You never know what you might see in my backyard!
Over the 40 years we have lived here I have fed the birds and squirrels. For a couple of years I had two squirrels that would take peanuts from me. I have seen probably two dozen different species of birds. Two I feed are Gold finches and Hummingbirds. I have seen rabbits, opossums and raccoons. Three springs in a row a doe rabbit had litters in a half a whiskey barrel I had for flowers right outside my back door. Surprisingly my Dalmatian left them alone. I never saw any deer but several winters I have seen tracks in my yard.
In 2005 I had to put my Dalmatian to sleep, the hardest thing I ever had to do. I had her cremated and buried in my backyard. Before the year was over I got a cock-a-poo from the humane soc. She loves to chase squirrels so I quit feeding them. One time he had a hold of a squirrel and it had a hold of him. I got them apart; the squirrel had drawn blood on him. He still chases them but don’t think he wants to catch them!
My dog has killed two opossums and been under the shed with one twice. I had a hard time getting him to come out. One night when I let him out he was in a fight with a young raccoon.
For the last 7 or eight years our vacations have been to visit the kids. My wife was on to me about going somewhere different. I said just sit out and you’ll be surprised at all the wild animals you will see in the backyard! She only sits out some in the spring and fall when there are no bugs! The very next day I looked out and there was a female Mallard duck there. I hollered at my wife and said get out here you have to see this! It walked around awhile and I did get a picture of it before it flew away.
This morning I looked out and knew she would never believe me so I took this photo to show her. Here was a Moose, leisurely taking a bath in my backyard! I was surprised it was not drinking a Moose Head or Buck Naked Beer! Smokin Don
