Wildlife

Welcome to KMom's World

New Neighbors:
Wildlife in the Great Basin

The most obvious and loudest of our wild neighbors are birds. Lots of them. In the beginning of March 2006 I set out a bird feeder on the fence near the road so that I could see our feathered friends from the livingroom window. I would have like to have put it closer than 100 feet away, but the desire to not attract rodents to the house (more on the Mouse Wars later) and to not have bird droppings and sunflower seed shells all over won out. It took the birds about a week to discover it. Now they come from all around the neighborhood to partake. I counted over 100 individuals on March 11th, 2006, with 3 distinct species. I will update this site as I am able to identify the species.

Critters that I have seen (Winter 2006): 2 types of "kangaroo-rat-looking" mice, one predominantly white, the other tan on top; tan and white field mice; chipmunks; a 'possum. And, on certain early mornings, well before most of the human population is awake, I have heard the coyotes yipping and howling from the direction of the lake.

More Critters (Spring/Summer 2006): scorpions, numerous types of dragon flies and one water beetle (we are less than a mile from a lake),jack rabbits and cotton tails, horn toad lizards, and blue belly lizards, but oddly enough, no snakes. Lots of spiders - crab spiders and garden spiders, so far.

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Coming in for a Landing
Please remember that all photos are © by kmom246@yahoo.com. Please email me if you would like to use any of the photos at this site. Thank you.

Boys and Bugs
I don't know where he finds them (and I'm a little afraid to ask), but my son is an expert at finding insects. At least he does turn things over with sticks since I gave him the Freaked Out Mommy Lecture On Scorpions.

Friends at the Feeder
March 2006 - snowed last night, even though it is now gone from the ground. The birds are up with the sun to see what goodies have been provided by their camera toting human. They can empty two feeders like this in a day with no problem.

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Ground Crew Cleans Up
Waste not, want not. Anything spilled by the folks fighting up top is eagerly scooped up by those on the ground.
Bird Feeder Raider
Destroyer of Morning Glories and Teaser of Dogs. They are one of the reasons the bird feeders are 100 ft from the house - although they are cute, no need for them to move in with us!