When was the last time you saw an animal in the wild?
What was it and how close did you get to it?
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Yesterday I saw a wild turkey hen with about a dozen chicks scurrying across the street. I was about five feet from them.
Last weekend I saw some deer from about ten yards.
I saw an eagle about a week ago.
I live in a rural area so there are a lot of animals around, including bear, coyotes, foxes and bobcats. Fortunately, we don’t see them too often and they stay out of harm’s way. Locals on FB tend to panic and post photos, which makes me sad because the implication is that these animals are harmful and scary.
@jca2 -That is a strange reaction on their part.
They are aware that they’re living in a rural area? Lol!
Deer, side of the road, yesterday on the way back from the post office. He was just standing there.
I live in almost exurban Atlanta, and it is not at all unusual to see deer in this area.
I saw a red fox a couple weeks ago, too. That was rare.
You mean like a squirrel? Does that count? All the time.
Also deer here and there. My sister has forest around her house and she feeds them.
Raccoons and possums within the past year, they hang around our yard sometimes.
Red tailed hawk today in my yard
Two cardinals singing for an extended period yesterday behind my house. A big turtle a few months ago.
I see random bunnies now and then here, although I saw many more when I lived in Clearwater several years ago.
4 years ago I lived in Tarpon Springs and we saw deer every day.
When I lived in Memphis 2005–2012 I saw deer every day, Fox, raccoons, bunnies, a snake a couple of times, a few mice. Cardinals, some sort of blue birds, several other birds. It was all the time surrounded by flora and fauna. I loved it, except at night we sometimes heard coyotes, and my neighbor saw them one early morning in his backyard, and that was terrifying to me, and made me wary about being outside at night.
@lucillelucillelucille: You would think so! Also, for the majority of these animals, if you stay out of their way they won’t look for attention.
@jca2 -My husband & I look for eagles on our walks. We never see them out in the woods or fields but we have seen them flying over a Burger King and perched in a tree in the backyard of someone’s home.
@elbanditoroso -I see a lot of deer where I am and once in a while,a red fox.I never see them in winter though.
@ARE_you_kidding_me -I love seeing hawks. I once surprised one that was sleeping in a tree.
The look on it’s face was pretty funny. :)
@JLeslie -I see coyotes once in awhile and it’s why my dog carried a baseball bat for me on our walks.
Yes, I guarded my German Shepherd Dog. LOL
The other morning I was walking the dog (about 3 a.m.) and we scared up a deer by the railroad tracks. It was probably 20 yards away. Before that was a rabbit about 2 weeks ago that the dog didn’t see but we were only about 5 feet from it. I didn’t move a muscle but was keeping a close eye on me. But these don’t include the random squirrels or the pair of hawks that live in the neighborhood.
I get up at 3 a.m. and he thinks that is when he gets fed and taken for his first walk.
It kinda stinks when it’s the weekend though, and he still thinks that’s the time it should be.
It is a thing you don’t want him to get used to.
@seawulf575 – I suppose 3AM would be very peaceful.
Mine has more of a daytime schedule.
We had a bonfire last night and he was happy to have us out there :)
Bunches of suburban wildlife in my little neighborhood, groundhog living under my deck, skunks and raccoons and dawn and dusk, and lately, way more coyotes strolling through. This is literally less than 100 yards off of I95, close to NYC.
We see hawks, and eagles all the time from our deck, during my life I have come face to face about fifteen feet from a cougar we just watched each other for about 20–30 minutes then I backed away.
have been within a few feet of a porcupine, seen a ton of black bears, only one grizzly and that was from the cab of a truck.
A friend and myself got between a Black bear and one of her cub it was cool to watch we were very close to the cub that was in an apple tree( I should add it was right beside the road and we were in his pick up truck)Momma bear was only about twenty feet behind the truck she didn’t do anything, but we sure as hell didn’t get out of the truck.
@lucillelucillelucille It is peaceful…no traffic, no other dogs…just me and the dog. And don’t get me wrong…as soon as we get back I tell him “go to bed!” and he runs off to jump in bed with my stepson. He isn’t up for long…just the walk. If I get reincarnated, I want to come back as a dog.
@canidmajor -It’s interesting how animals can adapt to an urban environment.
@SQUEEKY2 Cougars and bears, oh my.
They would definitely get my attention. I’ve seen a bobcat and black bears but no cougars.
Back to the original question, when I was married the first time, that was where I saw the real wildlife. (northeast Ohio) We had squirrels, rabbits, groundhogs, wild turkey, deer, hawks, foxes, snakes, a golden eagle, a bear, and at least one great horned owl. Oh! and the cat found two ermine that he killed and brought back as a gift. We even had a red fox as a pet for a while. Nothing like all that here in suburbia.
@seawulf575 -Do you ever see any people out at that time?
The latest I’ve ever walked my dog was around 11 pm. I sprinted home as I was being followed.
Once again, making sure my German Shepherd Dog got home safe. XD
@seawulf575 -That is pretty interesting. There was a study done in Russia on attempts at domesticating red fox.
A friend told me he was being closely watched one time by a great horned owl while up in his tree blind.It sat a few feet away on a branch and just stared.
He said it stunk like skunk.
This same friend’s father in law ran a hunt club where they raised pheasant.
One night two mink got into an enclosure and killed most of the birds.They are little terrors and your cat is a good hunter.
I saw one in front of my house last year with a bird in it’s mouth
I saw a muskrat in the lake last night. I was sitting on the beach.
@lucillelucillelucille I do have one old guy that does a couple laps of the neighborhood on his bike at that time. John. Yes, we introduced ourselves. Other than that there is some guy that i think delivers papers that drives by. And one morning for some odd reason I saw some old guy getting into his car and driving off and a young couple sitting on their porch. Never saw that before or after.
The red fox was a fluke. A friend I worked with had a sister that moved into a new apartment. The previous tenants had this baby red fox. She couldn’t keep it and so I ended up with it. When we got it, I could hold it in one hand. When it took two hands side-by-side to hold it, I could barely keep up with it. after that, forget it. We’re talking a full grown fox that can run 35 mph and make a 90 degree turn. Nope…too fast for me. She was semi-domesticated. I think that is the best we could hope for. She was gentle as could be and liked people and loved dogs. But she was nocturnal which meant she wanted to play while we were trying to sleep. We tried putting her in a crate for the night and that became entertainment for her. At first she would jump over me while I was in bed and then I would reach up and grab her in mid jump. The next night, she was watching for that trick so I got her interested in my wiggling toe under the blankets and when she pounced, I grabbed her. The next night she was watching for that trick. Pretty soon we had to chase her into the family room and block the doorway with two baby gates stacked up. Then she figured out how to pull one corner away. Then we ended up herding her into the basement. A closed door finally stopped her. Another problem is in the wild they bury food and then pee on the spot and their pee is skunky smelling. So she would eat some of the dog’s food and then, pee on it to save it for later. Yuch. But she would play with the children and was gentle as could be. My daughter was crawling and the fox would sneak up and hold her heel in its mouth. Just held it, didn’t even dimple the skin, but it drove my daughter crazy. Which was the point, apparently.
@Jonsblond – My neighbor found one in his golf bag.XD
@seawulf575 -How sweet! Whatever happened to her? Did she eventually go back to the wild?
By sheer coincidence, about five minutes ago. I live in Alaska, tho’, so a moose in the front yard pruning my bushes isn’t really uncommon. No bears around here nowadays, which I’m quite happy about, tho’ do see the occasional eagle overhead. That’s rare enough that it’s always a treat.
@AlaskaTundrea -I have a friend that lived in Bethel, Alaska.
He told me that he saw the “hairy man”.
My first ootheca has hatched, so about a hundred little praying mantis in my living room. Some got loose. They aren’t very wild. The ones on the loose keep finding their way to my arms. Some are okay being returned to the enclosure, but most try to stay with me. When I mist the drapes the ones there all start cleaning their faces at the same time.
I’m trying to get them all rounded up because they won’t find prey outside the enclosure yet. There is one housefly which thinks it is funny to bounce from one to another, teasing them. They are way to little to take a shot at that yet.
@Patty_Melt -I don’t see them too often around here but when I do, I usually freak out a little. XD
I saw on YouTube that they will wait on hummingbird feeders to prey on the birds. I couldn’t believe it.
“In the wild”? Uncaged or not televised? Undomesticated? Cows grazing? Mouse in a trap?
@lucillelucillelucille Yes, the back door was accidentally left open and she got out. There had been a male hanging around for a few days so I suspect she left the domestic life for the life of a mom in the wild. The good news on that is that my ex left the door open, not me. Had it been me, she’d still be harassing me about it and we’ve been divorced for 25 years.
@Tri,-lucy they suck down stink bugs with joy, and box elder bugs too. None of mine have been big enough, or aggressive enough for birds.
My goal is to pump em up enough to go after mice.
Rabbits in the woods. My dogs were with me. Hehe. I saw the rabbits first and I told my dogs: “Wascal Wabbits.” Boom they looked and saw them. They would never hurt them. At our last house rabbits would come into the yard and they never hurt them. One time my male dog walked right passed a rabbit and he never even chased it.
We used to have a border collie that loved to chase rabbits. He wasn’t hunting. He just loved to get a good chase on. Once in a while he would stumble over a skunk, and the smell would beat him home by several minutes.
@Patty_Melt – Do you send away for their eggs?
I have thought of doing that with luna moths.
The dog I have now hasn’t been skunked yet but it is only a matter of time.
@RabidWolf – Mine will chase rabbits but hasn’t killed one yet.
If I yell “BIRDS!” my cats will run to the window.
Sometimes the birds are still there after I yell.
I buy them on eBay.
There are breeders of all sorts of bugs there. Prices vary quite a bit, and fluctuate somewhat with the seasons.
@Patty_Melt -I didn’t think of trying ebay.
I was at a site that would send eggs out at certain times of the year according to their life cycle.
Do/did you have a high success rate with them hatching?
I never get just one, because sometimes they will create an ooth even if they haven’t successfully mated. Five to ten is a common grouping amount.
I have had groups with a dud, but mostly they produce.
You have a much better rate of success if you have food ready when they hatch. People claim they are aggressive and cannibalistic, but that must be the fancy exotics. Mine have all been timid about attacking. Right now my new babies are learning to go for fruitfly worms, which are super tiny.
Mantis nymphs won’t go hunting. They find a spot, and wait for something to come along. As they get bigger, they will sort of do rounds of a chosen area, but they still don’t chase, and they don’t wander far.
If you want them to clear garden -pests, I would recommend keeping them indoors until they get the knack for grabbing prey, and also temps have stabilized outside. Cooler than 70° is bad for them. I would scatter them around one or two per plant, maybe more on tomatoes.
If aphids are your main concern, your best soldiers are ladybugs.
If you want just a Luna moth, I don’t have any information specific to them for you. If there are regulations controlling ownership or transport of a critter, that is something to check into first. Some people sell irresponsibly, so buyers should educate themselves before shopping.
There are YouTube videos posted by breeders who sell, and they do tutorials on care and feeding. Be aware there are also dummies who buy, then post without knowing what they are doing, and they give poor advice.
There are some who will sell individual live bugs/arachnids. I would not want to do that. They are more fragile after hatching.
They are good sources for advice, however.
In Battery Park (NYC, faces NY harbor, Statue of Liberty etc) yesterday I had squirrels taking peanuts from my hand.
Of course there are pigeons, too.
Last week we saw a red-tailed hawk going after both those species on a few days, he/she is probably still around.
@Patty_Melt -I wish I could remember the site I was at but they did say that they do not ship to all areas which is understandable.
Lunas are native to where I’m at.
My main purpose is to photograph/paint and release.
I’ve have seen a site that sells pinned specimens but I’m not interested in that yet.
What do you raise yours for?
@dabbler -Yep, they know where to get their food.
I was dived bombed by a Cooper’s hawk once. I felt the breeze from it’s wings as it flew by my head. lol
Looking for Mantis Ootheca? Try this
@seawulf575 I was surprised to see the different types.
Those are pretty pricey.
I grow my mantids as pest control.
We get box elder bugs, and about every other summer there is an extreme crop of them.
Box elders winter indoors, so autumn has them finding ways inside by droves.
Stink bugs are also highly plentiful. Preying mantis loves both. They eat any insect they can defeat. It is funny watching them with a stink bug, because they flip it over, belly side up. They hold the hard shell back like a tiny bowl and just stick their face in.
They keep my house clear, and I haven’t had a mosquito bite since I first started having them in. Once they are big enough to eat most types of bugs, they can be let loose in the house. They come out of hiding when they are lonely. They don’t bite people, and they only eat live prey. They have no interest in people food at all. They are neater than spiders, they are friendlier than spiders, they clear pests better than spiders. They are great listeners.
I have a picture of one sitting on my fingernail. Give me a couple of minutes, and I will load it on my profile.
@Patty_Melt -That’s an interesting way of keeping house pests down.
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@zenvelo -Yikes! I was recently told that bees have been killing those hornets.
I read that murder hornets are killing bees. The bees don’t have a chance.
The hornets rip the heads off the bees and take the torso home to feed the kids. link
@dabbler -I got that completely backwards? wth
Some bees have managed payback.
Hornets send an individual scout. When he finds a hive he spreads scent all over. He then returns with many henchmen, and they decimate the entire hive in minutes.
Here is how Japanese honey bees get payback. Perhaps this is what you heard about.
@Patty_Melt -Interesting video. I read about some thing like that but can’t remember where.
Damn! Don’t fuck with Japanese honey bees.
@zenvelo: Your link didn’t work, for me.
Yesterday on NPR they were saying there’s a video online of Preying Mantis eating the heads right off the Murder Hornets. The person talking said there’s a website where they have videos of animals in the wild eating other animals, which is where the video was from.
I have seen several of the videos pitting one critter against another. I see them as equal to cock fights and dog fights. I won’t watch them. I saw the beginning of this one. It appears to be a male, which doesn’t sting. It also appears it had been chilled just prior to putting it in with the mantis.
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