Neighborhood Fauna

One of the things I love about where we live is how many different animals there are. This hawk was eating a squirrel in our front yard this morning. The boys wanted to believe it was eating grass. I'm pretty sure it was this same hawk that flew just ten feet away from my head last week. It's bold, and it's BIG.

I remember a few years ago during a very cold wet Spring, having to explain to Benjamin what had happened to the tiny bunnies that drowned in a burrow in our yard. Heaven to him at that time existed under our giant holly tree, because that's where we had to put their remains. Even without that batch of bunnies, we've always had a ton that just run around the neighborhood. They're fun.

Then there's the raccoons. Shifty was the creepiest, with one pale blue eye and a very fluid, graceful walk. Sometimes you'd go out in the backyard, an he would be peering down at you from one of the neighbors' trees. Even though they're a nuisance and often dig into our garbage bags, they're interesting to watch.

Of course we have lots and lots of squirrels. A few of them have gotten brave enough to come right up to the window to eat peanuts while the kids watch them. The chipmunks are a lot more shy, but you can still see them darting around the yard. And there are many different varieties of birds, some of which are nesting under the awning outside Nora's window.

Gardening in our yard has been largely a joke with all these animals. Sometimes the chicken-wire cages are effective enough where we'll get a nice crop of strawberries, but we've never been as vigilant as we need to be to keep them entirely out. I guess fresh dirt is just too tempting for a squirrel with a nut to bury. But gardening woes aside, it's nice not to have to own any pets and still be able to give my kids frequent exposure to animals. Just so long as they don't wander out there today to examine that leftover squirrel...