Nature Abounds at Our Little House
One of the things I love about country life is nature.
Last week, I needed an afternoon pick me up and looked out the window to see a family of turkeys, a mother and seven young ones milling about the driveway.
It was better than a vanilla iced coffee. It just made me so happy!
That was the second day we saw them. Dale came home the day before and stopped at the top of the driveway and called me from his cell phone so I could look out and see the little family pecking away.
Did they come to our yard for the ticks or maybe the acorns?
On that second day, I had my camera at the ready, but I frightened them off when I tried to tip toe out the front door.
Wildlife is abundant here, of course. When my mother-in-law visited this summer, she said the highlight of her trip was getting to see a road runner, a first for her that wasn’t an animated cartoon.
Over the weekend, we also saw what we thought was either a hawk or an eagle sitting in a tree behind our house. We were in the boat and too far away.
Since we’ve moved here, I’ve seen up close fox, beaver, coyote, mountain lion, deer, road runners, wild boar and the more typical raccoons, armadillos, skunks and squirrels.
Unfortunately, it can also be dangerous for the wildlife around here, Dale has hit and killed three deer this summer and I’ve seen two red tail hawks dead on the highway.
It was a good weekend for nature. The meteor shower lit up the dark sky early Saturday and Sunday mornings. We forgot all about it, or we would have gone to the boat ramp, where there is a wide open view without the trees. I did get to see one as we were getting ready to take the boat out early Saturday morning.
Did anyone else see the meteor shower this past weekend? What is the coolest wildlife you’ve seen this year?
I envy you the wildlife and meteor shower — a couple of the losses of city life.
Definitely an advantage of living in the country.
I love stuff like that. We used to live in a wooded area and had lots of wildlife like that, and cooler birds too.
I should know more about the birds we have, I plan on learning.
I love watching the hummingbirds right in our backyard!
Me too, they will be gone in a couple of weeks, though!
We have some pretty awesome wildlife here in northern Michigan, and you're absolutely right — it always cheers me up. In fact, I was a little, ok a lot, blue yesterday, and forced myself outside, which cheered me greatly.
Let's see — eagles, fox, raccoon, an abundance of bunnies this year, coyotes, deer and birds of every ilk are common around here. We have cougar, but none in the immediate vicinity, which I'm somewhat grateful for, but would like to see one some day — not up close and personal, though.
I've always wanted to see northern Michigan and when a source said something about Traverse City yesterday I immediately thought of you. Maybe we can do some wild life exploring if I ever make it!
I love to just sit and watch wildlife, but haven't seen much this year in the city. There was that one crazy guy, but I digress.
LOL. At least we haven't seen any of those!
What a treat to see a meteor shower! Never have caught one, but I've caught my share of animal sightings — from turkeys to fox to coyotes and many, many more. I'm always so paranoid about hitting deer at night when they dash out unexpectedly.
The deer are very plentiful around here and very dangerous if you're not paying attention, or even if you are. My husband has hit 3 this summer. One he had to stop and shoot, another got up but clearly had a broken leg (he couldn't get to it to put it out of its misery) and the other died on impact (this one messed up his truck). He's hit all of them at dawn, a very bad time to have to be out.
We had wild turkeys too this summer! I named them Mannie, Mo, and Jack after the automotive store I grew up with in California! They were hysterical to watch–so tame and would come up to the car to peck at the tires. I dearly love the wildlife we get to view on a regular basis!!
Oh, that is funny, Nanci! These weren't anywhere near tame, they knew the minute I tried to sneak out the door to snap their picture. I wish wildlife knew we wouldn't hurt them.
I love that you guys appreciate nature so much! The folks around here don't seem to care and they just shoot everything they see because it's a "pest". Out here around our place we have a lot of wildlife because of the trout ponds. We see blue herons, humming birds, pheasants, quail, chuckers, hawks, osprey, owls, eagles, snakes, mink, skunks, coons, bull frogs/toads, marmots, coyotes, deer…I know I am forgetting critters…Ah! Ducks and their little babies! They were so cute this spring. I love seeing all of the wildlife. It really makes my day! I bet those turkeys were so cool! What a thing to see : )
Lindsay, we do appreciate all life, we will even drive around the tarantuals. I love them. I've only shot one critter in my whole life and it was recently (squirrel) and has bothered me tremendously since. I love little ducklings too! We see these cranes here too, which is strange, I think they said they just started coming to this area in the past few years.
I missed the meteor shower too. The coolest wildlife we've had is a covey of quail. We used to see lots of them and they haven't been around for a while, but they're coming back which is great!!
Oh, your post reminded me of the owl I saw up close! We also hear one in the early morning hours.
I missed the meteor shower unfortunately. We had a family of turkeys, too. Saw them in June, a mom with 12 chicks, then again last week, only there were two chicks left. I love to see them amidst my flowers.
We don't get to see them that close to the house that often, Alexandra. The dogs pretty well scare off the wildlife, but they've been braver this year. I think the drought is driving everything to seek out food and water in places they normally wouldn't go.