Animals in the back yard?
Make that the front yard too!
A long time ago, I grew up in a small town. We told people, though, that we pretended to live in the country.
Back then, we lived on the edge of town. We had a large garden, fruit trees, blackberries, and a lot that was mostly big, open grass field.
And there were wild animals, of course.
The raccoons would show up in the middle of the night to steal dog food. Deer trekked through our garden a couple times each summer. We had the occasional mouse in the pantry. We even had the rare (and rather implausible) cougar scare.
It felt like the country, at least to us city slickers.
These days, I live in a fairly large city. Our neighborhood is still small homes, not apartments or high rises, but it’s a busy urban/metro area.
As a result, I didn’t expect to see wildlife here when we moved in.
Two weeks after settling in, though, I spotted a rabbit in the front yard. No, it wasn’t an escapee. No floppy ears, fluffy white coat, or bright spots for this rabbit.
It was a small, brown, wild rabbit, happily nibbling on grass.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised? We did have a lot of overgrown vines for it to hang out in.
Then, a couple months later, a few deer wandered down the driveway for a neighborly visit.
That fall, almost a dozen deer wandering across our yard, the neighbors’ yards, the road out front. The buck has a special spot on one of our trees where he likes to rub his antlers. It’s shredded the bark off in places.
Oh, and check out that squirrel in the background! They’re everywhere, of course.
As it turns out—it’s not hard to find wildlife in the city! You just need to keep your eyes open.
- Birds? You’ll find them flying between trees or nesting under the eaves.
- Squirrels love parks, yards, and anywhere else with some green space.
- Insects will find the smallest patch of flowers, even a pot of daisies on a patio.
- Snakes and lizards love any warm spot they can find.
- Snails, worms, and other creepy-crawlies hide under any stone or log.
In some cases, the wildlife even gets a little too close. (Like the time a raccoon decided to glare at me through my back door.)
Maybe he was unhappy because my container garden didn’t have tomatoes? He sauntered off once I showed up, though, so I didn’t get the chance to ask.
Then there was the rat playing on our front steps—at noon, no less.
We had talked about getting a couple of chickens for pets. Now I’m not sure that would be a good idea. At least we have a lot of wild animals to watch instead!
Keep an eye out in your area—you’ll be surprised by how much you find . . .
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