In the wild: Animals edition

[SFMCfranky]

I’ve been seeing barn owls about in the early morning and evening hours. One swooped by in the back field while I was walking my dogs and then I spotted this one perched on a tall stump. I think I might have a nesting pair on my property.

Please excuse the poor image quality. Taken with a zoomed iPhone at dusk.

[Oaktavia]

@SFMCfranky that is amazing, owls are magnificent creatures.

[ZackB]

@SFMCfranky so cool

[Anesthetist]

Momma and her fawn

[mclaincausey]

@SKT said in In the wild: Animals edition:

@Mizmazzle amazing man. I’d love to see a moose in the wild someday

Believe it or not it’s become almost routine in some places, like Breckenridge for example. And then elk are so numerous in Evergreen that you no longer marvel at them after a while and may find them annoying when a harem is creating a traffic jam as it crosses the highway. Seeing them in action in a lake though and hearing them bugle always brings the awe back.

I am still not used to seeing these guys especially walking the dog and child. One of them jumped a neighbors 6’ fence and tried to haul his dog away. They are not nearly as fearful as one would hope, and they are beyond numerous in my neighborhood.

[Mizmazzle]

@mclaincausey yeah coyotes can be hazardous little vermin.

[Mizmazzle]

How many can you spot? Their camo is incredible.
Fishing yesterday we shared the bowl the lake was in with a bunch of big horns. It was really cool to hear their “baaas” echoing of the face of the mountain.

A group of Big Horns can be called a herd or a mob. This was a massive mob with one ram in particular trying to mate with an ewe. It was quite the Wild Planet sight to behold.

[ZackB]

I think I found 1.5 big horns

[motojobobo]

I’ll take a stab at 13, possibly 14…

[Graeme]

There's an area of native bush or woodland in the park near where I live, and there's some wildlife that frequents it.

Yesterday I saw a couple of older gentlemen on the bridge across a creek that runs through it. It turns out that they were watching a Platypus. It climbed out onto a log, and I got a rather poor photograph with my phone's camera.

The sighting came about half-an-hour after I'd been verbally abused by a woman for having my dog off-leash in an off-leash area...

I saw an Echidna back in December. They're a spiked marsupial that resembles a Hedgehog or Porcupine.

I've seen a couple of Kangaroos, and several snakes. I don't have any pictures of them, because I'm normally trying to stop my dog from sniffing them or following them into the undergrowth.

[endo]

Alpine salamanders in the Tyrolian mountains

[Oaktavia]

@endo such neat looking little creatures

[ZackB]

@endo those are so cool, used to love watching the giant salamanders at the zoo

[sabergirl]

Saw another hawk, up close. This one was eating a kill beside the road, and when I rolled up in the car it perched in a nearby tree. I rolled to a stop and we just looked at each other for a little while. I’m sure when I drove away it probably went back for its snack.

[Tago Mago]

Saw loads of these guys around Lake Como. Wall lizards, i think

[Oaktavia]

@sabergirl looks like a red tailed hawk, which are larger than the coopers and red shouldered hawks we have around the east coast.

[SKT]

@Oaktavia we have a ton of Cooper’s hawks in our neighborhood. They’re beautiful but an absolute menace to feeder birds. I can always tell when one is around because our feeders go really quiet.

[Oaktavia]

@SKT I have seen upwards of three individual coopers hawks circling in the sky above my house. They are cool looking but like you said, definitely predators.

[sabergirl]

We’ve got all three types around in WNC, and have a hard time telling the difference!

[Oaktavia]

@sabergirl the Merlin bird ID app is the only reason I really know. Red tails are biggest with rusty orange tail feathers. Red shouldered have same(ish) coloring on the sides of their breasts (shoulders) and coopers are smallest of the three, with tails that have dark and light markings.