When the bobcat arrives our yard is deathly silent. Gone are the squawks of the quail and woodpecker. The bees stop buzzing and the beautiful song of a cardinal is nowhere to be heard.
Normally our backyard is alive with sounds. I’ve spotted baby quails when I’m walking around the neighborhood. I put out seed on the ground outside the casita this week. I was thrilled when a family of quail visited our yard! They are the tiniest, cutest little things. The babies follow mom and dad in a line.
Here’s a video of the quail family eating the birdseed.
Another joyful sight was a cardinal who is enjoying the seed I put out. He is so gorgeous and his song is beautiful, too.
I had stopped feeding the birds last year because a hawk flew into a window with a plump quail in its beak. The window was broken and it scared me to death. I got a bill for $600 to replace the double-paned window. The quail and hawk survived, though.
But I’m back to putting out seed a year later. I hope I don’t have a repeat of the hawk incident. I’m enjoying the bird and bobcat watching. It’s truly wild!
Do you enjoy bird watching where you live? What types of birds do you have?
What type of wildlife do you have?
We had a porcupine off our back deck the other night! That was a first for me. I never realized how cute they are!
Wow! When I was young our golden retriever got too close to a porcupine.
I have baby Starlings loudly calling for food all day outside my bedroom window, crows feasting in the grassy area out front and an adorable baby bunny munching morning and night. The hummingbirds have disappeared for a time, but will be back mid summer. I love watching them and usually put out a number of feeders for them as they tend to get territorial.
That sounds wonderful! The birds in my backyard are adding so much to my enjoyment each day.
Maybe if you stop washing your windows……just an idea….
The windows have a reflective tint on the outside. The hawk thought he was flying away.
In California, I had a Possum come to my window a lot. That’s as close as I got to real wildness
I’ve never seen one. That would be interesting.
Our only wildlife are skunks and raccoons. That bobcat might scare me a bit.
My neighbor’s dog got skunked this week. I haven’t seen any, but obviously they are here. We had skunks and raccoons in Palm Springs. The bobcat is fascinating to watch — from inside the house.
How wonderful! Is this Bob cat fully grown? Looks small
That picture was from September. I wasn’t fast enough to get a new picture this week. He’s much bigger and stockier now.
Must be growing up. It’s exciting but you should be careful.
I am careful. I do like to sit in my backyard and read though. I have a neighbor who is afraid to be in her back yard at all.
Stay safe my friend
When we moved here December 2020, we called a number of services and government agencies to trap the bobcat and move it away. Now we realize they were here first and moving one away won’t change our desert. Now we are cautious in the yard but enjoy the sightings.
Yes, you should live with your environment
We have a lot of deer, some turkeys, and last year we had a fox den in the woods behind our house. We had a nest of mourning doves in front of our house. We see a lot of robins and cardinals. Not too bad for the suburbs.
Yesterday at our marina we saw a mink. Sometimes we see otters and muskrats. I absolutely love it.
That sounds amazing! There’s foxes near the football stadium at ASU. Last year one ran on the field during a game.
The bobcat is beautiful but looks hungry.
That picture was from September right after I watched it eat three birds. It’s more filled out now, if we have the same bobcat in our yard. I wasn’t quick enough to get pictures this week. I get mesmerized watching.
Hmmmm….pigeons….and No comment on wild life…
😅
I’ve seen bobcats occasionally, but foxes and raccoons are much more common. We have magpies that nest on the property every year. Wild turkey and mule deer roam around here, and the occasional black bear. I don’t put out bird seed except in winter because it attracts rodents, which then attract rattlesnakes. I don’t mind other snakes. We feed hummingbirds in the summer and get a lot of them.
Wow! What a lot of wildlife you have. We have mule deer and rattlesnakes too.
I also just learned there are Gila Monsters out there too??
Yes but I haven’t seen one.
We have a lot of wildlife here, but typical wildlife, not like yours with a bobcat. How cool!
What typical wildlife? Racoons? Coyotes?
I’ve only seen one raccoon, but we have a ton of birds, cardinals, robins, hawks, geese, turkey vultures etc. I’ve seen a coyote once just walking down the street late at night. Groundhogs, rabbits, chipmunks but not many squirrels although I don’t know why….oh and deer! Lots and lots of deer which I love!
That sounds wonderful! That lots of wildlife.
Yes, I love it! 🙂
Oh my, a bobcat – we don’t have those around us, but we have plenty of other wildlife. We got a bird feeder the year before Covid kept us housebound and it has been great watching all the birds. We get a good variety and there are hawks around but they don’t come near the house. Once this year a bird flew into our slider window and we thought it had died, but it sat on the deck for about an hour, completely still, then it flew away!
We lost a quail last week to a window. But that’s the only bird we have lost here. Except for the dove a few days ago in a roadrunner’s beak! The roadrunner was smashing its head against our patio. I opened the door and yelled hoping to save it. The roadrunner ran but didn’t let go.
OMG it’s much wilder in your world – besides birds we get squirrels, foxes, groundhogs, rabbits, deer, raccoons and chipmunks. There was a rumored coyote, but I think it was just a dog.