So, who's living in your yard this year?

[BabyBumblebee]

'k, so I should 'fess up here - this is one of my favourite times of year because I love seeing which plants have survived, and which animals have made the yard their home.

So far we have:

5 baby squirrels and mama - their drey is in the end wall of the barn
1 groundhog
3 chipmunks
1 Painted turtle - comes out every morning to sun itself on the flat rocks by the creek - haven't been able to get a good photo yet though...
1 Pair of eagles nesting in the woods behind the house
blackbirds, robins fighting over territory, chipping sparrows, blue jays, house swallows, and "that d**n woodpecker" (dh's words, not mine - he thinks that 4 am is a little early for the birds to be up

What guests do you have around you this spring?

[opally]

I live in a very urban environment, but we're lucky enough to have our share of critters - a oppossum under the front porch, a ton of squirrels, and a slew of birds - our fave was a yellow-rumped warbler fledgling that we rescued from neighborhood cats. The bird feeder right by our front window gets a lot of activity - we actually saw a squirrel and mouse there at the same time, with the mouse running over and around the squirrel, who didn't mind at all - the kids were fascinated !

[armonia]

Right now I have a huge armadillo living under my house. I have been wondering what has been doing all the digging and then I saw him out at sunrise on Monday. I have lots of birds: redbirds, woodpeckers, and one big blackbird like you see at the zoo that comes around every day to get a bite of dogfood. Lots of squirrels and 5 chickens. 2 dogs.

[mountain mom]

City dweller on a double lot with a small house and a very private wooded yard!

We have a sparrows nest with 5 babies.

Lots of squirals and a ton of cats! :LOL

[zoooteacher]

Aside from the livestock that are *supposed* to be here? *grin* We have a big, fat, and very determined raccoon who tries to raid the barn every night - he's after the cat food bin, and has already carried it away once, but couldn't open it once he got it down to the creek. There are a pair of robins whose babies are in the midst of fledging right next to the kitchen windon, spring peepers and their tadpoles in the pond/swamp out back with our elusive Pekin duck, Jemima, a cute toad in my herb garden, some bats - we wish there were more!, and the usual rabbits and deer who walk through, though luckily the deer have left our gardens alone so far. -Shannon

[PikkuMyy]

Tonight when we drove home from the city we had to go slowly up the driveway for a mama deer and her two new fawns - all spotted. This morning I sat outside to drink my hot cocoa and read a biography of W.H. Hudson (famous naturalist) and watched Spotted Towhees and Bushtits squabble around in the trees. No Finches came to eat our loquats while I was sitting there. We have our share of 'coons and opossums and squirrels but I don't know yet what's living in our eaves. Something active, esp. at night but large. DH says it's rats because he saw one climbing the house once and we've heard gnawing for a while before. But it's been months since I've heard the gnawing so I think the rats got evicted by something larger. Oh, I also watched a very sweet lizard scurry about licking up miniscule insects with his tongue.

We also have a hawk - Cooper's I think, nesting in the top of a VERY tall pine tree - which we heard calling for a mate earlier this spring but we haven't seen any signs of fledglings although at least one hawk is very active at the nest.

Oh, and the quail should be bringing their children through our yard any minute - I can't wait!

ETA: This morning DH and I discovered that some small birds have built a nest in our carport and guess who's in it??? Two or three tiny nestlings - they must be perhaps a week old with soft grey down and little yellow beaks!! So cute! I'm guessing that they're finch or towhee (I volunteer at a wild animal rehab hospital) but I'm going to lurk around and see if I can spy on the parents coming to feed them without disturbing them. I thought I might sit quietly in the car reading a book with the door open so that I can hear when the parents come and they start a-cheepin'. I'm so excited!

[SouthernMommaOf2]

I love this time of year!! We have nothing but trees behind us. We have a rabbit or two roam around back there, possums & a mole. :LOL