Share photos of locals for the season

[Paladin]

I thought I would share a couple of photos of some local wildlife that have been moving about a lot lately. This is the southern house before I go back to Alaska. The snake is a Mojave Green in the Dark phase that was on a neighbor's back porch and the lion cubs are last year's about 400 yards from the house and the mother was not in the photo. In the last two months, I have seen MAMA and the cubs a couple of times but was unable to get a photo.

[gamekeeper]

You have some dangerous neighbors, thanks for sharing....

[Paul105]

[Walt]

A couple of our neighbors. We have these in addition to skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, bears, mountain lions, ringtail cats, deer, some snakes, etc.

Although tarantulas look threatening, they're actually quite peaceful. I photographed this one after a light rain; he's about the size of my palm, maybe a bit larger. I feel sorry for them because their mortal enemy is the tarantula wasp (or hawk). With a two inch long black body and orange wings, it stings and paralyzes the tarantula and drags it off to a nest where the wasp lays its eggs on the spider. When the young hatch, they feed on the live but powerless spider.

[Bill in Oregon]

Walt, I came to greatly favor the tarantulas in the Tularosa Basin to the point that I would brake for them -- and herd them out of harm's way in parking lots. Some are mellow, some are crabby. They are big enough critters to have personalities -- and mebbe names!
Paladin, the Mojave is no dang bueno. I only encountered Crotalus atrox - the western diamondback --but the Mojaves were said to be in the vicinity. A recent study found that depending on their habitat, the Mojave can alter its venom to be mostly hemotoxic -- destroying blood cells and tissue like the rest of our guys -- or mostly neurotoxic, shutting down the involuntary muscles of the nervous system like the cobras, mambas and kraits ...

[Ysabel Kid]

You have some dangerous neighbors, thanks for sharing....

No doubt!

[Old No7]

Does this count???

I live in... "Alco-Hollis" after all...

Old No7





Oh yeah... NO BUD LIGHTS were injured during this drinking fest.

[Sixgun]

We only have little critters, except for deer.

[Paladin]

Sorry, didn't include all the locals. I am pretty lucky as I am trying to make up for working two jobs my whole life. My wife wouldn't live in Alaska so we have a house in Arizona (I wouldn't live in Kalifornia) and I stay in Alaska for several months a year where I was living just after we met. Sorry for only posting photos of the footprints of the Grey wolf and Grizzly that tracked us on a hunt. The small brown Tarantula is a female that lives in the retaining wall in front of the southern house I feed a bug to every now and then. I have photos of Bagers, Griz, Black Bears but haven't been able to get photos of the ringtail cats (only seen two) and I will try harder.

[lthardman]

Neighbor's yard. Interesting fellow. A Cinnamon Bear. He has been hanging around quite a bit.

[JimT]

Our place has been terrorized by these two for some time now ..

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[Walt]

Jim, that's a whole lot better than them spending all their waking hours on cell phones or playing video games. Terrorize away!

[Bruce Scott]

Always some of these around.



And these two drop in for a daily feed at this time of the year.

[JimT]

Jim, that's a whole lot better than them spending all their waking hours on cell phones or playing video games. Terrorize away!

Oh yeah. They had just hauled in and stacked the firewood and were kinda proud of their work. I was too!

[Sixgun]

Wow! Those kangaroos are big…..are they like, all over the place?

[Bruce Scott]

Wow! Those kangaroos are big…..are they like, all over the place?

These are part of a mob of Western Greys that live in a reserve of about 100 acres opposite our home in the suburbs of Mandurah, WA. Any time I drive through rural areas in the SW I'll see some, especially around dawn and dusk . . . frequent road kills too.

Mature bucks can be over six feet in height standing fully erect.

[Bill in Oregon]

Nothing unusual here. Our instructor spotted the horned toad while leading us on a native plant identification tour at the ranch headquarters of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Foundation just west of Roby, Texas. The pecan thief did not want to budge from where he was cooling his tummy last Monday when it was 111.

[Sixgun]

[quote=

These are part of a mob of Western Greys that live in a reserve of about 100 acres opposite our home in the suburbs of Mandurah, WA. Any time I drive through rural areas in the SW I'll see some, especially around dawn and dusk . . . frequent road kills too.

Mature bucks can be over six feet in height standing fully erect.

Thanks Bruce……us yanks know them as circus animals who can box and carry their little ones in a pouch. ——-6

[GunnyMack]

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In the past few years we started getting these back.
About 10 years ago the Rose brested grosbeaks came back. On a rare occasion I've seen red headed woodpeckers.
None of them were here back when the state sprayed for gypsy moths!

Of course we have these in abundance!

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And who can over look the Ursus Americanus, we have more bears than anyone can imagine!

[samsi]

I ran across a big Mojave hiking a trail here a few years back, I let it have the right of way. We've got Blue Banded rattlesnakes as well, first time I saw one I took of my sunglasses and got close just to make sure I wasn't seeing things - yep, blue, 2 shades.

[Grizz]

Here's my daughter's rescue Shepherd-Rotty mix, dreaming about chasing rabbits >
.

Screenshot 2023-06-25 123516-dreaming rabbit dreams.png

.
Ranger lives with us most of the year because daughter is out of town most of the year. He is starting to show his age now, worries me. He is a great pet, and it's fun to watch the rabbit out fox him. I wish I could reliably breed this mix, he's great companionship . . . I once saw him running wide open thru a blueberry patch in Alaska. He cleared a log with all 4s tucked up, looked like a deer. Now he barks orders for his needs, we are well adapted.

We have about 4 generations of these bunnies around the area. We also have racer snakes, but no photos. Soon after we moved in we had a buck in the yard showing shock that the premises are inhabited. There is a bald eagle nest in the area, but i'll never tell. And a couple skillet loads of gray bushy tales. Lots of song birds and robins and some ravens.

great fun topic
grizz

Screenshot 2023-06-25 131029-Ranger.png

[Gunstore Commando]

Morning view from the front door of the ambulance base a few weeks ago.