Hi guys, my wife and I live at the edge of a lava flow on a national moument in Oregon and we have deer, grey squirrels (bigger than eastern brows), golden mantled ground squirrels, and chipmonks, as well as neighborhood cats (they remove the dead birds that fly into my window so its really a much bigger "feeder" than it appears). We also have racoons, puma, and coyotes that we don't see. Thats not a lot of variety - no water mammals, only a large ungulate and two top predators and various "Squirrel" type small mammals that can climb trees. Mostly we have lots of birds as we on a flyway and theres about 8 square miles of 1,400 year old lava flow behind us that is home (often temporary) to thousands of birds and "other things". Rumor is that theres a HUGE mystical white mountain line and a ferocious (again mystical) white bear. Mostly I see dogs up there, but I keep looking for Sasquatch as there are reports of him living near the south side of the flow. (we're on the north side"
Jim - so what do you see and where do you live?
p.s. I guess quail count as they are ground dwellers? But I guess what birds do you see should maybe be another thread.

Moose, tiny squirrels the size of chipmunks in the lower 48, occasional porcupine, if we are real lucky fox, the real occasional beaver, owls (I know a bird - but I really think they are cool!), Dall Sheep, ground squirrels, rabbits and caribou.

Seen sign (scat and prints) of bear (both brown and black) and wolf.

Oh and I saw a frog once while hiking up here (amphibians don't do so well up here.)

Birds: highlights are a couple different owls (very cool), ravens (yes they are dumpster rats, but still cool) and robber jays. I've also seen some raptors - but I don't know what they are.

We live on acreage in the Sonoran Desert south of Tucson. There are a lot of wild critters that come to visit. Starting with the small and working to the large we see, often daily, the following: chiggers (a few), mosquitos, kissing bugs, tarantula hawks, scorpions (three kinds), tarantulas, cicadas, palo verde beetles, centipedes (one kind is about 3" long the other, poisonous, one is about ten inches long), rattlesnakes (three kinds), gopher snakes, black racers, coral snakes, about ten species of lizard including horned toads, Sonoran desert toads (in season), Gambel Quail (lots), roadrunners, vultures, hawks (about eight different kinds), a lot of other smaller birds, two kinds of ground squirrel, skunks (two kinds), coyotes, javelena, bobcats, and the occasional deer and antelope. Infrequently, a stray horse or cow will also stop by for a visit. Stray dogs and cats don't last long around here. Scorpions will occasionally get into the house; so far we haven't stepped on one.

I live "in the mountains" and a long time ago I noticed (in the Sierras) that most of the life was on a micro scale - like if you got down on your belly you would see the wildlife around you. Now the deer, lions, and coyotes are the main mammals (there) and they are very important, but in the life of an animal and in a huge forest - not everyplace can ever be visited by a large mammal. Why is it that there seems to be more life in deserts like down by Pika, than in forested country? Why do desert have more medium and medium small animals? Our lava flow back here is technically the northwestern tip of the Great Basin (Newberry Monument)- check it out, and we get some birds and wildlife not seen in a lot of Oregon or the PNW.

Pika, do you have leopard lizards? First time I saw one in Nevada I thought it was a Jurasic park excapee and headed for the truck in case there were more.

I'ze citified, but we still get our share of critters. At home there are the squirrels and their nighttime counterparts, rats. Upsizing, there are the unholy trio of possum, skunks and raccoons. Much more interesting are the birds--some year-round others in transit (we're in the Pacific Flyway). Most interesting are the raptors and hummingbirds and we have dove annually nest in our yard.

Over at the river one very occasionally spies beaver, muskrat, river otters and sea lions--a good 80-mile swim from the Bay. And on the parkway we have deer, coyotes and (I'm told) fox and mountain lion--I've seen neither of those, the second is just as well. Snakes come in rattle, gopher, king and garter varieties.

All in all, there's a notably greater concentration of wildlife in town than in the high mountains. I suppose it's a measure of how little life the alpine zones can support.

Cheers,

I live in the midst of the greater Portland metro area, but I also happen to live in one of the best places for wildlife in this area.

We see deer, coyotes, raccoons and squirrels as the main mammalian wildlife. Sometimes mice, shrews, and moles. Haven't spotted any rats, yet. I've seen what looked an awful lot like cougar tracks about a half mile from my house, but I won't claim to have that fact nailed down beyond a doubt. It's suggestive, though.

Where my neighborhood shines is in the variety of bird life. We live where a wooded hillside abuts a pasture and a swamp, so it is a great transition zone habitat. We see a wide assortment of sparrows, swallows, warblers, finches, tits, chickadees, wrens, owls, hawks, kestrels, herons, flickers and other woodpeckers, ducks and geese, plus the usual crows, robins and cityfied birds. These aren't just fly-throughs, either. They live here.

There are also garter snakes, newts and frogs.

Edit: Almost forgot the towhees I see every a.m. when I get the paper. And my wife walked in a couple of minutes ago and said she swears she saw a thrush. I should probably mention the hummingbirds, too.

We've got a lot critters here in the Ozarks. Starting with some of the cool bugs, we have tarantulas, scorpions, praying mantis, walking sticks, luna moths, the cicadas are popping out of the ground this year and the forest is constantly buzzing. We have mice, rats, moles, chipmunks, squirrels, flying squirrels, skunks, rabbits, possum, raccoon, groundhog, beaver, river otter, bobcat, fox, coyote, deer, black bear, wild pig, and elk. I've seen all of those in the wild here. We also have big cats, wild mountain lions, and some others that were released by their owners. I've maybe seen a mountain lion twice, but I saw too little too fast to be sure.

For snakes, I've seen pygmy rattlers, cottonmouths, and copperheads, as well as big black snakes, and smaller garden and grass snakes. I hear we have diamond back rattlers here, but I've never seen one. We have tiny little Tree Frogs (Peepers), and big huge Bull Frogs, Box Turtles and all kinds of other turtles, including "Alligator Turtles", which are rare, but my wife and I saw one a year or two ago and got several pics and some video of it.

Among the many fish we have, notably there are the Gar, which get up to 5ft long, and Paddle Fish, which get just as long, and we have the largest species of crayfish in North America right here where I live, as well as a type of cave crawfish that is blind. I've seen them all but the last. The caves they live in are protected and I'm not much of a caver anyway, so I probably never will see one of those.

Notable flyers that you'll see often are Redheaded Woodpeckers, two breeds of Vultures, Bald and Golden Eagles (there's a pair of baldies nesting just a few miles from where we live) and several kinds of Owls. Right now you'll hear Whip-or-Wills just after sunset. In the winter we have beautiful white Pelicans that migrate through. I was pretty surprised the first time I saw those here!

With the exception of the elk and bear, I've seen all of the critters I've mention on property. I've been told by others that they've seen bear and mountain lion on our property. I don't mind not running into them myself, I'm fine with that.

If you sit quiet in the forest here for about 20 minutes critters will start coming out of their hiding places, but if you go tromping along all day you might not see a one.

Jim, I get lots of deer thru my yard and garden, I'm putting up an electric fence now for them. I think they killed the problem bears last summer, gotta love the animal lovers for that. Fox, skunks, raccoons, Douglas, ground and Grey squirrels, turkeys, quail, coyotes, Bobcats, cougar, Canada geese, storks. I saw some elk a couple years ago, about 35 miles east of me one morning real early while I was on my Monday drive to NV.

Duane
Re: electric fence. You want a fence that they can SEE and make the connection with other electric fences. I bought a roll of 1/4 inch polyester yellow rope at Harbor Freight for $14 and ran two strands above my wire fence and the deer don't go near it. Putting a strand of yellow rope along with a strand of yellow electric tape would look formidible. The deer appear to be intimidated by my yellow ropes that are not electrified.

Theres a lot of animal life in Oregon, many types even pronghorns, but you rarely ever see them. Its too country where I live to have "city critters" and the wild critters are too wild to come around much or to hit the garbage cans. I've never heard of a bear in Bend and the only bear in Sisters in ten years climbed onto the oil tank of my house to get away from all the people following him. When I looked out the back door I saw a bear's Butt going over my fence into the neighbors yard about 5 feet in front of me. Funny how you would recognise a bear's rear end with such a short view.

The Deschutes River is 2 miles from here across the lava flow. There are Osprey that cruise over here, and sometimes an eagle on the rising currents. Mostly we have semi-resident vultures and I've seen 50 in the air on "migration day" over Sisters. This area is known for its resident populations of woodpeckers and the beautiful flickers. I'd have to say our summer birds are varied but we will have nesting nuthatches and lots of stellar jays and mourning doves, and our winter bird are junkos.
Jim

Well, I live in a relatively large city (Edmonton) with a large green belt in the middle as a river valley. I bike through that to work. So, as for what I've seen, around the house I regularly have snowshoe hares, and northern red squirells, and skunks, (along with the neighborhood cats) on the bike to and from work, semi-frequently see rabbits (as well as the bigger hares) whitetail and mule deer, along with coyotes. I have seen a moose in town a couple of times.

Of course, many different types of birds as well. I typically (depending on time of year) have sparrows, black capped and boreal chickadees, bohemian waxwing, european starling, north american robin, merlins, crows, blue jays, and gray jays, flickers, sapsuckers, and pileated woodpecker - in he river valley you can typically add saw whet owls, great horned owls, bald eagle, ravens, ruffed grouse, hairy woodpecker, northern three toed woodpecker, shovellers, buffleheads, mallards, canada geese, and lots of others.

Interestingly, there's a few great horned owls that have figured out that when the hares (their usual main food source) crash, they've learned to take out housecats.... I've seen a picture of a mom on the nest with bits of 4 or 5 cats hanging over the edge

Generally, I consider a bear's butt the best part of a bear to see.

The only bear I've seen here was hiding in a little cave, which I stuck my nose into, and all I saw was the reflection of it's eyes, but it didn't take me long either to recognize what they belonged to

Jim, I put up a six strand, 8' high fence this weekend, waiting for the charger and still have to install the three grounding rods, plus a little more wiring to connect the strands. While fixing dinner tonight, I looked outside down by the creek and saw two deer. One inside my fence and one about to step thru the fence. I did see the younger deer touch the fence while stepping thru it, so if it had been electrified, it would have been sapped. I can see I need to install one more strand and give your advise a shot also. I've had concerns about animals and people seeing the wire, a yellow rope makes sense instead of flagging.