Jay's Wildlife Refuge

Here in the wilds of North Austin, I’m always amazed at the abundance of wildlife that come and visit. Admittedly, some have been lured by “someone” putting out cheap cat food for strays, but many wander through because it’s in their hunting area.

Once, while eating breakfast I looked out the window and noticed a skinny dog by my back fence. On closer inspection, I realized it was a coyote. During the day. So grabbed my camera and rushed out and was able to get a few shots of two who were wandering down the trail in the gully back there.

Walking past my back door I noticed this gray fox enjoying some of the cat food on my deck. I’ve had many repeat performances, but they are super skittish, so I can only get a shot through the door’s window, hence, some odd reflections of stuff inside.

Of course, apparently  the word is out that there's good chow over at Jay's Place, so I get quite a few stray cats who visit. Some I've actually eventually adopted, but most just hang around a few months then disappear. I hope it's not because the coyotes caught up with them.

A few years ago there was a great documentary from PBS about raccoons that stated they may be the best wildlife to adapt to civilization. In other words, they flourish even in cities. So, of course, I have a ton who visit, often bringing their families. 

Probably the next wild creature to easily adapt to city life are the opossums. I have a feeling that at least one lives under the shed in my backyard, but a lot just wander through looking for the delicious moldy bread, old donuts and other stale food I throw out in my backyard for, well, for them. They seem to eat everything. 

Squirrels really like my backyard. So I put out a hanging corn cob that they have to hang by their back feet to get to. Of course, they also like visiting the bird feeder, so I made my own anti-squirrel device to try and keep them out. It works most of the time.

Hawk on left, falcon on right

Besides mammals, a ton of birds swoop through my back yard. Some are there for the bird feeder, some are there to feed on the other birds and creatures.

Caracara feeding on turkey carcass

Not sure who/what this vulture wanted

Redheaded woodpecker

Jay's Bluejay Airforce

Guinea Fowl

Red Hawk

Cardinal and Bluejay compete for bird feeder time

 

Hawk caught an unwary Bluejay

With so much wildlife visiting, there are bound to be interactions.

Raccoon tells opossum he's not sharing

As long as I don't eat the food, they don't mind me

Tempting fate

Yawn. The human will put food out for me later

The visitors often peek in, wondering when the human will put food out

Of course, this leaves out the various insects, rats, snakes, frogs, etc. that travel through the yard. Because of these I resist putting out any poison as it would affect the natural chain. This often means that I get a lot of mosquitos and other flying bugs in my house, so I’ve grown a spider army to help me fight them. Yeah, it’s often just as wild inside my house as outside, and it’s not just because of the nutty human who lives within. 

 

Ahhh, James Thurber