Cats (our two cats rule the back 40). Occasionally we get a visitor cat who just sits and stares at our cats for hours.

Lots of birds. We do have feeders and birdhouses. The house wrens make themselves at home in a basket on the front porch.

Rabbits, but oddly enough we don't have problems with them eating plants because the cats make sure they keep their distance. Those that don't obey the warning become lunch (for the cats).

Field mice, which often also become lunch.

Snakes. Mostly black snakes and corn snakes, but we've seen the occasional copperhead.

Deer (ugh!). I should send them a bill for the 7' deer fence that only works sometimes.

The occasional groundhog, possum, raccoon, and fox. Last summer, we had an incident with a gray fox who was hanging around in the middle of the day acting strangely. Animal control was called out because we were afraid of rabies, but they said that it was more likely that the fox had distemper and by its behavior, it only had a few more days to live.

The normal birds, squirrels, and 1 possum. I had to have 4-5 raccons removed since they were so distructive and I have a koi pond. I do feed the possum nightly. Last night he had a soft toco from Taco Bell. His favorite food is baked chicken. He does not like pickles, tomatoes or fish.

Lots of birds (we feed year round) even with a 4 lane highway outside our back fence. We have a very mature laurel hedge outside the fence as a buffer, in the summer the California Quail come after the berries and this is also the only area in the garden the Goldfinches will come to a feeder, I guess they like the cover.

Northern Flickers, Pileated, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Chick-a-dees, many different Sparrows, Varied Thrush, Towhee, Bush Tits, Robins, Nuthatch, Rufus and Anna Hummers are some more, I know I have forgotten some. Some of these also nest in the garden.

We use to have Swallows nesting in the garden, one year it would be the Violet Greens another year it would be the Tree Swallows, they don't come anymore, the Barn Swallows were a real nuisance at one time but they have disappeared altogether from this area.
There is a plan in the works to increase the Purple Martins in this area, nest boxes on pilings out on the mud flats have been installed. I believe the population is increasing :o).

Unfortunately we also get Raccoons, Mink, Rabbits and an occasional Hawk up to no good.

I would love to have more Butterflies, the last few years they have almost been non existent :o(.

Annette

I think whatever critters you have are in direct proportion to the statement: "If you build it, they will come."

I never had hummingbirds. I put out a little feeder, and had one. I put out two BIGGER feeders, and now I have about 10 by the time it's time for them all to head south again.

I never had butterflies. I went to the butterfly forum, and I plant anything & everything that I can to attract them. I have lots now.

This year I want to attract more monarchs. I'm making a concerted effort to plant any & all types of milkweed to make my yard attractive to them, as well as adding lots more of their favorite nectar plants.

I have birds according to what feed I put out. Usually it's the 'cheap' stuff, and I get the usual course of finches & chickadees. Last year I did my homework and added an oriole feeder, and I got orioles- imagine that! I change up the seed often- sometimes I'll buy the 'expensive' stuff- fruit & nut mix- and the birds that visit also 'change' according to what's in the feeder.

Mice...we have a 'burn pile' every year...we put all the yard waste & tree branches in it all season, then touch it off sometime during the winter. Mice live there. Hawks monitor it.

We have a compost pile, and the crows are around all year. They'll eat most anything we toss out the back door...including a bag of dead marshmallows.

Leftover nuts from Thanksgiving get put outside for anyone that wants them. They don't last long- chippies & squirrels.

I have no interest in putting evergreens (junipers) in my yard, but they are SUPER for attracting the Cedar Waxwings at my office.

There's only one critter that I'm not fond of, and that's the cowbirds that come first thing in the spring...they come in packs of 10,000 at a time, and clean out the feeders in a matter of hours. And they scare off everyone else, so it's annoying.

I think that's about it around my house.

Forgot the deer. We live in the middle of an apple orchard, and they come feed all winter in herds of 3 or 4 to as many as 30 or so when the snow isn't so deep.

We live on a large acreage in the "back-of-beyond" so there are lots of critters. We feed the birds black oil sunflower seeds year round altho I'm not a birder so don't know their names. We do sometimes have a small woodpecker come to the feeder who doesn't play nice and scares the others off. Amusing to watch. We have squirrels who pick up the seeds the birds drop. They don't get all of them tho so they sprout and we transplant them. I doubt the birds ever get the seed heads tho as the squirrels seem to carry them off even before they look ripe. In this climate I can only grow tomatoes in big pots on the deck (frost danger year round) and have given that up as the squirrel got more than we did. Now that was very annoying!

I let some flowers go to seed in the wild garden near the birdfeeder such as shastas, feverfew, lamb's ears, mallow, and others.

We have some larger gray birds who seem to prefer the fresh compost.

We have large woodpeckers too altho I don't see them in the winter. Also have huge and smaller owls, eagles, and hawks. And bats. Also have ravens and crows altho not as many around now as when we had farm animals.

Every year we get some little butterflies who cover the shasta daisies. They are on their migration further north I think.

I have only seen garter snakes a couple of times.

We see the tracks of wild rabbits but seldom see the animal. Have seen cougar tracks in the snow and heard them but never seen one. Don't want to either. Apparently there are bobcats here but have never seen one. We have black bear and see at least one a year. Last year even saw two sets of cubs which was fun. They were running around just like little kids! Have had the compost ripped apart a couple times in 12 years by a bear. He left a nice big paw print in the black dirt. Mostly they are just passing thru on the way to the lake altho they must eat some mice and berries here. The mice are not much of a problem and we don't have rats. We do have marmots, some years a lot and other years none seen. Had moles once.

Our biggest problem are the deer who love some of my plants but only at certain times of the year. They always eat my Autumn Joy down to the stems just after it's in full bloom and is looking really gorgeous. Kind of annoys me but they have to eat too. They also nibble on my lilacs which annoys me even more but fencing big deer out is too expensive and also unattractive.

We have fox, coyote, and occasionally wolves. We keep our cats in the house but the feral cat we fed has disappeared this winter so he might have been too slow.

There might be other animals but those are the ones I know about.

Deer -- they think they own our place. They sleep in our meadow every night, but my outer garden is successfully deer resistant. The fawns who have been born there in the last few years have no fear of us or our greyhound (she doesn't bark at anything).

Squirrels -- we have baffled them so that they can't get to our bird feeders.

Rabbits -- finally started using a rabbit repellant, I Must Garden, for the cottage garden as they squeeze under the fence.

Birds -- we feed them. I spent this morning taking photos. Set my camera up on the tripod in the garden room and took photos through the windows. Hummingbirds are usually plentiful in the summer.

Butterflies -- Monarch Waystation

Certified Backyard Habitat, too.

Cameron (temporarily writing from a bookstore since our DSL connection will be down until AT&T sends us another modem tomorrow afternoon)

I forgot to mention the hawks and squirrels. There are two different hawks that come around, but I do not know what kind they are. One is large and quite pretty; it is about one ft. from head to tain and has a golden breast.

My squirrels are so well behaved! They never dig up my bulbs or go after the bird feeders (though they will eat the sunflower seeds the birds drop). Maybe it's because I feed them. There are at least three in this neighborhood. Nutmeg, the female, is really bold. She will take food out of your hand if you let her. I give them nuts and even penut-buttered bread. It turns out choosey squirrels choose Jif too.

I read somewhere that putting up a string three inces from the ground will keep deer from the garden because they can't see to jump over it. Is that true? I don't have deer, so I wouldn't know.

Looking out my window right now...the squirrels are usingthe telephone lines as a highway and the sparrows are gathering nesting materials.
CMK

christinmk, I live in the heart of a city too but you'd be surprised at how many critters us city dwellers have. Most are nocturnal and not seen by people. I'm at constant amazement (and saddened) how the critters have adapted to encroachment on to their habitat. I do my best to keep a critter welcome garden.

I have -
Roof
Raccoons
Turkeys
Hawks
Owls
Possums
Common birds
Migratory birds
Anna's Hummingbirds
Deer
Salamanders
Butterflies
Moths
... and all kinds of interesting bugs

I guess you could say I feed them all as my garden seems to attract them *lol*

I also live about 2 minutes from downtown, although I have the benefit of being across the street from the river. I am working on doing more to attract more birds and butterflies, in fact that is at the top of the list this season.

Historically-
Deer: Used to have a few that would show up every other year (when the transparent apple tree put off fruit), but our dog (big black pit-lab mix) seems to have scared them off.

Magpies: Used to border on a pest problem, the late Jupiter (cat) took care of that. They used to wake us up every morning at dawn, one day my DH got up and went outside because they were being particularly obnoxious. About 12 of them had Jupiter pinned on his back and he managed to get free and in the house. Well, he developed a huge abscess that involved a vet visit, drain and about 10 days of being cooped up. Within hours of letting him back out, he had killed a (small) magpie and over the next few weeks 2 or 3 more (that we found). They have since moved down the street, even though he has since passed on.

Hummers: One, every year. Haven't quite found the magic set up yet to attract more. No matter what I do, I will never be able to compete with my MIL. She has HUNDREDS, five large feeders filled twice a day!

Butterflies: Hardly any, working on it!

Hawks & Osprey & Bald Eagles are a pretty common sight.

Great Blue Herons are also common, I've even had one fly as little as 12-15' over my head in my yard!

Owls: This winter is the first time I have heard owls calling in the 4 1/2 years I have lived in this house, but I haven't seen one yet. The first time I heard it was hours after round one of our record breaking snow stopped. I grew up on the Moran Grange and used to see them and hear them frequently. I was soooooo excited!

Geese: Yeah, I live on the river.

Other birds: Starlings, Robins, Finches, Sparrows, Swallows, other common guys & the occasional woodpecker. I don't really know a heck of a lot about birds. It's on my list of things to learn about, and is working it's way up!

Other critters: SKUNKS!!! Raccoons (not many fortunately), mice, marmots (lots in the area, not IN my yard), stray cats (it's ridiculous), a few squirrels. There's some insects, lots of green lacewings (yay!).

The domestic pets are not really conducive to attracting wildlife. I haven't wanted to lure birds to their deaths. Two of my three cats don't hunt much any more in their old age, so it's becoming more feasible to try and provide some food sources and I want to monitor it.

Wow, there are more than I initially thought! I'm sure there are a bunch more I'm not even thinking of (or have noticed even!).

Janelle

Our subdivision backs onto sizeable forest preserve and open areas, so we have a lot of wildlife in the area. I tend to say that it is a squirrel playground, we have so many around! I haven't dared plant any tulips due to them, although I haven't seen them digging in my garden at all, just running around and zooming up and down trees, etc. We also have deer in the neighborhood, tho I haven't seen any in our yard so far, thank goodness. Their route seems to be on the opposite side of the street that connects to the park - we see them in the park on a regular basis, but they stay away from the playground.

I haven't seen any rabbits - but we do have at least one red fox in the area (which may be the reason for the lack of rabbits).

We get a variety of birds - cardinals, robins, goldfinches, etc. No hummingbirds, however. I don't feed them, but a bunch of my neighbors do.

We also get a fair amount of butterflies and bees - I do plant to try and attract them, although some of their favorites are annuals that I don't intend to re-plant this year - cosmos and zinnias. They do love my agastache, especially the bumblebees. I haven't tried to make a complete butterfly or bee garden, however. The agastache is convenient to the veggie garden - I don't know how much that helps, lol.

No, not intentionally. They just help themselves and we don't interfere, other than to feed ourselves.

MeMo

-Janelle, it is nice to hear from you again. It is interestign to compare lists of the wildlife we get considering we live in the same city. I didn't know that there were many blue heron around here. By the way, the Manito spring Plant Sale is being held on June the 13th. I seem to remember you were interested in it...
CMK

HaHa! Yes, I enjoyed hearing about your critters so much I just had to post! I thought it was pretty neat that there were such differences. I live in Peaceful Valley, so it's like a little piece of countryside but I'm less than two miles from City Hall!

Blue Heron were one of the first birds that I ever started watching for. I'm constantly looking for them subconsciously, kind of like when you buy a car and all of a sudden you start seeing them everywhere!

Thanks! I'll have to put that on my calendar! It's the day before my brother's birthday so that will be a nice thing for us to do together.

Janelle

I wouldn't say that we CATER to critters. Except that we do feed the birds - we have two feeders and a couple of bird baths (that I really should clean more often). But we don't get really irate about anything but squirrels. They try to destroy the bird feeders (chewing the sides and making a mess) so we try to discourage them.

Apart from that we do have wild life around here. We ARE way out in the country. There are birds (of course) including owls and "Chuck Will's Widow", which I LOVE! We have all the usual suspects plus gold finches and blue birds - lovely!! And we have a LOT of hummingbirds in summer even though we don't feed them. When you sit on the porch you will probably be investigated by a hummer - they fly up right in front of your face and look at you. It is unnerving to have that sharp beak right at eye level...but we love 'em anyhow.

There are possums and moles. There are little anoles who change color and ride in on my houseplants, which summer outdoors. There is one under my buffet right now that gives the cat fits. I almost sucked it up in the vacuum cleaner on the weekend but it got away in the nick of time!

There are snakes. We had a six footer last summer who was eating a lot of our eggs down at the chicken house. Dh took him two towns over and let him go but he came back. He also emptied his pistol at him but didn't hit anything but the ground. Frankly, I think I would have been more accurate. Most of our snakes are the garden variety and we don't mind those. I say I'd rather have a snake under the deck than mice in my pantry. But there are copperheads and rattlesnakes too and those are not so welcome because our dogs roam the woods. We won't kill any but the poisonous ones.

Out there...somewhere...there are deer. But we haven't seen ANY inside our fence. Maybe it's the dogs. Couldn't tell ya...they just don't come in here.

And there are rabbits. They destroyed my mums year before last. I was highly annoyed. But the dogs have a truce with them for some reason. Rabbits have a pass. Any plants that I value extremely get an extra fence - high and close - so the rabbits won't eat them.

There are butterflies and bees and those are very welcome. Actually ALL the critters are welcome. I can share. I'm not crazy about squash bugs or Japanese beetles but we are all in this together and all God's critters gotta live! I'd like to think that my little patch can sustain more than just me. And a lot of them are right fun to watch.

Bradley, you made much chuckle with your description of your taco-loving possum.

I provide water for the birds and toads, but I don't feed them; however, I have a lot of native trees with berries that are known to be food for birds.

In my backyard I have toads, skinks & lizards, snakes, butterflies, hummingbirds (summer), doves, cardinals, blue jays, owls, lots of snails, fire ants, red ants, lady bugs, and an occasional squirrel, raccoon, rat, and skunk. There are other birds that visit, but I don't know what they are. I sometimes have Mexican bats roosting under my eaves especially in spring. I also have a resident mockingbird who lives in the front garden bed.--I'm getting to like him.

Outside my fence, there sometimes are deer, coyotes, possums, and foxes. I live in an older suburb that was annexed by the city some 30-35 years ago. It was basically "out in the country" before it was annexed, and it still sometimes feels that way.

We live in a rural area and have:

* Mountain lions and bob cats
* Raccoons, rabbits, chipmunks, mice, squirrels
* Turkeys, Hawks, Owls, woodpeckers, hummers, phesant, pigeons, quail, and other birds too numerous to name
* wild pigs
* rattle snakes
* Salamanders, lizards
* butterflies and moths -- saw the coolest hawk moth last year
* and my least favorites are trantulas and scorpions

Just an idea to keep squirrels out of the birdfeeder - DH pounded a tall fence post in the ground and put the feeder on top of it so it's about 5' up. He then put sheet tin around the post so the squirrels can't climb it. They still get seeds as the birds drop lots. DH also put the top of a plastic birdbath on a tall pole so the outdoor cats could no long just grab them when they came to drink or bathe. It just makes me sick to see bird wings on the ground. I'd like a nicer birdbath but prefer to have the birds survive their bath.

Also, a story about those lovely owls (which I enjoy seeing) - one of our indoor/outdoor cats had the top of his head ripped open by some bird of prey, probably an owl. He survived but is now an indoor cat only. He's a big Maine Coon and weighs 15 pounds but some of the owls here are pretty big. The outdoor feral cat we've been feeding for several years has been missing for about a month now so we think "something" got him.

We also have lots of toads, red and carpenter ants, and one year I found a little lizard that had wintered over in a bale of potting soil! Freaked me out at first but he was so cute. I never had any idea we had those so far north but I googled it and apparently they are here.

We're too far north for skunks or raccoons altho a few raccoons have been occasionally seen but wildlife experts think they are pets people have brought from down south who have been let loose. Don't think they survive long here.

We also have grouse and sometimes we have to stop so we don't hit them when they are crossing our country road as they are so slow. Have occasionally seen them near the birdfeeder so they may pick up seeds from the ground.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the bats. Every summer we see a bat almost every night. Our one active hunter (cat) has caught two that we know of.

We had salamanders in our basement a lot in my childhood home. They would show up in the laundry area right inside the (finished) basement door.

luckygal: The cat that had a bloodlust for magpies was my purebred Maine Coon. Since I grew up in the country, only about 50% of our cats lived in to old age, so I became used to them just vanishing.

Janelle

Every-other-day fresh sugar water for the hummers in season, and selected butterfly nectar plants -- there are ample native hosts for the larva. There's plenty of forage in the food chain here for other crutters; water is sometimes in short supply unless we provide it.

Yesterday, I noticed raccoon footprints in the sand all around DH's truck where he parks under the tractor shed. He said 'coons didn't bother much' when I pointed them out.

Many critters come by the tractor shed where he keeps fresh water for whoever needs to drink. I've seen fox scat in the drive. He's also had the electricity turned on for a pump to furnish water for deer and whatever critters roam our property farther up the road, since the pond is dry again. I put the fees that certifying our habitats would cost, toward the electric bill.

Summer will bring out more lizards, gopher turtles and the occasional snake. I hope for rat snakes and hognosed snakes and that rattlesnakes will pass us by.

In the greenhouse, there are anoles and peeper frogs, and I've had lady bugs this winter -- my pest control crew.

Nell

There are bunnies hopping about when they think we can't see them. There's usually toads too.
Hubby has a bird feeder he keeps filled up.
My flowerbed always has bees & butterflies in it.
This is sometimes scary for me as I have found out I am allergic to bee stings (have an epi-pen now). But I know bees are good and necessary so I just try to avoid them. Wasps, otoh, are the enemy.
(Btw, anyone know what time of the bees are least active?)

A bullfrog was awake and splashing in the stream today. He'd better take cover again as snow is predicted for Sunday. The temporary temps of 68 degrees can sometimes fool all of us!

Cameron

My garden and house caters first and mostly for my dog - he's the most pampered pet you can imagine :-) This includes his own doghouse in the garage (that he hardly ever uses, but is used by the roaming cats in the neighborhood, much to Timmy's distress), an enclosed front porch with doggie door, basket, rug and private sofa, free roaming of the garden, two more beds inside the house, etc. You get the picture - he's the king of it all :-)

As for wildlife, since we live on the foothills of a small mountain range and part of a natural park, we do get quite a lot of critters. We have a birdbath that is used not only by the birds but also by the bees and wasps, of which there are gazillions (we are in a honey producing area). Birds in the garden include sparrows, robins in Fall and Winter, loads of blackbirds, gold finches and a multitude of others I can't name. Last Saturday I saw my first swallow of the year. Above us on the hill we can frequently spot hawks, of which there are some colonies in the park. At night owls are a frequent visitor and we can hear their calls many times. Cuckoos are also a familiar sound as soon as Spring is here. I have a lot of evergreens in the garden and this provides excellent nesting sites for the birds. Preferred are the bay trees, laurustinus and the conifers. I'm constantly finding nests whenever I prune anything.

I had a resident bat for about a year, sleeping in a closed garden umbrella we had on the patio. Unfortunately I had to remove the umbrella because the wasps decided it was a good place to nest, so it had to go. I was already stung twice, didn't want to be stung whenever I opened the umbrella! Still, bats visit frequently and it's common to see one or two flying around the garden at dusk.

Some years we have glow worms in the Spring, which I absolutely love. It's magical to see them hovering around the garden at night. Other assorted critters include geckos, small lizzards, snakes, mice (yuk!), crickets, locusts and the occasional hedgehog.

In terms of specifically catering for critters, I keep the birdbath going all year (we don't have hard freezes) and try to plant things I know will be used by the wildlife. This includes berry shrubs like pyracantha which are a major hit with birds in the cold Winter months. I also have a weeping mulberry tree and let its production go to the birds, who have a feast with the fruits. The compost pile is also a good feeding ground and there's a little bird that spends hours there hunting for the small fruit flies that proliferate inside the pile.

Butterflies are catered for with things like lantana, mock orange and buddleia. I need to add more larval food to cater for butterflies, but haven't come quite up to it yet.

I don't use any sort of chemicals in the garden, don't even spray the roses, and this of course translates into a welcome sign for critters, even if it means that slugs and snails are huge, sigh... I don't use a slingshot to get rid of them, like Edna does ;-), but I do throw them onto a neighbooring field that is kept wild. All in all, I consider a privilege to have wildlife in the garden and have been slowly educating myself to encourage it as much as possible.

Eduarda