| Jul 9, 2007 @ 5:37 PM |
Backyard Animal Planet
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witchietoo
Posts: 2,630
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I have been doing a lot of stuff in the backyard lately and have come to realize this area has a lot more wildlife showing up lately. This is good for the nature lover in me, but bad for the animals. If they are starting to show up more and more in this area, they are going to end up having run ins with people. We all know how that will turn out for the animals.
Over the weekend, we were treated to a fly by of a Bald Eagle, really cool..of course I couldn't get pictures of it. By the time I got back in the house and grabbed my camera it was to far out of range to get a good shot.  That will teach me to keep the batteries in the camera once they are recharged. Oh and to keep it with me outside...lol
Two weeks ago, there was a coyote running through the retention pond (its a dry one for overflow only) that was too cool. That was the only time we have seen it...my neighbors daughter saw it too as we were standing in the yard talking when it ran though. It stopped for a second when it heard our voices and then took off like a bat out of hell...lol Granted now I have to wonder if that is why I can't find my cat! She has been missing for a week now.  I have searched everywhere I can for her, no one in the area has seen her either. My neighbor Gunther even asked where she was as he had a treat for her. He had some fish he had cleaned and saved pieces of it for her. Spoiled cat!
Now today, I was filling the pool, not thinking I left the door open about two feet so not to crimp the hose. I went out to turn the filter back on and there was a gopher tortoise in by the pool. It was not a happy camper when I picked it up and put it back out in the yard. It was a nice sized one too, I'd say it weighted about 15 or so pounds. Then while I was in the yard working, I was treated to watching a Great White Egret catching snakes and lizards while I pulled weeds.
We have had hawks perching on the roof at times, Osprey's in the trees and a a wide variety of birds at the feeders. Add all that into seeing deer less then a mile away, nightly visits by burrowing owls, raccoons, possums and armadillo's we seem to have a very wide range of wildlife for such a built up area.
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| Jul 9, 2007 @ 6:34 PM |
Backyard Animal Planet |
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Dovestreasure
Posts: 3,419
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Witchie that all sounds wonderful. I wish I could say the same about my backyard. When I first moved in to this house we would on occassion get deer in the back yard. The first time it happenned I was so excited, its probably been at least five years since a deer made a late night appearance. Armadillos and possoms still venture in and we get lots of birds in the backyard thanks to my Moms birdfeeder and bird bath next door. We do see Sandhill Cranes (always in pairs) from time to time. The ducks that make our retention pond home , come wandering through the neighborhood. Those ducks are pretty darn smart they know there going to get some food tossed their way. Of course there are lots of lizards, snakes, frogs, toads and turtles.
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| Jul 9, 2007 @ 6:52 PM |
Backyard Animal Planet
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fuchia04
Posts: 953
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Here we get iguanas, toads, lizards, possums, and squirrels. We can hear them crawling on the roof of the house sometimes. If you take trash out with food scraps in it and don't secure the bag well enough.. well then, the critters'll be sure to let you know by morning. 
Oh and we have lots of ducks that like to swim in our creek in the back of the house along with these long-billed white birds that walk around in groups and mainly like to hang around near the edge of the water.
[Edited on 7/9/2007 7:02 PM]
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| Jul 9, 2007 @ 6:54 PM |
Backyard Animal Planet |
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witchietoo
Posts: 2,630
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Fuchia are their bills slightly curved down and thin looking? If so they are Ibis. Yeah I know I need a life...lol
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| Jul 9, 2007 @ 6:59 PM |
Backyard Animal Planet
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fuchia04
Posts: 953
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Yes, they are. We must be talking about the same bird. Could never really be sure what type it was.. I thought maybe they were some type of egret or something...
but then again, I probably wouldn't know what an egret was, if one hit me in the face...lol.
[Edited on 7/9/2007 7:08 PM]
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| Jul 9, 2007 @ 7:07 PM |
Backyard Animal Planet |
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witchietoo
Posts: 2,630
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yeah well I'm a geek when it comes to animals....lol
snowy egret
Ibis
No, I didn't take these pictures happen to have them on my computer...lol
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| Jul 9, 2007 @ 7:11 PM |
Backyard Animal Planet
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fuchia04
Posts: 953
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Yep!  They're definitely ibis.. 
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| Jul 9, 2007 @ 10:50 PM |
Backyard Animal Planet |
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honbee42
Posts: 348
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Gee, I need to move...lol.
My yard is right next to the main road, so all I really get to see most of the time is what used to be like armidillos, or possums that didn't make it across the road. I get the chore of helping them back to the other side, to the open field, via shovel....lol
I do get to see those wonderful, yucky, vultures. Or as people down here would call them, Florida Turkeys. Once, one of them landed on the roof right outside the porch. Scared my sister and I half to death. I do get an occasional snake here and there. More here than there lately though, lol.
I'm glad, in a way I don't live down by the lake, they get the alligators at times. There is a pellican though down there, that comes by if your fishing and waits for you to catch the fish. He wants what you caught and if your not catching em fast enough for him he will come over and just about stand next to you waiting....lol
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| Jul 10, 2007 @ 12:07 AM |
Backyard Animal Planet
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Dovestreasure
Posts: 3,419
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Those vultures are pretty creepy looking Honbee, but they do take care of the road kill. Makes me sad to see those poor little critters on the side of the road though. I hit a squirrel once, and some other creature. I still feel bad about it till this day.
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| Jul 10, 2007 @ 12:33 AM |
Backyard Animal Planet |
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fuchia04
Posts: 953
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I walk to work and often see dead possums in the road as well as the occasional iguana or cat, that never made it across. I once rescued a squirrel and another time, an iguana off of the street, right after they were struck (but not killed) by a vehicle, only for them to die soon after, of their injuries.
I tried to call animal rescue but they would not help. 
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| Jul 10, 2007 @ 12:36 AM |
Backyard Animal Planet
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witchietoo
Posts: 2,630
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I was a big baby one time I hit a bird...dumb thing flew right into the grill. I cried like a baby over it.
I hate seeing animals on the side of the road. The armadillos are the ones that really get me. They would be fine if they didn't jump up when scared.
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| Jul 10, 2007 @ 10:04 AM |
Backyard Animal Planet |
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kacee304
Posts: 5
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They are trying to cement most of our state, their yards are now our backyards.....whats an animal to do?
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| Jul 10, 2007 @ 3:50 PM |
Backyard Animal Planet
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Dovestreasure
Posts: 3,419
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We really do infringe on their territory. Even though gators scare me big time , I always feel upset when they have to kill one that has lost its natural fear of people. Some idiot whose name I will not say on here ( cause its bad luck to say "its" name) was feeding a gator that was in a pond near "its" apartment. This individual had a small child too. Its a terribly dangerous thing to do . In time the gator ventures closer associates people will food and then you have a tragedy on your hands. Poor Gator gets killed too. 
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