Many wild animals live around here. Although we are close to an urban area, wildlife corridors abound, and nearby valleys lead to wilderness.
Wild animals dangerous to our chickens, goats, and sheep lurk nearby much of the time. Our livestock guardian dogs routinely foil the plots of larger predators (coyotes, mountain lions, Red Tailed Hawks, Red Shouldered Hawks, Great Horned Owls) and smaller predators (foxes, raccoons, opossums, skunks, bobcats, Cooper’s Hawks, martens, badgers, weasels, feral cats).
Jackrabbits, gopher snakes, redwinged blackbirds, starlings, cranes, Great Blue Herons, finches, bluejays, Steller’s Jays, hummingbirds, wild turkeys, woodpeckers, crows, and many other creatures pass through and around here.
Wild bees and other native pollinators help keep the entire ecosystem fertile and humming. We often see gopher snakes and although we have not seen them we are in rattlesnake country. Spiders and bats, gophers and voles, and many, many more wild animals’ lives are intertwined with ours.