Neighborhood Animals!

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orin stepanek
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Neighborhood Animals!

Post by orin stepanek » Sat May 07, 2011 1:30 pm

It's amazing how many different animals are all around us that we take for granted. Of course there are dogs and cats. Cats seem to come and go as they please. Dogs are pretty much cared for by their owners. Squirrels are everywhere; opossum come and go; (thankfully my dog made them go). All kind of birds; Robbins; Blue Jays; Cardinals; sparrows; Blackbirds; Crows; Bald Eagles; Hawks; and 2 Mallards moved into the neighborhood. I worry that they may get run over as they waddle across the street; but drivers seem to watch out for them; so far. They come back every year.
There seems to be a couple of Owls; but I never see them! I can hear them calling though. The one calls who whooo, who; while anther's call is who who, Whooo. :P
We even have some Gophers; Prairie Dogs; and Ground Squirrels running around. Not to mention Rats and Mice. I've been fortunate to be free of the rodents though. :D
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by owlice » Sat May 07, 2011 2:13 pm

Orin, those owls might be mourning doves, the calls of which are often mistaken for owls. Here is a place to hear mourning dove calls/sounds: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_Dove/sounds

And here's a page of owls and their typical voices: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/brow ... ?family=55

Or they might be owls! :owl: 8-)

In addition to the resident and feral cats about (warring factions, all, as the clumps of fur outside attest), I get raccoons more often then opossums, but have seen both helping themselves to whatever dry cat food scraps the feral cat(s) leave. I run them off with a broom when I can, and they fight back! It's a little scary to have one of them grab the broom and yank on it, or charge me. :shock: I saw one of the opossums attacked one of the feral cats once, and that's what turned the tide for me: these marsupials had to go. I didn't mind them much until then.

I've also seen foxes around, and have the usual contingent of birds for a suburban neighborhood, including vultures and hawks. Occasionally as I drive through the neighborhood, I'll see a venue (I had to look that up :ssmile:) of vultures camped out on a neighbor's lawn; I haven't had the (dubious) pleasure of being visited so. No Bald Eagles here.

I did see a Bald Eagle once in my town, though, on February 1, 2003; my son and I were driving to NASA. My usual path there takes me through USDA property (rolling hills and fields), and as soon as I drove onto the property, I saw a Bald Eagle wheel in the sky and head north. I have driven through that USDA site countless times over the years (decades), and had not ever seen an eagle there, nor have I seen one since.

My usual bike trail takes me to and around a lake; this year, I've been seeing cormorants in the lake. Also beavers; I now see them regularly when I ride in the evening. Rabbits and deer, too, and turtles, though not as many turtles this year as in years past.
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by orin stepanek » Sat May 07, 2011 2:42 pm

Owlice! The sound I hear is like the second owl in your link! http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Flam ... Owl/sounds
We have a man made lake a couple of miles North of town and in the summer there are flamingos and pelicans wading there. I was amazed to see all the pelicans way out in the central stat of Nebraska; but here they were. :lol: A lot of cranes also come during the summer months along with ducks and geese. :)
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by owlice » Sat May 07, 2011 3:03 pm

Orin, the Flammulated Owl?? Hmmm... I think they are not usually in Nebraska,.

And you get flamingos?! Wow!!! Very cool!!!

A friend and I went birding in the San Joaquin valley primarily to see cranes, lots and lots of Sandhill Cranes. We also came across a Barn Owl (almost flew through the car window; surprised us!) and a cow trying to give birth. There used to be a website called "Half-a-Cow" (now the website for a band by that name, last I checked) on which was featured images of ... half a cow. Had the cow we saw progressed a little further before she was led away to the barn, I'd have had an entry for that website's gallery. :mrgreen:
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by owlice » Sat May 07, 2011 3:10 pm

Look how cute the Flammulated Owl is! http://www.owling.com/flamm10.htm
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by orin stepanek » Sat May 07, 2011 4:53 pm

owlice wrote:Look how cute the Flammulated Owl is! http://www.owling.com/flamm10.htm
I haven't seen them; but the sound I heard this morning and other mornings are just like that. You can hear these sounds in the evenings also. What I really enjoy though is seeing the ducks waddle around in our and the neighbor's back yards. This has been going on for the about 5 years or so. They almost seem tame. Maybe I can sneak up and get a picture of them. :)
I don't think it was a flamingo I saw; but some other crane; I don't think they are native to North America. :oops:
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by rstevenson » Sat May 07, 2011 10:57 pm

A couple of last year's visitors...
A couple of neighbours
A couple of neighbours
They come around throughout the summer but like to congregate later in the year when the crabapples are ripe. They seem to get drunk on them, climbing up the main trunk then out along a wide branch which overhangs my deck and dropping down onto each other. I've had five of them partying out there a couple of times. And they're not perturbed by my taking their portraits.

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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by Beyond » Sat May 07, 2011 11:22 pm

Orin, if you can hear a mourning dove, then it is close. Their voice dosen't travel very far. At least as far as Man's hearing is concerned.

Owlice, the two dove sounds you gave referrence to are the same thing, at least to me.

Rob, looks like you got yourself some 'real' party animals there :D
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orin stepanek
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by orin stepanek » Sun May 08, 2011 1:06 pm

rstevenson wrote:A couple of last year's visitors...
100_0952.JPG
They come around throughout the summer but like to congregate later in the year when the crabapples are ripe. They seem to get drunk on them, climbing up the main trunk then out along a wide branch which overhangs my deck and dropping down onto each other. I've had five of them partying out there a couple of times. And they're not perturbed by my taking their portraits.

Rob
When I was a kid; our grade school janitor had a pet coon. I remember one day he came to school with his arm all bandaged up; and needless to say the raccoon had to go. :mrgreen:
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by owlice » Sun May 08, 2011 2:25 pm

One evening, I'd put a freshly-baked cake to cool on the dining room table. I was sitting in the living room, kept hearing noises at the patio door, and thought it was my little cat (who liked to climb screens as a way of letting me know he wanted in; took him forever to learn to meow at the door) so ignored it for a while. When I stopped ignoring it, this is what I found:
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by rstevenson » Sun May 08, 2011 2:46 pm

He was just hoping you'd share, is all.

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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by owlice » Sun May 08, 2011 2:49 pm

I think he was hoping he wouldn't have to!
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by Beyond » Sun May 08, 2011 4:02 pm

Hey owlice, i didn't know you had a black-masked coontail cat.

I'm reminded from about the mid 70's one evening at a place i used to live, when a BIG mama coon and her not to little-little ones came around and i went out with a pair of work gloves to see if i could catch one. Well, one went up a tree about 4-5 feet, and i just reached over and 'skrunked' it up. After a little bit of 'skrunking', it went back down the tree and took off with the rest of them. I took off the gloves and noticed an oder. I smelled the glove that i 'skrunked' up the coon with. P-E-U!! :insert smilie pinching nose with two fingers, here: I never knew coons could smell so B-A-D!!

'Skrunk' is a word one of my former neighbors used to describe when you rub your hand up and down a cats back to get it 'wound' up. I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you have thick gloves on. It really gets them going.
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by owlice » Mon May 09, 2011 4:38 pm

Beyond wrote:'Skrunk' is a word one of my former neighbors used to describe when you rub your hand up and down a cats back to get it 'wound' up. I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you have thick gloves on. It really gets them going.
I call it "ruffling." I like to ruffle my cats, much more than they like being ruffled. Actually, the feral cat seems to like this a lot; he so needs a home and people to pet him as much as he'd like to be petted!

Heyyyyy, Beyond, want a cat? He's already neutered, and really friendly if you feed him regularly!
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by Beyond » Mon May 09, 2011 8:28 pm

No thanks owlice, i haven't had a cat in almost 30 years. I'm to set in my ways to be retrained by a pet now. :lol:
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by owlice » Mon May 09, 2011 11:15 pm

Drat!

Hey, neufer! Oh, neuuuuuuuufer.... I have a cat for you! I think you'd like him a lot. And free delivery, too!
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by Orca » Tue May 10, 2011 6:56 pm

I've always been fascinated by the wildlife just outside the house, ever since I was a kid.

I am lucky enough to have a backyard that hosts many birds. Many small birds such as finches, juncos, sparrows, wrens, and chickadees are common. Robins, crows and blue jays often visit as well. Jays are interesting; some folks think they make an annoying sound but I think they are fun to watch as they are so active and have such brash personalities. That is, the scrub jays do; we also have stellar jays which tend to be more timid and are somewhat more rare. They're one of my favorites though; deep blue contrasted with a black crest.

We have a certain kind of flower in our backyard - it has large sword-like leaves and big orange-red flowers, not sure what it's called - that hosts humming birds. They love it. It's fun to watch them feed and occasionally take breaks, landing on the stems. I had always thought of hummingbirds as timid little creatures until I saw them fight over the flower; any time a second hummingbird appears there is a showdown. I've since read that the little guys are actually quite aggressive. Hummingbird One says to Hummingbird Two, "This town ain't big enough for both of us!"

We have larger birds that are relatively common as well. We have waders such as egrets and the great blue hereon; birds of prey ranging from red tail hawks, various owls, buzzards, ospreys near rivers and lakes, and even peregrine falcons living right down town Portland.

As for non-bird animals, large red squirrels are very common; they've been displacing the smaller grey squirrels for quite some time, though the grey ones are still around. We've got a good mix of raccoons, opossums and nutria, plus an occasional porcupine. We have a lot of coyotes; it's not uncommon for folks to loose pets to coyotes. I did see a deer run down my street once; not that common right in town but they are definitely around!

Ah, one more for the list: bats! When I was more actively involved in amateur astronomy I always thought it was fun to catch glimpses of bats in the evening while setting up my telescope and waiting for the sky to get dark...

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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by geckzilla » Tue May 10, 2011 8:52 pm

I'm jealous of you guys. Most of the animals around where I live are the human variety.

There's the kids next door who never get better at playing the piano, a few bag ladies, the mysterious kind who come by and pick up old appliances left out for garbage collection and instead throw them in their vans in the middle of the night, and the homeless guy(s?) who have a dirty camp in the tiny forest that grows around the exercise path. Oh, and don't forget about the one down the street that screams profanities now and then (I guess he has Tourette syndrome) ... lessee... the rest are birds and a stray cat or two. Some of the birds mimic car alarms. Mostly though there's just thousands and thousands of house sparrows calling incessantly above the already loud background noise of the city which seems to make them even louder than country birds. One time I saw a black squirrel.
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by orin stepanek » Wed May 11, 2011 1:27 pm

These ducks come back to the neighborhood every year. 8-) I don't know if it's the same pair or a new generation! I'm glad that the traffic in the neighborhood watches out for them as they waddle across the street from time to time. :roll:
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by Orca » Thu May 12, 2011 7:01 pm

At my last place we always had a pair of ducks waddling around. There was a small stream near by. Unfortunately they did get hit occasionally; they seemed to have too little fear of the road.

There is a park not far from my current residence with a large pond (small lake?) fed by a stream; it has an island that is home to many waterfowl. Geese, ducks, herons, you name it. Though there are nice paths around the pond, the pond itself is off limits to people (no swimming, fishing, ect) so the animals have a safe haven.

Geckzilla - sounds like you live in the city! I grew up in a somewhat rural atmosphere and have lived a good 15 years in a suburban setting. I don't mind visiting the city but I couldn't live there; I just don't feel like I can relax in that environment. Of course, Portland is a very small and relatively relaxed city compared to those on the East Coast! I was in New York once; It was like twenty 'Portlands' wide and perhaps two or three 'Portlands' high! Again, interesting to visit but I just don't like the "vibe." A strange energy that just puts me on edge; not sure how else to describe it.

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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by geckzilla » Thu May 12, 2011 7:47 pm

Orca wrote:Geckzilla - sounds like you live in the city! I grew up in a somewhat rural atmosphere and have lived a good 15 years in a suburban setting. I don't mind visiting the city but I couldn't live there; I just don't feel like I can relax in that environment. Of course, Portland is a very small and relatively relaxed city compared to those on the East Coast! I was in New York once; It was like twenty 'Portlands' wide and perhaps two or three 'Portlands' high! Again, interesting to visit but I just don't like the "vibe." A strange energy that just puts me on edge; not sure how else to describe it.
That's exactly where I live and also exactly how I feel about it. Funny that you live in Oregon because that's where Pat and I have been thinking about moving to. Mountains, trees, and not too many people, right? And no relatives there. :twisted:
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by Orca » Fri May 13, 2011 6:17 pm

I've actually come across quite a few folks who've moved here from other places over the years, be it California or as far as the East Coast. A friend of mine is from Upstate New York.

I'd say my favorite thing about living here is that you don't have to drive very far to get a big change of scenery. The ocean is about an hour and a half from Portland; if you go an hour and half the other way you'll get to Mount Hood. The entrance to the Columbia Gorge is about a half hour away; drive for another half hour into the gorge and you'll start to see the terrain go from wet firs to rocky desert and pines. Keep heading East and even the pines get sparse. In fact, most of Oregon is desert; especially in the South East part of the state. Most of the population lives in the temperate, lower, flat lands of the Willamette Valley. The state is a sampler plate of terrain! So is Washington just north of us; that's a beautiful state as well.

We also have great beer. :D

Just don't move to Portland if you can't stand grey skies. We don't see the sun much between say, October and April - and even then it rains a lot in the Spring. I don't mind but I grew up here. A lot of folks seem to get depressed when there isn't a sunny day in three months or more.

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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by geckzilla » Mon May 16, 2011 3:42 pm

A raven came by today and called a bit from the neighbor's chimney across the street! Pretty rare sight for me at least. I've never seen one here before. At least one local bird did not like its presence at all and I saw it attempt to pester it into leaving, which it did fairly quickly but probably would have done even without the pestering bird.
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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by starship » Tue May 17, 2011 12:31 pm

Yesterday while I was playing on Gameduell my girlfriend's pug went a little crazy. He started to growl and run around and completely got me out of gaming so I wasn't able to reach a new highscore, had to interrupt the game... damn dog! But he had to go out and empty his bladder, guess that was the reason... other from that, the neighborhood is occupied by squirrels and ravens. I see so many squirrels nowadays, it's really strange. And just recently I saw a fox trying to pull food out of a dustbin.

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Re: Neighborhood Animals!

Post by Orca » Tue May 17, 2011 8:44 pm

Was it a raven or a crow? I've seen ravens in the woods; around here we just have crows in populated areas.
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