Last night when I was sitting in the garden of a friend's place, I saw an opussum with 4 babies on its back!
I was talking and noticed something out of the corner of my eye, and when I turned around I saw this rat looking creature, looking at me. It was about a metre away from me, I nearly died of fright. My friends and I sat quietly for a couple of minutes until mom and babies passed by.
I didn't know we had them up here. I guess they have adapted to the cold weather.
farrellgirl99 wrote:They are terrifying! A neighborhood around here has so many of them. Definitely scarier than raccoons
There is one that comes into my yard that is about 25 lbs or so pretty big. But it seems harmless and is very afraid of people and my dogs. The people next door tried to kill it so I have been leaving melon out and stuff for it in the back corner of the yard a couple times a week namely just so it associates the compost area with food and not the house.
Also have a lot of deer and other stuff like bobcats and coyotes around here as well.
My dad gets all sorts of wildlife in his back yard. Deer, coyotes, porcupines, etc. His dog has tried to wrangle with opossums, raccoons and and even a skunk here and there. Fucking thing is fearless.
Youtube clips are the reason I changed my mind about the opossum that frequents my yard. Figured it had lived this long might as well let it live out the rest of its days in relative peace. It has also learned the schedule for me letting the dogs out at night and stuff. Also I didn't want to bother something that will kill mice and what not.
I do my best not to harm the natural wildlife including snakes and shit as long as they're not a danger to me or the dogs. Even say rattlesnakes I will get them relocated since they serve a purpose of rodent control.
Though there is this one raccoon that got snippy with my pug a while back.
There is another "Y" in the tree he jumped up to going up the tree after that raccoon because it got snippy with the pug. Needless to say he was not impressed with said raccoon, but to its credit it has never come back to my yard that we know of.
I've posted pics in the past of all the animals that have shown up around me. Deer, raccoons and an opossum here and there. The one I failed to get a pic of was the porcupine. Since I've only seen it once, I'm mad at myself for not getting a pic of it. I'm now being invaded by moles going by all the little dirt mountains outside
I have a birds of Oregon book that has a checklist in the back that I've been keeping track of all the birds I've seen around here. I think the total is close to 100 now and most of those are what have shown up at my bird feeders.
Artemis wrote:I guess they have adapted to the cold weather.
Or maybe your winters aren't lasting as long they have in the past and animals that normally didn't travel that far north for food are now able to do so?
crater wrote:I
I have a birds of Oregon book that has a checklist in the back that I've been keeping track of all the birds I've seen around here. I think the total is close to 100 now and most of those are what have shown up at my bird feeders.
Artemis wrote:I guess they have adapted to the cold weather.
Or maybe your winters aren't lasting as long they have in the past and animals that normally didn't travel that far north for food are now able to do so?
For the last 15-20 years, I would say that the winters haven't been as cold in Toronto - milder temps, less snow.
When I was looking for info about the possums, I did see an article that said many of them do get frost bite on their tails and fingers/paws.
I just did a count and 41 of the 92 birds I've been able to identify have shown up at my feeders or at least landed in the yard.
I've seen more birds, but some look so similar that I don't check them down in my book. Like the other day I had a few Cormorants fly over at the same time, but because I didn't know the exact species I didn't put them down.
crater wrote:I just did a count and 41 of the 92 birds I've been able to identify have shown up at my feeders or at least landed in the yard.
I've seen more birds, but some look so similar that I don't check them down in my book. Like the other day I had a few Cormorants fly over at the same time, but because I didn't know the exact species I didn't put them down.
i live in a place that has a lot of birds and i have been watching them the last few days because i have been working in the yard. i have come to the conclusion that birds are assholes. the small ones constantly dive bomb the big hawk looking ones. i have a blue bird that hangs in my backyard and he is always getting fucked with by smaller birds.
This looks cute in pictures, I would have peed myself if I had seen that live
I've seen one of those here, but bigger and they walk so much slower. I remember crossing paths with one once and I had to wait like 5 minutes for it to leave while I pretended I hadn't seen it. Usually I just see big rats.
perkana wrote:This looks cute in pictures, I would have peed myself if I had seen that live
I've seen one of those here, but bigger and they walk so much slower. I remember crossing paths with one once and I had to wait like 5 minutes for it to leave while I pretended I hadn't seen it. Usually I just see big rats.
Occasionally, there's at least one possum that traverses the telephone/power lines behind my house in the alley like clockwork around 9pm. Drives my dog nuts.
When I used to live literally right across the street from the Bolsa Chica wetlands near PCH in Huntington Beach up until 2000, I had possums crawling around the yard and my upstairs apt balcony all the time. I really hated those things. One night, a friend and I were hanging out in my apt watching tv and we go out to the balcony to have a beer 'cause it was hot inside and we got the shit scared outta us when this *huge* possum hissed at us while squatting on the balcony railing. My buddy grabbed a broom and took a roundhouse swing knocking it off the balcony and into the downstairs yard of my neighbor where it smashed into their sliding glass door.
A few years ago, we used to have an owl in my palm tree in my backyard that was pretty cool.
