Animals around your house...

On Saturday, among others shot the purchased the day before the figures CollectA. During the shooting of dogs CollectA heard a noise behind you. I turned around with a camera and a high withered grass had sprung up these two individuals. I managed to take some photos. I laughed with the kids that ran in the direction of the shopping center Carrefour. I guess the sales. And it was somewhere around 300 meters from our house.
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Fantastic shots Zbyszek. I couldn't help but laugh about the pheasant going shopping

HKHollinstone wrote:

Fantastic shots Zbyszek. I couldn't help but laugh about the pheasant going shopping

Maybe it was a discount day

This is funny

Kikimalou wrote:

The first pair of cranes you are talking about is maybe a pair of Brolgas ? here is a pic... Not from me !

By the way Christophe, I went to that place again, the one with all the ducks and cranes. But I asked the man what type of cranes they were and he said Japanese Cranes, this time I put my hand up to the cage as he told me to, and they were so gentle, they just softly put their huge beaks on your hand, it was amazing. He had a male and female.
This is what they looked like...
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Just a few pictures of birds and flowers in my garden - I took them Saturday.
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What fantastic photos! I still can't get over having wild hedgehogs in your garden. When I worked at the petshop we sold hedgehogs and they were very expensive!

Here are photos of the wildlife around our house. I'm afraid some photos aren't the best. Sometimes I just can't get close enough. One day I shall have a nicer camera and then I will be unstoppable! Until then...

A killdeer that always lays eggs in my riding ring!
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Deer. We have lots of deer. They are a bit of a nuisance cause they eat my flowers!
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An angry turtle
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We also have lots of foxes. Mostly red, but some grey. Somewhere I actually have a photo of a grey one, but can't seem to find it now.

-Kristie

They're gorgeous pictures Kristie, the deer fighting are fantastic! I love the little killdeer she's adorable, love the picture of Izzy and her, lucky you saw her nest there, aren't their eggs impossible to spot! They blend into their surroundings. My brother and I, every year when the Lapwings, Oystercatchers and Curlews nest we go out and mark where their nests are, as the farmers plough the fields around the same time. We sit and wait for ages trying to find all the nests.

Harriet, I'd never find the killdeer nests if the parents were not so protective over them. The first time I found them Izzy and I nearly trampled whichever parent was sitting on the nest. Since then when we find the nests we put markers where they are. I think the killdeer are most fascinating! We have a large family of them that live on our farm. I think some of them actually stay year round! At first I found them quite annoying, but now I've grown to really enjoy them.

I love all the birds! We feed all kinds. My favorite are the cardinals!

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We also have Canada Geese and turkeys! I love the turkeys, but they often startle and make me become unseated from my pony.

This winter we had a strange visitor in the field one day, a blue heron!
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-Kristie

Oh wow, the Blue Heron is magnificent! You look like you're really close to him? Cardinals are amazing aren't they, particularly the male of course, the female is really pretty though.

Yes, the blue heron let us very close to him. At first I thought he was hurt because of the way he was holding his leg up, but he was just resting. He would walk a few feet away if we got too close and eventually he got bored with us and moved on.

-Kristie

HKHollinstone wrote:

Just a few pictures of birds and flowers in my garden - I took them Saturday.
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Beautiful! I love the Dunnock! And your robin is different from our robin!

Love the snowdrops! :)

-Kristie

Izzy wrote:

HKHollinstone wrote:

Just a few pictures of birds and flowers in my garden - I took them Saturday.
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Beautiful! I love the Dunnock! And your robin is different from our robin!

Love the snowdrops! :)

-Kristie

Thank you Kristie! Dunnocks are so sweet, this one is very friendly, when I let the hens out she or he hops right around my feet picking up the grain. It's not afraid of me at all.
Yes, it's very different from the English robin - the American Robin is from the thrush family, they are only called robins because of the red breast, they aren't really related. I love the American robin it's very beautiful.

I have these running around my house
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Last Thursday a mountain lion killed a deer in my front yard, I didn't actually see the kill, it was at 2:30 in the morning, but the kill was so loud it woke me up and I thought it was two dogs fighting. I found the carcass buried under some leaves and the stomach was removed and set aside. Mountain lions don't eat the stomach, while coyote and dogs eat the stomach first. For the next 3 days he returned and fed on the carcass but it was so far down the hill that I never got a good look at him, just the evidence that he was there the next morning by more of the carcass eaten. Finally yesterday the remains were not hidden and vultures were feeding on what was left.

Philter4 wrote:

I have these running around my house
Last Thursday a mountain lion killed a deer in my front yard, I didn't actually see the kill, it was at 2:30 in the morning, but the kill was so loud it woke me up and I thought it was two dogs fighting. I found the carcass buried under some leaves and the stomach was removed and set aside. Mountain lions don't eat the stomach, while coyote and dogs eat the stomach first. For the next 3 days he returned and fed on the carcass but it was so far down the hill that I never got a good look at him, just the evidence that he was there the next morning by more of the carcass eaten. Finally yesterday the remains were not hidden and vultures were feeding on what was left.

That must have been quite scary when you first heard the kill. Your animals are pretty safe at night aren't they, there's no way a cougar can get into your barn?
The Guinea Fowl are so cute, do they get shut away at night or do they just roost in a tree?

The guineas are sort of trained, if you whistle they all come running to you, and if I say "get in the barn" they all run right into the barn. The problem is they have absolutely no attention span, so they turn around and immediately run right back out. At night they have roosts and nest boxes in the barn that they go to and I shut and lock the doors so they are safe, but I am not afraid of the mountain lion (this one has lived on the property for 3 years now) but of foxes, last year I lost 7 birds to foxes even though all of my birds sleep inside at night.

WOW! I have never followed this thread, - probably because the pictures of the first pages are not there, so lazybones here gave up.

But now I could see things were ´moving here, and, - holy Moses, some fantastic pictures and stories to go

Phil has cugars in his yard,
Kristie and THE adorable Izzy find tiny babies in the sand of the riding track !

Lots of fantastic pictures, I will have to go back and look later when I have plenty of time to admire !!!

Philter4 wrote:

The guineas are sort of trained, if you whistle they all come running to you, and if I say "get in the barn" they all run right into the barn. The problem is they have absolutely no attention span, so they turn around and immediately run right back out. At night they have roosts and nest boxes in the barn that they go to and I shut and lock the doors so they are safe, but I am not afraid of the mountain lion (this one has lived on the property for 3 years now) but of foxes, last year I lost 7 birds to foxes even though all of my birds sleep inside at night.

trained guinea fowl! Actually my ducks are the same, when I shut them away they're waiting for me by the gate and then when we get to the shed door I say "In your beds now" I know, sounds silly! But it works and they all jump into the shed! they come to whistles as well, seems we both train our birds the same way Phil Birds certainly aren't pea brained as some people make them out to be, they do have a level of intelligence. I don't name my hens or ducks, except one cockerel, Edward and he does know his name.

Our neighbors swear they have seen a mountain lion on their property several times. She has a lot of cats and for awhile something was killing and pretty much mutilating them! I would have suspected a bobcat, but the cat they described has a long tail!
Luckily no sightings of him in the last couple of years so hopefully whatever it was has moved on.

We have black bears travel through our farm now and again. They seem to be coming from the river and always seem to be going the same route. Lucky again, that they've never been right up close to my house. They cross the lower field.

A different neighbor who lives right on the river had a young black bear that kept getting into her trash. Then she started FEEDING it hotdogs! It would come up on her porch and play "paddycakes" through the front door with her daughter. She had a video and it was the freakiest thing I ever saw. Needless to say she created quite a danger to herself and family as the bear would be waiting for his hotdog when they would need to leave in the mornings to take her children to school. She finally lured the bear into her horse trailer and hauled him to the Blue Ridge Parkway (many, many miles away) and set him free. I know it to be the truth cause I saw it on video (yes she recorded it all!). Very ignorant and dangerous, but was very entertaining for me to watch. lol.

And her horses never would set foot in that trailer again.

-Kristie

What an amazing story !!
And what a thoughtless (to put it mild) neighbour

Fortunately nobody got hurt, and fortunately they did not have to kill the bear in the end, - gosh, how could she even THINK about feeding a wild bear

It must be fun to have that kind of wild animals around the place where you live, - but not for the poor kitties, - I just wonder how that mountain lion could get near them . My kitties are away like greased lightning if any foreign dog comes near, - or can Mountain lions climb trees ?????

[quote="Izzy"]
Oh Kristie, wild life arround our houses is exciting!
Monday while going to the post office to send some figures for a nice US friend, a very old lady pointed her umbrella to me and said: - “Sorry Sir, but you have something in your jacket. …you know, pigeons!!! You have to take care with it because it is very corrosive!
Well, I hate when some birds think that I am a WC! Fortunately it was in the jacket and not in my head! See what happened with Kiki??? ??
I love wild life in urban areas!

Some said that's a good luck... Probable that person wasn't crapped on

SUSANNE wrote:

...or can Mountain lions climb trees ?????

Sorry, they can

Poor Roger! I hope it won't corrode your jacket!

-Kristie

SUSANNE wrote:

What an amazing story !!
And what a thoughtless (to put it mild) neighbour

Fortunately nobody got hurt, and fortunately they did not have to kill the bear in the end, - gosh, how could she even THINK about feeding a wild bear

It must be fun to have that kind of wild animals around the place where you live, - but not for the poor kitties, - I just wonder how that mountain lion could get near them . My kitties are away like greased lightning if any foreign dog comes near, - or can Mountain lions climb trees ?????

I used to raise a lot of wild animals,especially medium sized cats. I think there is a photo in this thread of me with Sabina, she is my last big cat, but I have kept servals, caracals, golden and leopard cats, along with all kinds of other types of animals. When dealing with animals people don't understand what can happen. I tell people who come to the house and want a pet like one of mine that these animals are stronger then you, faster then you, meaner then you and when they are not afraid of you that is a really bad combination. A wild bear that is conditioned to not be afraid of humans is a horrible accident waiting to happen.

By the way Susanne, yes mountain lions can climb trees, I raised a male from a kitten that would chase one of my smaller cats right up into the trees with no trouble. When he was a teenager (he was a year old and full sized but not full weight) he could leap over 10 feet into the tree from a sitting position on the ground.