Lots of Wildlife in My Yard and in My House

[Lynne]

A bit further North than Virginia, is the reason. further north the later they are born generally. A Whitetail deer usually gives birth sometime around May or June and a fawn won't lose its' spots until after they are weaned. That is usually 3 or 4 months after birth, so this is about the end of the time we should be seeing a spotted fawn yet. They are probably the later spring births and are just about to wean from Momma. Hope this helps answer your question.

Thank you! It does. I knew I wasn't seeing things.

 

[Jade Tigress]

Except fully-grown NC deer are about the size of NY fawns...

Yeah? So what's your point?

Oh, and that cow my husband wound up face to face with in the fog was a big fat black angus.

Really, are NY deer that big? I dind't know that, that's pretty wild. heh

 

[Lynne]

Yeah? So what's your point?

Oh, and that cow my husband wound up face to face with in the fog was a big fat black angus.

Really, are NY deer that big? I dind't know that, that's pretty wild. heh

I've seen bucks that I would estimate weigh close to 300 pounds. Right now, we have one on the back of our property whose hoof print is as big as that of a quarter horse.

 

[Kreth]

Hi Kreth,

You're just a little ways down the road. I live in Tioga County.

Well, we may have to train together at some point. I'm one of those sneaky ninja, though

Really, are NY deer that big? I dind't know that, that's pretty wild. heh

Oh yeah... Basically, the deer get fatter the farther north you go. In my jarhead days, we'd see deer occasionally out in the field, and the Southern guys would be amazed... then I'd tell them about the fully grown deer in NY.

 

[Tez3]

I live in the Yorkshire Dales, if you've ever seen the James Herriot "All Creatures Great and Small" films that's exactly where I live.

We have two types of deer Red and Roe, badgers, hedgehogs, weasels, stoats, peregrine falcons, kestrels,harriers, barn owls, tawny owls and bloody grey squirrels ( please take them back they are killing our native red ones!) there's otters as well as water voles (think Wind in the Willows) grouse and pheasants ( they get shot in autumn) geese and swans. There's three types of snake only one, the adder, is poisonous. We of course have thousands of sheep, Swaledales, all over the moors. There's beautiful Dales ponies too.

Further south from us down in Derbyshire there's wild wallabies which will surprise all the Aussies lol!

 

[Lynne]

I live in the Yorkshire Dales, if you've ever seen the James Herriot "All Creatures Great and Small" films that's exactly where I live.

We have two types of deer Red and Roe, badgers, hedgehogs, weasels, stoats, peregrine falcons, kestrels,harriers, barn owls, tawny owls and bloody grey squirrels ( please take them back they are killing our native red ones!) there's otters as well as water voles (think Wind in the Willows) grouse and pheasants ( they get shot in autumn) geese and swans. There's three types of snake only one, the adder, is poisonous. We of course have thousands of sheep, Swaledales, all over the moors. There's beautiful Dales ponies too.

Further south from us down in Derbyshire there's wild wallabies which will surprise all the Aussies lol!

Sounds beautiful, Tez. I was surprised to hear about the wallabies. That would be a sight. Do people get pictures of them occasionally?

I have heard the only poisonous snake we have in my area is the Timber Rattlesnake, but I'm not sure it is actually in my area. I don't miss the poisonous snakes. We do have brown recluse spiders but it's too cool for the black widows.

I never heard of the Dale pony. Are they wild? I've seen the wild herds of ponies on Assateague Island, Virgninia. Have lots of pictures, too. I should upload them sometime.

Anyone with kids should take a trip to Chincoteague/Assateague Islands. The best time to go is in June so you can see the foals. In July, the fire department has their yearly pony roundup. They swim the foals across the little channel between the two islands and then auction them off. A lot of people do like to go in July so they can watch the pony swim but it's a zoo and the hotels are overpriced. If you do go, make sure you take the trolley trip on Assateague. The trolley goes into an area where you are only allowed on foot, which is where the two wild herds are. It's about a 90 minute trip on the trolley and well worth it. Just driving around the wildlife loop, you have a good chance of spotting a few ponies. There is, of course, lots of other wildlife, including the little Sitka elk (imported for some reason), the Delmarva squirrel (a huge black squirrel indigenous to the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia peninsula), swans, great herons, ducks, etc. It's a real thrill to see the ponies standing in the waves though. It's magical, like something out of a fairy tale.

 

[Tez3]

http://www.dalespony.org/Breed.htm

The Dales ponies are bred here but sadly aren't wild. In Dartmoor, Exmoor and the New Forest ponies run wild. In Wales there's the Welsh ponies who are the only real native breed and have been wandering the hills there for 2000 years.

The wallabies escaped many years ago from captivity and surprisingly thrive in the British countryside. Not all escapees are welcome though, there's wild mink now which are very destructive. there's supposed to be a couple of wild cats loose on the prowl ie panthers but that maybe an urban myth no one is sure!

 

[Lynne]

http://www.dalespony.org/Breed.htm

The Dales ponies are bred here but sadly aren't wild. In Dartmoor, Exmoor and the New Forest ponies run wild. In Wales there's the Welsh ponies who are the only real native breed and have been wandering the hills there for 2000 years.

The wallabies escaped many years ago from captivity and surprisingly thrive in the British countryside. Not all escapees are welcome though, there's wild mink now which are very destructive. there's supposed to be a couple of wild cats loose on the prowl ie panthers but that maybe an urban myth no one is sure!

Quite the sturdy pony, the Dale pony. I see they were bred for work. Very thick necks and large legs. When I was a child, I had a Welsh pony. She was about the size of the Dales pony, around 14 hands. She was beautiful, white with brown spots, a brown head with a white blaze, and her main and tail were black and blonde. She was also a mean stinker. I think people are quite surprised when they see a pony that size - almost the size of a quarter horse.

I've heard minks are ferocious little buggers, aka, you wouldn't want to meet one. What do they destroy?

I wouldn't be surprised if you had some kind of cat around there although a panther does sound like an urban (or rural) myth.

We wonder if we've heard wolves. Coyotes usually don't howl very much. Mostly, it's yips and stuttering barks. Their howls are more like a screech or a scream. One night, my husband and I heard a long drawn out howl followed by a few others. They never erupted in the wild yipping. We wonder if it we heard timber wolves. I've heard they are in our area but that sounds like a legend, too.

 

[Blindside]

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[Blindside]

We wonder if we've heard wolves. Coyotes usually don't howl very much. Mostly, it's yips and stuttering barks. Their howls are more like a screech or a scream. One night, my husband and I heard a long drawn out howl followed by a few others. They never erupted in the wild yipping. We wonder if it we heard timber wolves. I've heard they are in our area but that sounds like a legend, too.

If you are still hearing coyotes regularly, you don't have wolves in the area. Canids tend to displace each other based on size, wolves displace coyotes who displace fox. A wolf pack moving into an area can actually have the indirect impact of increasing fox (which then promptly decrease the local waterfowl.)

Lamont

 

[Lynne]

If you are still hearing coyotes regularly, you don't have wolves in the area. Canids tend to displace each other based on size, wolves displace coyotes who displace fox. A wolf pack moving into an area can actually have the indirect impact of increasing fox (which then promptly decrease the local waterfowl.)

Lamont

Oh yeah. We have loads of coyotes. Could have been dogs howling or just an unusual coyote howl. No wolves then.

 

[Paul-M]

I'm amazed reading all these lol. I live in the UK and all we get around me is squirrels and rats lol. Would love to go to the American country and see some of this wildlife, sounds beautiful.

 

[Tez3]

Ah but Paul you live in Cardiff and have aliens from space dropping in all the time lol! It's true! I watch Torchwood! :ultracool

 

[still learning]

Hello, On the Big Island of Hawaii....on/ near the highways you just see Goats, wild pigs, turkeys, donkeys,chickens sometimes loose cows and horses.

On my wife parents coffee land..lots of wild pigs come out to eat the macadana nuts that falls on the ground. Turkeys, chickens (wild) are common to see in the coffee land too.

Road to Waikoloa has lots of goats feeding on the young shoots of grass on the side of the roads

In Hawaii the wild life is consider the [ the tourist ] just kidding...

Aloha ( at least the goats and wild pigs do get eating!) UM! We also heard donkey make good jerky meat too! Sweet tasting!

PS: Coconut meat taste good too!

 

[Live True]

Wow...I've loved reading about all this wildlife! I live in central Virginia, and I LOVE the wildlife that surrounds me. I've seen red tailed hawks, turkeys (mine weren't so ugly...a mama leading a line of babies...kinda cute), grey foxes, raccoons, squirrels (LOTS ...OY!), a wide variety of fowls, snakes (mostly non poisonous black and garters...but still wouldn't want a bite and some blacks can get long!...have seen one that was roughly 6'...erg), spiders (lovely orb and writing spiders to black widows), skunks, lots of deer, etc. It is so cool to sit in your living room or look out your window while washing dishes and see the deer checking out your garden (wait....maybe "cool" isn't the right word....)

Funny story, I had lived in the city for a long time, and moved about an 1 1/2 out so I could enjoy the "quite country life"....we had trouble sleeping for the first week because the tree frogs, owls, adn all were sooooooo LOUD!

Now, I have trouble sleeping without those sounds...strange, eh?

 

[Live True]

Anyone with kids should take a trip to Chincoteague/Assateague Islands. The best time to go is in June so you can see the foals. [...] If you do go, make sure you take the trolley trip on Assateague. The trolley goes into an area where you are only allowed on foot, which is where the two wild herds are. It's about a 90 minute trip on the trolley and well worth it. Just driving around the wildlife loop, you have a good chance of spotting a few ponies. There is, of course, lots of other wildlife, including the little Sitka elk (imported for some reason), the Delmarva squirrel (a huge black squirrel indigenous to the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia peninsula), swans, great herons, ducks, etc. It's a real thrill to see the ponies standing in the waves though. It's magical, like something out of a fairy tale.

My husband and I liek to take wandering vacations...this is where we have a beginning and midway spot chosen...make no reservations and just drive where we feel like and stop when we feel like it....they are some of the BEST vacations...one time, on the way to Amish country in Pennsylvania from Richmond (and via the Baltimore Harbor...lol) we spent a day or two in Chincoteague. We rented bikes and did a tour of the islands and saw the horses (and a couple of horse freindly herons perched on their backs)....didn't get to see the roundup...but it was an amazing trip nonetheless!

Perhaps we should wander back that way in June/July.....

 

[Lynne]

My husband and I liek to take wandering vacations...this is where we have a beginning and midway spot chosen...make no reservations and just drive where we feel like and stop when we feel like it....they are some of the BEST vacations...one time, on the way to Amish country in Pennsylvania from Richmond (and via the Baltimore Harbor...lol) we spent a day or two in Chincoteague. We rented bikes and did a tour of the islands and saw the horses (and a couple of horse freindly herons perched on their backs)....didn't get to see the roundup...but it was an amazing trip nonetheless!

Perhaps we should wander back that way in June/July.....

I'm so glad you got to visit Chincoteague/Assateague and on bikes. It's funny to see the herons perched on the backs of ponies. I have a picture of a foal rearing up to try and knock a heron off of its mother's back. I take it you cycled around the wildlife loop, then? If I recall correctly, they don't allow bicycles in the area where the two herds "live."

If you go for the wildlife roundup (I think it's around the 2nd or 3rd weekend in July), let me warn you in advanced that hotels are outrageous at that time. Also, you may want to book way in advance. Another nice time to visit is September because hotels are cheap. But no foals.

I agree that a relaxed vacation is best, too. That's what we've done as a family. Our relatives live in Richmond and Chesapeake and we just planned to see some sites along the way and stop wherever. Our family loved Luray Caverns.