Critters

[GuyK]

These photos aren't great as far as artistic merit goes yet they are somewhat remarkable. I live in a city. Not out in the boonies somewhere, not in a rural area, not even really in a suburb. In a city. And this guy went sauntering up the road this morning. A week ago my neighbor saw three browsing on the apricot tree in my front yard.

 

[ConradH]

Something has been burrowing under my brick walkway. Every time I fill the hole with stone and stuff, it immediately gets opened up. I've never seen what's doing it, so I set up my camera in time lapse mode. One frame every two seconds, 1/100 sec. After two hours of recording, I got a about ten frames with this guy. He just flashes into view and then disappears, never sitting still for a second. He's not even sharp in this shot. I know he's the perpetrator of the perpetration because he's got his nose right at the hole. Now I need to figure out some better deterrence. My guess is he and his relatives have tunneled right down six feet plus to the drain tile at the base of the foundation.

 

[enricosonic]

These photos aren't great as far as artistic merit goes yet they are somewhat remarkable. I live in a city. Not out in the boonies somewhere, not in a rural area, not even View attachment 3749659View attachment 3749660View attachment 3749661View attachment 3749662really in a suburb. In a city. And this guy went sauntering up the road this morning. A week ago my neighbor saw three browsing on the apricot tree in my front yard. Only the last pic is cropped.

It's been 20 years since I sold my first house in Shoreline. Shoreline was an unincorporated area then. We were near the library and the Crest Theater. Not very rural either but with a huge backyard. We saw deer once every so often.

Now we're in West Seattle but still get critters in this large cedar in our front yard:

 

[GuyK]

It's been 20 years since I sold my first house in Shoreline. Shoreline was an unincorporated area then. We were near the library and the Crest Theater. Not very rural either but with a huge backyard. We saw deer once every so often.

Now we're in West Seattle but still get critters in this large cedar in our front yard:

I know the Crest Theater and that library fairly well. I'm just north of Hamlin Park. I've been here just over 26 years and this is the first deer I've seen at home. But I was just thinking about this the other day. Since I've been here I have seen 5 species of woodpecker, Ring Neck pheasant, Great Horned owl, Turkey vulture, Red-Tailed and Cooper's hawks, Kestral, a Bald eagle almost flew into my upstairs window while I was at the desk in front of it (mobbed by crows, it was trying to escape), coyote, rabbit, grey squirrel, TWICE have seen native Douglas's squirrel (the only other times I've seen them have been way out in the woods on hikes), raccoon, opossum, and though I did not see it, in 2009 a black bear wandered through the neighborhood on it's way to the NE towards Woodinville and points beyond. And about 2 years ago a cougar was sighted in the ravine down the hill to the NE of me. This city is wilder than it appears at first glance.

 

[GuyK]

Something has been burrowing under my brick walkway. Every time I fill the hole with stone and stuff, it immediately gets opened up. I've never seen what's doing it, so I set up my camera in time lapse mode. One frame every two seconds, 1/100 sec. After two hours of recording, I got a about ten frames with this guy. He just flashes into view and then disappears, never sitting still for a second. He's not even sharp in this shot. I know he's the perpetrator of the perpetration because he's got his nose right at the hole. Now I need to figure out some better deterrence. My guess is he and his relatives have tunneled right down six feet plus to the drain tile at the base of the foundation.View attachment 3749783

Are you allergic to cats?

 

[kwayde]

Something has been burrowing under my brick walkway. Every time I fill the hole with stone and stuff, it immediately gets opened up. I've never seen what's doing it, so I set up my camera in time lapse mode. One frame every two seconds, 1/100 sec. After two hours of recording, I got a about ten frames with this guy. He just flashes into view and then disappears, never sitting still for a second. He's not even sharp in this shot. I know he's the perpetrator of the perpetration because he's got his nose right at the hole. Now I need to figure out some better deterrence. My guess is he and his relatives have tunneled right down six feet plus to the drain tile at the base of the foundation.View attachment 3749783

Had that problem at my old place. I ended up buying a small critter trap. Caught the little devils and took them for a ride then let them go.

 

[GuyK]

Great Blue herons and some variety of fish on a couple different days this week. I think it's the same fish since it was in the same place. I'll have to go back with a different lens and a polarizing filter to get a better image. It's hard to photograph through surface glare.

 

[JDub]

Garter snake enjoying the warm weather.

 

[GuyK]

Saw an otter this morning for the first time in a couple years.

 

[Frankie's Market]

Douglas squirrel, smaller than the non-native gray squirrel. The Douglas squirrel is native to the Pacific Northwest, feeds on pine cones, in the winter it loves to eat our crab apples, at this time of year Doug and his family will strip our plum trees of fruit ( not cool Doug!) in a couple of days. Don't be like Doug!

 

[GuyK]

View attachment 3815704Douglas squirrel, smaller than the non-native gray squirrel. The Douglas squirrel is native to the Pacific Northwest, feeds on pine cones, in the winter it loves to eat our crab apples, at this time of year Doug and his family will strip our plum trees of fruit ( not cool Doug!) in a couple of days. Don't be like Doug!

I saw a Douglas's squirrel in my yard for the second time in 26 years, almost exactly one year ago. They're welcome to eat anything in my yard. Now, the Eastern Gray squirrels (bushy tailed tree rats), they're another story, and not exactly welcomed here. Fortunately, the new Great Horned owl family seems to have knocked that population down a bit this summer.

 

[Frankie's Market]

I saw a Douglas's squirrel in my yard for the second time in 26 years, almost exactly one year ago. They're welcome to eat anything in my yard. Now, the Eastern Gray squirrels (bushy tailed tree rats), they're another story, and not exactly welcomed here. Fortunately, the new Great Horned owl family seems to have knocked that population down a bit this summer.

Same here, Gray squirrels are not welcome here, they are aggressive and push the Douglas squirrels out.

 

[GuyK]

I'm not a herpetologist, but I think this is a Common Snapping turtle. And because we're in Seattle, it's an unwanted invasive species.

 

[krautmaster]

possible squatch (see inside circle)

 

[Yamaki]

I spied this little guy hanging out in a gate near a project I was working on.

I got a bit of an initial shock seeing that triangular shaped head start to poke out of the lateral support tube.

 

[GuyK]

Difficult to photograph this morning because of the brush I had to look and shoot through, so pics aren't great. The soft spots in the images are brush that's being focused past. C'est la vis.