Animals in my Forest
My furry (and feathery) neighbors
I live in one of the most beautiful spots in the world, an awesome redwood forest just north of Santa Cruz, which is 75 miles south of San Francisco. Disappointingly, my forest has very little wildlife because the housing density is actually pretty high for a forest. But we do have some animals around.
I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos. I am not a picture person, and I am a most terrible photographer. All these pictures are off my iPhone, except the beautiful photo above was taken by a friend.
Here is a list of who I see from my house or when I’m walking around my neighborhood. The list is from who I see most often to least often. And the winner for my most-often seen furry friends is:
- Sonja, my cat. Lives in my house. She is a rescue, a tri-color mackerel tabby.
- Birds. I hear them around the forest constantly but I don’t see them very often. Tiny birds sometimes land on my deck or its railing. The trees host lots of crows, or maybe they are ravens. Yes, let’s say they’re ravens. I’ve heard an owl a few times but I haven’t seen her.
- Squirrels. They scamper across my deck railing and leap into the trees. I put out popcorn for them for a while but then I read it wasn’t good for them. Empty calories, you know.
4. A flock of wild turkeys. The first time I saw the flock of wild turkeys on a walk (both them and me), I wondered if they were owned by one of my neighbors but had got out of their cage. My suburbanity showing. But no, we’ve got a couple dozen wild turkeys around. Most often I see a whole bunch of them together, but sometimes just two or three. A couple of times I have seen a mama with a half dozen chick, incredibly cute. Sometimes a turkey takes it in it’s head to peck at one of my car’s tires for a while. Doesn’t seem to hurt either one of them though. I love seeing them and hearing their gobbles. But I cannot get closer than 20 or 30 feet and then they run away. Funny thing, though, they are not afraid of cars at all! Sometimes when they are in the road it is hard to get them to move and let my car through.
5. Deer. We’ve got a handful of deer around. Usually I seem in twos or threes, often with a fawn. Rarely, but sometimes, they come right up into my front and back yards. Beautiful creatures.
6. Skunk. We had a small family of skunks around for a while. They waddle away pretty quickly when they see me. (Is it something I said?) They are just adorable. I never experienced a spraying incident.
7. Racoon. Shortly after we moved here, 15 years ago, we had a racoon raiding our trash cans at night. Misha chased him away with a broom, which was really entertaining. She never came back. (The racoon, not Misha.) We also learned to tie down our can lids with zip cords.
8. I saw a rat run across the deck railing at dusk a few times. And we had roof rats in the walls for a bit. But saw them only dead, in traps.
9. Banana slugs. There was a time when these yellow darlings would have been first or second on this list. But they are disappearing and I rarely see them anymore. Sixth Great Extinction, you know? Anway I’m not really doing worms and insects on this list, but I have to include the much-loved banana slug since he is the mascot of U.C. Santa Cruz.
By the way, wild turkeys may show up anywhere!0
