On the Animals and Wildlife side -- (256 views)

We have various hummingbirds year-round; Steller's Jays vs. blue jays. I miss cardinals but they haven't made it over the rockies yet. The most excitement we have had are Cooper's Hawks that come to dine in our front yard.
Also little red and black squirrels. LOVE them. Hate the 'run of the mill' gray squirrels we were used to in WI.
TONS of eagles here.
I do not like the sea gulls. Loud and messy.

I am jealous of year round hummingbirds. Though that would be a hard life for a hummer in southern NH. Our ruby-throated hummingbirds are here May-late September. These are the visitors to our backyard: lots of woodpeckers (downy, hairy, red bellied, an occasional yellow bellied sapsucker, and a very elusive pileated), gold finches and chickadees, cardinals, tufted titmouse, nuthatches, blue birds mostly in the early spring and winter, Coopers Hawks. wild turkeys, an occasional turkey vulture, orioles during spring migration, red-winged blackbirds. deer, too many gray squirrels, red squirrels, chipmunks, occasional opossum, and some bunnies, an occasional gray fox. There are probably more that I have forgotten.

About an hour away from us at the NH seacoast, there are snowy owls which are such beautiful creatures. We spend the day after Christmas at the seacoast to see them. Wanted to spend more time birding in the week between Christmas and New Years but it has been just too cold to be outside. It was freezing the day we went, but that was the warmest day we've had in a while.

We have spotted an owl once or twice and heard them a few other times. They are so elusive! But amazing creatures.

Seems like we have many of the same or similar sightings. I have ruby throated hummers in similar months -- maybe a little earlier and a month later, then the rufous hummingbirds arrive for the winter. I have them here now. They are more bashful and fly away quicker.

For only the second time in the 15 years we have lived here, I spotted bluebirds at my feeders yesterday. We used to have them nesting in our yard of our last house --- maybe half a mile away, but I have not been able to attract them here. We are putting up a house today and will try again. I have missed them.

Because we live in an old subdivision with a lot of trees and close access to the bayou system we have pretty much "all of the above". In the mammal family we have coyotes, skunks, possums, raccoon, and squirrels. Bird wise we have all the usual suspects like sparrows, starlings, etc. plus boat-tailed grackles, white-wing dove, cardinals, blue jays, assorted wrens, chickadee, robins, house finch, downy and red bellied woodpeckers, turkey vultures, hawks of every variety, ditto on the owls including the little screech owls who are so adorable. We also have nests of yellow-crowned night herons. For migratory species we have more hawks plus cedar waxwings, numerous hummingbirds, and a whole lot of "what was that?". We also have huge populations of non-native species like Eurasian collared dove and Monk's parrot that have naturalized in the area. I've seen far more "wildlife" here in the middle of a very large urban area than I ever saw in the country.

We have had multiple reports of guinea hens (and cocks too, of course) running around our subdivision. www.ksat.com/news/-the-bird-causes-traffic-buildup-on-beechnut-near-gessner-in-sw-houston These are definitely not wild, but cage birds that have fled the coop so to speak. They are probably being raised for the trade in the nearby Asian restaurant district. And possibly connected to the complaint the HOA just received about an unauthorized structure in a residential backyard and an unauthorized goose in their front yard.

One very strange phenomenon around Houston is multiple sightings of large owls hunting during daylight hours. Our subdivision security patrol spotted a big owl on a fence about 3 p.m. yesterday, and the news media has reported attacks on small backyard dogs. Why have nocturnal hunters suddenly gone to daylight hunts? No shortage of juvenile possums, rats, feral cats, etc. at night???? Has anyone heard of this in their part of the country?

Swedish Cook, thank you for saving the possum baby - they are reviled by many but an essential part of our ecology. As a gardener I love their snail-eating ways.

We've experienced a loss of the lizard population too, especially the green ones. Some attribute it to the grey/brown anoles, some to pesticide use reducing their insect diet.

I had to slam on the brakes today to avoid a hawk swooping across the road about a block from the house. Fortunately, I also missed the squirrel who was crossing the road at record speed to escape the hawk.