My wife and I live in a beautiful neighborhood in the shadow of Pikes Peak and not far from the Garden of the Gods park. We enjoy our interaction with some of the wild life in our neighborhood.
Last night, we came home from a meeting and as we drove into the driveway in our back yard, we were greeted by an adolescent deer. She was quietly grazing on our back lawn. As we drove in, she displayed no fear of us whatsoever. She lifted her head and watched us drive up the driveway, then she turned again to her grazing. I got out of my car as Betty went into the house through the garage. I was curious and rather than going into the house through the garage, I went into the back yard to see how close I could get to the deer. When I got within about two feet of her, she bolted and was gone.
When I got up about three this morning to let our pup out to do his business, the young deer was back. Rather than disturb her, I just let the dog out the front door. We really enjoy watching the animals as they come and go.
We went for a stroll through the neighborhood this morning. As we passed a home with a wooden deck, I noticed a young kit stick his head out from beneath the deck. Before long, it was joined by it's sibling and both of it's parents. The fence must have made them feel secure, because they just continued playing until we walked away. I didn't get picture of the fox family. I'll have to take my camera with me on our walk tomorrow and I'll try and get a snapshot of them to add to this article.
I think that it's wonderful to enjoy these animals, but with that enjoyment comes a responsibility. These are wild animals and we are on the border between the city and their natural habitat. I feel that we must do what we can to insure that these animals are protected as the city encroaches into their domain. It is our responsibility that we do not do things that will endanger their survival.
Last night, we came home from a meeting and as we drove into the driveway in our back yard, we were greeted by an adolescent deer. She was quietly grazing on our back lawn. As we drove in, she displayed no fear of us whatsoever. She lifted her head and watched us drive up the driveway, then she turned again to her grazing. I got out of my car as Betty went into the house through the garage. I was curious and rather than going into the house through the garage, I went into the back yard to see how close I could get to the deer. When I got within about two feet of her, she bolted and was gone.
When I got up about three this morning to let our pup out to do his business, the young deer was back. Rather than disturb her, I just let the dog out the front door. We really enjoy watching the animals as they come and go.
We went for a stroll through the neighborhood this morning. As we passed a home with a wooden deck, I noticed a young kit stick his head out from beneath the deck. Before long, it was joined by it's sibling and both of it's parents. The fence must have made them feel secure, because they just continued playing until we walked away. I didn't get picture of the fox family. I'll have to take my camera with me on our walk tomorrow and I'll try and get a snapshot of them to add to this article.
I think that it's wonderful to enjoy these animals, but with that enjoyment comes a responsibility. These are wild animals and we are on the border between the city and their natural habitat. I feel that we must do what we can to insure that these animals are protected as the city encroaches into their domain. It is our responsibility that we do not do things that will endanger their survival.
5 comments:
It is really fun to be able to watch the wild animals as they exist... we have had deer in our yard, however the only part that I saw them is their droppings! I'm not up and out the right time.
As people have moved into the area that was at one time the home of the animals, The animals have moved into the cities. The year when I spent a month with Ruth, we were sitting in her front room, where there is a big window, a herd of deer walked down the sidewalk across the street. There were about 10 head. That was interesting. They seem to know how to avoid the cars.
When we moved here we would watch over eight or more deer out our back window that grazed out on our grass. But last year they ate most of my tomatoes so I wasn't so excited about them. This year we had some wild turkeys come down for our pleasure. The ones we have had that haven't been so wonderful are the skunks.
Jeanette said that there was a yellow snake in the road (probably dead) that Eric wanted to take to school to dissect. She said it was about 6 ft long.
How is Marcy's snake problem now?
I could probably deal with a dead yello snake better than I did with a four foot bull snake that got loose in my classroom with I was teaching. I had 30 screaming kids on their desks and a teacher's aide that was ashen white before it was over.
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