d love to grow some big trees. We’ve got some crap trees, which we plan to take out, and put in oak saplings, and then a good windbreak of pines along the fence. I’d love to put in a small grove of dogwood and redbuds. And I’ve got a Jane magnolia in a planter right now that I’ll plant in the yard next spring.

 

[Burd]

I saw everything go up on the new feeder except the doves.

 

[Nick83]

I planted this tree 6 years ago when it was only10" tall. And now it's 7' tall. I also have a magnolia tree that I planted 3 years ago but it's only grown maybe 18" since it was put in the ground and stands at a blistering 6 feet tall. It's really neat watching these 2 grow.
@JamieB I had a similar experience with my cats whom I found under a hollow rock I made. They were only a few days old but there was only two of them. They were so tiny and now the two brothers are 5 years old and weigh 20lbs each. My wife is the one who bottle fed them and did most of the work but I am their best friend now. Cats are wonderful pets/companions.
@Burd The squirrels I have here love chewing down the green pine cones to sticks and their acorns.

 

[JamieB]

Coyotes were harassing the pups, so I brought them in. At a year old, Buddy has the bark of a Great Dane, but he’s actually 3/4 husky, looks like a German Shepherd, and doesn’t do much howling. Oddly, his cousin? Nephew? Has the husky hair but is only 1/4 husky, and does howl more. Crazy pups will stay in till they decide they are ready to go back out.

 

[addy1]

Coyotes in Arizona would draw the dogs out then group attack them. When people walked their dogs on leash they had to keep them close, go around a corner and the coyote might have your dog.
I lost one when they walked our block wall, jumped down into the yard and took my pup.

 

[Nick83]

One of the main reasons why I bring my cat inside at night now. My neighbor lost hers 3 weeks ago. I'm really surprised that they haven't found a way into their chicken coop yet. Nobody walks their dogs after dark around here. Without street lighting it's pitch black unless a full moon.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I’d love to grow some big trees. We’ve got some crap trees, which we plan to take out, and put in oak saplings, and then a good windbreak of pines along the fence. I’d love to put in a small grove of dogwood and redbuds. And I’ve got a Jane magnolia in a planter right now that I’ll plant in the yard next spring.

I dream of a yard filled with Sugar Maples. Trees of a reasonable size are always so damn expensive.

 

[JamieB]

That’s our problem too! We’ll buy a little small and just let them grow.

 

[Burd]

At my new place the trees are massive. Real nice old trees. I’ll snap a few pics. This one pine is massive, I have a black maple, 2 aspens, 2maples that turn red out front, one tree I can’t figure out what it is.

 

[JamieB]

Snap a pic, someone is bound to know!

 

[Burd]

Made this table from a slab of ash. A friend has a custom high end shop, he did the table for me. It came out nice. It's like 50 some years old counting the rings.