I’ve had lots of visitors to my backyard. Mind you, my backyard is surrounded by a six foot fence. In one part, the lovely little border was pulled off by the gardening dudes so that side bit is just five feet until I get it fixed.
Among the visitors are the usual climbers and fliers: birds of all varieties including those of prey, squirrels black and gray, neighborhood cats who are definitely not invited because they’re after the birds in my little sanctuary. In the past I’ve had both raccoons and opossums.
This afternoon (we’ll pretend it isn’t after midnight as I write this and say it was THIS afternoon although it was yesterday afternoon, but just stick with me on this 😉 ) Sophie and I were going onto the deck to add to the bird feeders when I saw a dog below that looked like Sophie except longer with a bushy tail. My brain jostled between her and this other dog and then said: fox! I urged her back inside because I’d already seen what could happen when cats were caught in a bad position in my backyard and obviously didn’t want an altercation between Sophie and a fox.
I went back outside and he/she was gone. They’d scaled either the five or six feet of fence. I didn’t know red foxes could climb like that! Evidently he was after the birds, squirrels, or maybe even the peanuts that I’d tossed on the ground for the squirrels and blue jays. In case you ever think you don’t learn something everyday, you do. You just have to be observant enough to notice.
Foxes climb. Foxes love peanuts. Who knew? (Okay, I’m sure someone out there knew. Now I do as well.) Sorry I don’t have any pics. It happened too quickly. But I have a fox pic for you nonetheless (not taken by me):
I am really jealous right now! We have foxes in the area, but it is exceptionally rare that I get to see one. I have a better chance of seeing a coyote than I do of seeing a fox. Those chances dwindled to almost none ever since the new houses around me have been built and are still getting built. I miss all the wildlife that used to visit.
Well, I would bet the wildlife will return. I am 2 streets from the extremely busy route 1 corridor, so I am most definitely not in the country. After the subdivision building stopped and some of us planted trees and a more inviting habitat the wildlife began to return.
Sadly, no one around here appears to like trees so far. We also have a 6ft fence with a lot of our bordering properties also having fences. I do hope it gets better. Seems like a lot of the birds have disappeared as well. I really miss getting the hawks up close.
Yeah! What’s up with people’s fear of trees? I’ve had neighbors move in and within months they’re cutting down trees–beautiful maples, willows. My nextdoor neighbors hates my trees. She’s afraid they’re going to fall on her house. I don’t get this. I grew up in a neighborhood that was called Woodside Park for the obvious reason of having mature trees throughout. Not only do the trees provide a habitat for birds and squirrels, they also do this weird thing called releasing oxygen. One might say that they are necessary to the continuation of life on the planet. But people are only looking at right now, don’t care about the future. (I just went off, didn’t I?!) lol
Rant away! I’m right there with you! We have a bunch of trees in our yard (we also have a pretty big yard). I can see taking a tree down that is too close to a house (as in the trunk is within inches of brushing up against the house) or too close to other trees (why on earth does no one consider mature growth size of any plants that put in?) or even diseased, but for the most part, it drives me nuts when people take out big, mature trees. I want all the people that border my property to plant some trees, if for no other reason than so I can have a little privacy. We have an easement along our back line (the longest section of a too many sided pie-ish shape) and we can’t plant there, so we’ve had to leave it open. There are just some things I’d rather not have to know or see of my neighbors.
Heh. My last set of neighbors were into polyamory and had their hot tub in their backyard, which was visible when the leaves fell…yup. Some things you’d rather not know. I love the privacy especially when houses are practically right on each other.
Holy cow! Yeah! Definitely in need of some trees. And probably some brain bleach.