We have quite a little ecosystem here in our yard. As you can see we live in a neighborhood–there are houses fairly closely–no fences and we enjoy a quiet life here. But with my love of all things animals we have developed quite a little ecosystem and I wanted to share just a few visitors that have come to our yard.
First of all –the picture below is of our deck. I moved a bird feeder up close to the house so that at least one feeder would not be ravaged by the deer. As you can see from the tracks—that did not happen.
Another nice indicator of our guests……
And then….one night…..this is what we saw up close and personal!
We have a herd of 9 that come through. I have not seen the buck since the fall but he was a beauty if you remember me posting his picture before.
Then we can not forget Phil and Philena Pheasant—very well fed from under my feeders and very plump!
Of course I have bunnies, squirrels and birds galore—it is one of the fun things to see who is in the yard each day.
They tell me that spring is coming and with spring will come new animals and new creatures to the yard. If I am quick enough with my camera I might just be able to capture a few of those visitors. And you can be sure I will share with you.
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It's Just Life 
I love this post today ~ we have deer in our yard along with the bunnies, birds, hawk and occasional heron who likes to ‘fish the koi pond’ which is understandably a no-no. But those photos of the deer are truly amazing. What a beautiful sight! LOVE THEM! 🙂 You are blessed!
I agree—-it is so wonderful to be able to see all of these great animals in our backyard, I have bunny pics but didn’t dig far enough to find them when I did this post. The deer on the deck were the best .
Truly those deer shots were awesome!!
Thanks! The lighting was a little off because it was getting dark and I was shooting through the window but I think it kind of added to the picture with a sense of mystery or something! 🙂
Oh it was lovely! I adored ALL of your photos!
The deer are so pretty, but wreak havoc on most plants and flowers. (I’m slowly learning which ones they’re less likely to eat.) But we don’t have pheasants!
The deer have pretty much destroyed just about everything but I still love them. I do use Deer Be Gone in the summer on my flowers and that helps but still….
I love that you have Phil and Philena! We had lots of Quail Roberts until all the dogs that run wild in the country killed them off. What is with people and them thinking their dogs just won’t be happy unless they are running loose wreaking havoc at everybody elses house???? Happy you have such a wonderful ecosystem! We love our birds, the deer, not so much.
I am sad about your Quail Roberts!!! I agree that people just need to have a clue about controlling their animals—especially picking up after them. Ugh.
Wow!! Those are great pictures.
Thanks, Marla!!! Animals are easy subjects usually!
Love all the wild life! We have more visit that one might expect in the city but we only had two deer visit one time and it surprised one little girl so much she asked me as we both stood in awe in front of my house—“Are those real deer?” I know they can be destructive tho….Really good pictures too!
I may whine about them emptying my bird feeders out repeatedly and stomping all over my flowers but I do love to watch them and they obviously love our yard. 🙂 They are amazing creatures and it is always a good thing to be able to watch them .
I can’t believe how close that deer got to your house. What did your cat do? I think I’ve seen an occasional deer and big groups of ducks. We have soooo many ducks. When it rains, big packs of them march through the neighborhood. I’ve had to wait for packs to cross the street at three intersections in a row.
I bet my mallards Henry and Maude were among your ducks!!!! Long story —we had a pair that always hung out by our pool in NC. I named them, of course, and every where we go when I see a male and female mallard together they are Henry and Maude. We even saw them in Italy. The funny thing is that one of Aaron’s friends tags me in Henry and Maude sightings on Facebook years later. 🙂 Oh and Buddy–just watched and “chattered” at her through the window. 🙂
What a fun post, Beth Ann! I’m actually blown away by the deer photos! Wow. Bet Buddy got a kick out of that up-close encounter. LOL
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
We really do love watching all the wildlife in our little neighborhood. It amazes me how the deer really have little fear of us humans. I can sit on the deck and talk to them and they just watch me without bolting. Not necessarily a good thing, I guess. Buddy just “talked” to her through the window.
I love your ecosystem Beth Ann! We have our little ecosystem down here too! Squirrels, woody woodpeckers, all kinds of birds, raccoons, opossums, and of course our herd of deer! But, I also have a grey fox that occasionally comes around and will eat angel food cake pieces, bread, and since I know he’s there….some leftover meat! lol Also, Dave spotted a bobcat in his treestand in our backyard and both of us watched a coyote running down our road one Sunday morning!!! I love the wildlife and enjoy your pictures so much!!!! I haven’t gotten in to naming some of my guests…..I need to get on that! lol
I would LOVE your backyard! I know the coyotes are becoming more and more prevalent and I am sure we have them around here as well as foxes but not in our back yard. Someday maybe we will have a place more in the country setting where we will see a few more of those. Thanks for stopping by! Always love to “talk” to you!
I think you have become “Marlin(a) Perkins” Is that a hawk or falcon in the pic right after the blue jay?
Hawk—he had his eye (and talons) on my feeders. It’s a tough world in my ecosystem. 🙂
Only the strong survive..
Very true.
Sometimes I wish I didn’t live in a city. I love Boston, but at this point I get excited when I see a sparrow.. I’d love to see deer and hawks in my backyard! And as someone else mentioned, the pictures you took of the deer are great! Especially that buck.
That buck surprised me—of course I haven’t seen him since but I am keeping my fingers crossed no one got him. He was a beauty, that is for sure.
Wow spectacular shots!! I’m going to get me a bird feeder or two!!
I love watching the birds but it is takes a toll on the ground around the feeders with all the scratching and pawing and digging! 🙂
So do I and I love photography! It’s worth some wrecked lawn for me. My dog does a good job of that anyway 😉
How fortunate you are to have all that wildlife right there in your back yard. Love the pheasants – we have the deer, a variety of birds and hawks, and also have a roadrunner or two, but no pheasants in our area. Right now I’m having a battle with “barn swallows” trying to rebuild their nests on both front and back porches. If only they didn’t “bomb” me each time I walked out, I’d let them stay, but tired of running for cover! Enjoy your critters.
wow – amazing. this is why I miss living in the country. we have some woods nearby our house, but we don’t see any deer or anything. Just turkeys. And a lone coyote has been spotted at night.
my girls were peeking over my shoulder at the pics and I said, “it’s like a Disney forest at her house, isn’t it?” and my youngest gasped and said “oh! maybe she is Snow White!!?” LOL
That absolutely made my day!!! I am no Snow White but I am not a wicked stepsister either!!! I would welcome them in for tea, though! We do live in a bit of a magical place at times with all the animals. I love it.
Wow, you do have your share of critters, don’t you? We had a deer in our front yard once when my son was little. It was HUGE and eventually moved on — probably frightened by all the neighbors who came out to take a look!
That made me smile. I totally get the fascination.
I love it. The hawk is beautiful… You sure are good to every living creature!!! 🙂 xoxo
🙂 Well, not so much to the stupid crows. Not a huge fan of them.
You have a regular little zoo. I do love that Buddy and deer photo. That is a great moment captured.
It really was, wasn’t it? It cracked me up.
Lots of visitors to your yard! One of the things I miss about moving out of a house.
I am enjoying them even though they are sometimes tough on the yard and the landscaping.
I think of all those, the pheasants surprise me most. You sure have a bumper crop of House Sparrows! Hope the hawk left empty-handed!
Phil and Philena are here every day–scratching and kicking. 🙂 I have tons of house sparrows all the time and the hawk left empty handed this time. This past week there was one on the ground just scoping things out for the longest time. No birds around like just minutes before but he hung around for a long time but not in a tree—which was kind of weird.
Our recent hawk visitor was sitting on the back fence when I saw it. (S)He flew to the ground and was checking out a shrub where small birds often stop on their way to the feeder, or when they need a place to hide. Then it got up on the birdbath to have its picture taken, so I obliged. 😉
Well of course you did. They are very photogenic and I am in awe of them but it makes me sad when I see them nab a bird….