Strange and Wonderful Creatures :)

[newjason]

I saw some of you talking about the strange and wonderful creatures that have come to your house.
I thought It was a great Idea to start a picture thread showing the sort of visitors you have come to your house on occasion.


Please,  only pics taken by you, or at your house, a relatives house, or your place of business.
Please include your location and approximate date of the photos. 
(general location, not street address)

Please don't post other peoples photos.


So, I will start.

I live in the city,  But I grew up on a farm In East Washington State.
When I go home to Visit my folks, who still live in that same house, It is always a great photo Opportunity. When My Dad told me that the "Critters are peeking in the windows" usually in the early morning, I thought he was maybe stretching the truth a little.
As  it turns out, He was not.

This guy greeted me on Thanksgiving Morning....

[newjason]

After cleaning my shorts, I talked about my close moose encounter all day.  It was very very cool.

I came back for Christmas and my friend was there again, but now he had a Girl friend, He did not say if she was Russian or not, and I did not ask, next time I will. 

[Muzh]

Easier said than done. 
 
Last week a moose cow went through the property next to my house and down to the main drag. For such a big animal people could not find her until a couple of boys saw her carcass on the creek behing a hamburger stand that is crowed every single day. (Edit) Forgot to mention the cow was diagnosed with some sort of bacterial infection of her brain.
 
Also, last week a 2 year old male black bear was in the same neighborhood. This one was tranquilized and sent to the forest.
 
I have a (vhs) video of two red-headed woodpeckers doing teir mating ritual on a tree next to my driveway. Unfortunately, old techology that I cannot transfer to wav files. Just damn lazy.

[alex330]

Chestnut mandibled toucans and squirrel monkeys.

[Aloe]

ooooooo great thread! I hope it gets continued!  I love it when animals come looking

Too bad you can't post somebody else's Saw not long ago a video on youtube, a woman had a cat sitting next to a fox and a bald eagle, all three sitting together on one tiny porch lol! Must be nice

[SANDRO43]

NOT so Wonderful creatures : a sow and her piglet visiting picknickers on the Arenal de Son Saura beach in Minorca.

[SANDRO43]

Scottish cattle resting on a hill in the Highlands: notice their furry, yak-like appearance and straight horns .

[GQBlues]

Not sure if these entries qualify, but they're pretty wonderful to me...


These are Rudy & BamBam. They are our association's (adopted) critters that basically stayed put in our neighborhood's golf course. This shot was taken down the valley from our home up the hill, so technically they're in our backyard. Somewhat...We're somewhere/anywhere/everywhere in SoCal

...and this furry one is our adorable Sidney. I made her a window napper in one of the bedroom which she hangs out on every day now. Here, she's showing Papa how much she appreciates my effort.

[newjason]

Great photos poeple Keep them coming.

I suppose the photos can be from other sources, but just make sure they don't infringe on anyone else's copyrighted works. 


Here is one that started and finished my hunting career.
I had been shooting in ROTC and training to become a sharpshooter.
I went hunting 2 years with my father and never saw a thing, but did freeze my ass off a lot of the time.
After an all day hunt, we loaded up to drive back to the house, and low and behold, there was that big boy standing in our feild while they cut the wheat. It was dusk and the shot was 324 yards. .308 Savage with a Weaver 4x scope.  1 shot right through the heart.
At the time it was 15 th largest on the boone and crocket score for typical whitetail.

I was 14 at the time.

I never went hunting again. 
I do enjoy hunting with my camera and for Fungi.

[newjason]

There is a rather large Racoon that walks like a human and carries things across the street that I have yet to get a photo of...
But I will 

[missAmeno]

In our garden foxes, hedgehogs and slow worms are frequent guests and some even residents. But the most that fascinate me are pair of hawks that nest on our tree (picture of tree included   , the tallest one). To equalize the balance of wild life we are surrounded with our home is shared with two lazy cats and an affectionate springer spaniel.

[newjason]

This guy has been wandering up and down the beach for the last few mornings, so this morning i brought the camera.  I thought because of his shape he was a wild cat, bobcat maybe, but I am not sure.
He amazingly did not see me for about 15 minutes, but when he did, I could tell he was not domesticated.

[Gator]

Jason,
 
The reason bobcats have their name is because their tail is bobbed.    What you have is someone's house cat.   It is not a feral cat which have a difficult life and are skinnier with matted fur.   
 
The cat is searching for animals to kill.  They will kill even when their stomach is filled.  That is why owners should not  allow  their hairballs to venture outdoors.   Cats are the second largest threat to songbirds, just after habitat destruction.   

[Gylden]

We have resident hjort (large deer) anually after the snow melts.
 
 

[newjason]

We have resident hjort (large deer) anually after the snow melts.
 
 

Cool Glyden! Where about in the world is this?  Norway? He appears to be content being close to your home.


I was down on the bulkhead working on something when this guy and his 3 freinds said "HONK", it scared the crap out of me when I turned around and he was 2-3 feet away looking right at me.
After the initial "Holy SHeet" I just stayed still and let them pass up into the yard so I could grab the camera as it was on the table and they were between me and the camera.

[newjason]

Jason,
 
The reason bobcats have their name is because their tail is bobbed.    What you have is someone's house cat.   It is not a feral cat which have a difficult life and are skinnier with matted fur.   
 
The cat is searching for animals to kill.  They will kill even when their stomach is filled.  That is why owners should not  allow  their hairballs to venture outdoors.   Cats are the second largest threat to songbirds, just after habitat destruction.   

Yes you are correct Gator.
It is not a bobcat.
And apparently not nearly as dangerous as he seemed to be, as I found his corpse at the edge of the water several days later. Nothing was touching his remains, and that is very unusual.  The bodies of creatures are usually gone within a day.  The red tail hawks, bald Eagles, Crows, Dogs, Cats,  Raccoons,  opossum, blue Jays, Crabs, and shallow swimming juvenile bottom fish do a very efficient job of recycling the ecosystem. I am just curious how he parishes, he appears to be the victim of a rather large dog.



Anyway, This next one is anyone's guess
I was shooting some video and happened to notice I caught something on camera that I had not seen when i was shooting the video. The water is about 2 meters deep at that point. I have pulled screen shots to show what the cam caught.
Salt water dweller .. is all i know for sure.

In the last two shots,  it is in the upper right area.

[newjason]

In our garden foxes, hedgehogs and slow worms are frequent guests and some even residents. But the most that fascinate me are pair of hawks that nest on our tree (picture of tree included   , the tallest one). To equalize the balance of wild life we are surrounded with our home is shared with two lazy cats and an affectionate springer spaniel.

Forgive me miss A,
 but can you  please tell what is it? a "slow worm"?
 at first I thought SLUG, like we have here where it rains a lot.


 But what you have there looks not like a slug or a worm.
 

 are slow worms,  anything like  slow  children?


We have a lot of those b t w 

Thank you for Including the bonus Tree in the Hawk Photo  LOL  very nice 

[missAmeno]

Forgive me miss A,  but can you  please tell what is it? a "slow worm"?

Slow worms (also called Anguis) looks like snakes but actually legless lizards. On 1st photo my son holds one in his hands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anguis

They are harmless but manage to freak me out every single time I come across one. They are protected in UK and I have no choice but to share our garden with them.

[newjason]

Slow worms (also called Anguis) looks like snakes but actually legless lizards. On 1st photo my son holds one in his hands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anguis

They are harmless but manage to freak me out every single time I come across one. They are protected in UK and I have no choice but to share our garden with them.

And they Eat Slugs! wow
I never knew such a creature existed and learned something new today
Thank You