Night Visits

I thought that I would share some of the night visitors of late.  You pretty much know what to expect here but it still might be fun to see them anyway.

Hot and humid it is here in Toronto once again.  The critters sure are enjoying the bath basins.  Too bad that I cannot keep them fresh all night long though.

Skunk.

Two skunks!

This one looks like a mother skunk.

I'd say he is new.  He seems small with extra thick, bright stripes.

Our resident raccoon family.

We are very happy to have an opossum hanging around once again.  He's been showing up randomly for a number of weeks now.

Nine days before.

This one here looks different but I can't say for sure that we have two.  He seems darker but it could just be the lighting.

I had the pleasure of seeing him with my own eyes one night while sitting outside.

One of the raccoon kids comes out earlier than the others so I have had some time to watch him too.

Mom and the kids early one evening.  Might as well share a couple better photos of the critters that I have gotten, eh?

A young skunk has shown up just before dark too the last week.  We aren't spoiled with day time visits from one or more like we have been in the last few Augusts but that's okay; it made seeing this one all the more exciting.

At least he is getting very fresh water when he comes early.

And of course there's the cats, both ferals and some neighbour's cats that they don't keep indoors.

There's a third cat we see, a muscular tom cat.  I feel bad for this guy.  I can't find the trail cam shots of him so here's one of the rare moments I have seen him face to face.  He normally stays away from us.

And lastly, we have at least two downy woodpeckers roosting in our nest boxes out back the last few weeks.  There's three nest boxes and all have had woodpeckers in them at some point but I was able to say with total confidence that there are two using them nightly; spotting both going into different boxes on the same nights, about 10 minutes apart.  It's funny how the woodpeckers are quite vocal upon entry inside.

This box is closest to the house and about eye level.  A female uses it.

This house is way down back, behind our shed, and much higher up.  A male uses it.

This is the middle house, sheltered by our lilacs.  We've watched a female use this house some nights as well.  Perhaps the same one using the first box?

We're happy to be landlords to downy woodpeckers again as has been the case the last few Augusts and beyond, well into the fall, sometimes even into the winter.

Do you monitor your backyard after dark (if you have a yard)?  If not, I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of our visitors.

World Wildlife Day

Today is recognized as World Wildlife Day. But for Angie and I, along with many of our friends, every day is just that. We love the wild world around us and appreciate seeing them in our travels.

I cannot imagine our backyard without any birds or mammals enjoying it with us.

Our yard March 2/16

Think about your own backyard, or if you don't have one, think about where you go in your daily travels. Surely you must see a Squirrel, a Sparrow, a Gull, something. Imagine they disappeared? Our lives get so busy that we don't see or hear everything going on around us, but I am certain that if even the most common House Sparrow suddenly disappeared, people would notice and miss their little chirps and tweets.

I always say the day I do not hear a bird sing is the day the Earth stands still.

So, on this day, and any other day, take a moment and think about the wild animals, the planet, is there anything you can do to help them or even just one?

It just happened to work out this morning that I will be driving 2 Big Brown Bats to Toronto Wildlife. The hibernating creatures were accidentally awoken from their winter slumber. As most know, Bats are insect eaters and suddenly coming back to life in early March would be deadly.

It's great that whoever stumbled upon them had mercy and wants to help them other than just dispose of these nasty beasts as far too many see it.

We'd love to have Bats visiting our backyard, feeding on the mosquitoes. Who could ever complain about that?

Crazy, 2 blogs in 2 days!

Thanks for stopping in...

Another backyard shot from last September. These photos take me to the summer nights and how much we enjoy sitting out back and waiting for the creatures to stroll through.