Wow! Gorgeous photos. I would never think there would be so much wildlife in the suburban area where you live.
I'm in northern New Hampshire and our property abuts the White Mountain National Forest so my backyard looks like a wildlife park most of the time. It's so commonplace that I don't even take photos anymore.
We have a lot of black bears and I take down my birdfeeders at twilight then put them back out in the morning. I've lost way too many to the bears (and raccoons) in the past.
We don't have wolves that I know of, but we have coyotes, foxes, bobcats, wolverines, fisher cats and tons of deer, moose and wild turkeys. We have a large pond that attracts herons and one flew right in front of me today as I was turning into the driveway. They're big!!!
That cat is gorgeous. I'm glad his fur has grown out now, poor thing.
I just finished reading all your comments at this entry and I've certainly learned a lot about Duluth and its environs. Sounds like a wonderful place to live...the best of both worlds.
If it weren't so danged cold and the winters so danged dark and drear, and so danged LONG, I would love living here, unequivocally. But if the winters were shorter and milder I suppose loads and loads of other people would live up here. Then it would no longer be a small city stuck by itself in the wilds of northern Minnesota on the "the big lake". A curmudgeonly friend of ours, a lover of the lake and north shore scenery (he lives in a little house just north of town, right across from its shore), says our terrible winters are crucial, "to keep out the riff-raff". :)
What a wonderful post!!!! I loved your wildlife shots-- those bears are not to be believed. So big! Something so wild about seeing them on the lawn.
I often visit Boulder (just 20 minutes from here) and they, too, have a huge deer population. It's not unusual for me to stop my car as a doe and fawn, or a whole family, or a small herd, passes by. They are murder on gardens, but so lovely.
We have many rabbits in my neighborhood as well. A fox denned for several years just one block over, but she's moved on. Now, the coyotes come in. I saw one several times about 8 in the morning, trotting down the sidewalk as businesslike as you please. Which is why my kitties stay in at night.
Gosh, you really liked this, didn't you. I'm so pleased. I love your outdoor travel posts. Did I ever tell you my daughter loved reading your account of seeing all the wildlife in the Galapagos? She said she'd definitely do it -- later (later because hanging out with a bunch of buddies is her primary pleasure in life, and she didn't think the trip sounded suited for a bunch of people drinking and being rowdy and burning bonfires on the beach
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This is a wonderful story, Mariole (I, too, am sorry to reply so late; what a few days it's been!). As wonderful as it is told, how much more wonderful it must have been to experience. "King of the Coyotes". No relation of "Chico the Misunderstood", I am betting. :)
Was your deer encounter around the lake, the one that had the brush trimmed back so severely?
Kitty's fur grew back fine. When I saw him the next year, prowling his domain, he had a long thick coat. A beautiful long-hair, he is. (Or she, come to think of it - I didn't pick it up and check.)
Oh my, that bear's VERY close! Its fur looks very thin - summer coat, I assume.
You have a lot of animals wandering through your garden! I remember seeing the other bear photo and the deer.
It's very tame here, in comparison. Aside from birds, over the years, the largest wild creatures we've had in our yard are a 1.5m dugite snake and a bobtail lizard. :)
A 1.5 meter snake! Yikes! Was it a poisonous variety?
I thought the bear's fur looked thin, too, since it seems his skin is visible. My husband said in person he had a good coat, but it had rained so hard that afternoon and evening, perhaps he was, as they say, "soaked to the skin".
Yes, dugites are poisonous! And believe it or not, with Laurie's help I killed it! This was many years ago, when the boys were still at primary school. We live very close to that school, and were afraid that children would encounter it, with dire consequences. We put it in a large glass flagon and gave it to the school to show the children, and to warn them of the dangers.
These days, dugites are a protected species and people aren't allowed to take things into their own hands (a good thing, too). We'd have to call in an expert to remove it.
That's a scary looking snake, Maewyn! When you said you sent it to school in a flagon to show the children I assumed you meant alive, but, no, of course not, since you killed it. How did you kill it?
Wow! Fantastic pics, my dear. Are you really sure you don't live in The Shire? The only "wild" animal crossing our garden now and then is a fox, a very shy little fox I have to say. We had 4 of them in 2003 and they killed 30 of our hens. We couldn't do anything against it because he had babies so the haunters had to wait until they were old enough to haunt on their own until they shot (!!!) them! If I would have known that I'd never had said a single word.
Why did they wait for the babies to grow up to shoot them? Seems more, not less cruel, to wait until they're old enough to begin to get out there and enjoy life, polishing off their own chickens. Better to kill them before they find out how fun the world is. Or did you mean they waited to kill the mother until the babies were grown
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I'm in northern New Hampshire and our property abuts the White Mountain National Forest so my backyard looks like a wildlife park most of the time. It's so commonplace that I don't even take photos anymore.
We have a lot of black bears and I take down my birdfeeders at twilight then put them back out in the morning. I've lost way too many to the bears (and raccoons) in the past.
We don't have wolves that I know of, but we have coyotes, foxes, bobcats, wolverines, fisher cats and tons of deer, moose and wild turkeys. We have a large pond that attracts herons and one flew right in front of me today as I was turning into the driveway. They're big!!!
That cat is gorgeous. I'm glad his fur has grown out now, poor thing.
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I often visit Boulder (just 20 minutes from here) and they, too, have a huge deer population. It's not unusual for me to stop my car as a doe and fawn, or a whole family, or a small herd, passes by. They are murder on gardens, but so lovely.
We have many rabbits in my neighborhood as well. A fox denned for several years just one block over, but she's moved on. Now, the coyotes come in. I saw one several times about 8 in the morning, trotting down the sidewalk as businesslike as you please. Which is why my kitties stay in at night.
Wonderful post.
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That fawn's so pretty! (-: I had a nice deer encounter on one of my walks here last week.
Poor shaved kitty! (-:
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Was your deer encounter around the lake, the one that had the brush trimmed back so severely?
Kitty's fur grew back fine. When I saw him the next year, prowling his domain, he had a long thick coat. A beautiful long-hair, he is. (Or she, come to think of it - I didn't pick it up and check.)
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You have a lot of animals wandering through your garden! I remember seeing the other bear photo and the deer.
It's very tame here, in comparison. Aside from birds, over the years, the largest wild creatures we've had in our yard are a 1.5m dugite snake and a bobtail lizard. :)
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I thought the bear's fur looked thin, too, since it seems his skin is visible. My husband said in person he had a good coat, but it had rained so hard that afternoon and evening, perhaps he was, as they say, "soaked to the skin".
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugite
These days, dugites are a protected species and people aren't allowed to take things into their own hands (a good thing, too). We'd have to call in an expert to remove it.
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The only "wild" animal crossing our garden now and then is a fox, a very shy little fox I have to say.
We had 4 of them in 2003 and they killed 30 of our hens. We couldn't do anything against it because he had babies so the haunters had to wait until they were old enough to haunt on their own until they shot (!!!) them! If I would have known that I'd never had said a single word.
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