Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Backyard wildlife

Last night, Thomas got home from work a lot later than usual -- around 6:30. He looked out the patio door and showed me a giant rabbit who had taken cover from the rain under our patio table. I didn't take a picture as I didn't want to scare her and make her lose her dry spot.

Then, I heard him call me back over as there was an opossum. When I got there, I realized she had a couple of babies on her back. But what was an opossum doing outside when it wasn't yet dark? And then we noticed she was limping.We used to volunteer doing wildlife rescue and rehabilitation (and hope to do so again someday soon), and we suspected that she might have distemper (since she was out before it was dark) or maybe just was injured (because of the limp). We worried about what would happen to her and the babies, so our plan was to capture her and bring her to the wildlife rescue facility where she could be evaluated and hopefully rehabilitated and then released back in the wild.

I quickly put all of the parrots in their cages and Thomas ran to the garage to get our wildlife rescue gear. I must say here that I would never recommend that someone without experience try to capture a wild animal, especially one that could bite and cause injury. We have taken several classes, have the right gear, and have extensive experience on the subject.

When she saw him in our yard, she ran away, through several fences. It appeared as though she wasn't limping due to injury, but because our grass was long and wet, as she showed no signs of injury when she ran away.

We were so relieved that we didn't have to bring her somewhere, though we were ready to do so!

In happier backyard wildlife news, the cutest baby rabbit is living in our backyard. Here he is, right on our patio, eating a leaf:
And a few minutes later, hanging out in our yard:
This morning on my run, a doe with a fawn crossed my path. It was so fun to see! Also, songbirds have been nicely waking me up around 4:30 every morning, as it's been nice enough to leave our bedroom window open, which is such a wonderful way to start the day.

3 comments:

Elizabeth said...

You have a fantastic yard! We had the choice between a tiny house with a big backyard and a big house with a small backyard. I don't regret choosing the big house, but someday I want a huge backyard. Preferably a big backyard with farm animals, especially goats and chickens.

Mary said...

We just have a suburban yard, but with lots of mature trees. We are also the only house nearby without any dogs, so I think wildlife flocks to our yard because of that.

Also, we don't use any pesticides or anything on our yard (unlike the majority of our neighbors, so I'm sure they all love us!) which means we're getting weeds and native plants in there that the animals like to eat.

Like you, I hope to have a big backyard someday with some farm animals. Goats and chickens are at the top of our list!

Ben and Carrie Tracks said...

That opossum picture is the cutest thing (besides your parrots) we have seen in a long while!! Oh my....

-Carrie