Ah I wish my possum had stuck around. I fed him part of my ham sandwich, well I left it on the floor for him, and it (and he) were gone the next morning, never to return. As far as unwelcome furry guests, I do seek to control the numbers of the mice in the barn, via passive/aggressive predator measures, despite the fact that I consider white-footed field mice to be one of the cutest creatures on the planet. Cats, snakes, and weasels are all enlistees in my rodent control volunteer army. There are only a few specimens of wildlife that I relentlessly exterminate. Hornets and wasps top the list and I shoot for a zero population of these stinging insects every summer. They are followed by the fleas, ticks, and internal parasites that seek to victimize myself and my family, both two and four footed. These particular unwelcome insects, arachnids, and nematodes are the only pests to provoke me into chemical warfare, as my general rule is to shun pesticides and herbicides. If my house sparrows had left with the blackbirds, they would have been no problem. Not that my blackbirds leave, they are full time residents each summer. I would have welcomed raptor sparrow predation, but I've never seen a hawk touch ground here, although they frequently circle overhead above the woods. They probably have a collective memory of being shot at unfortunately, and seek prey in distant meadows away from human habitation. The rapidly multiplying plague of house sparrows that descended on my property, bent on colonization, was something I liken to a swarm of locusts. I've never seen anything like it. I now understand why they have so many enemies, and I am generally very tolerant of invasive wildlife. I even like feral pigeons! Then there are those pests who have bested me. I sadly concede defeat to the red lily beetle. (RIP my beautiful tiger lilies.) I also see no reasonable means of eradicating the Japanese beetles, now that they have found me. Instead I am planting only those flowers this year that seemed to have resistance to the beetles last year, and giving up on those that were a sought after delicacy. Thankfully my perennials are among those with resistance, so none have become casualties. Turning to non-pests, "my" pair of tufted titmice are checking out last year's nest in my barn, thinking about refurbishing it I guess. They're next to impossible to photograph, as is their partially hidden nest up in the rafters.

Florida still has plenty of wildlife but you don't usually see it driving down a parkway. The panthers, which are the same as mountain lions, are making a comeback as well as bears. When I was a kid you seldom heard of a bear sighting in Florida...........now I hear of them quiet often. Bobcats, foxes racoons, possums, otters, etc are plentiful. You just have to know where to find them. They are after all wild animals. Sea turtles can be seen around June and July coming to shore to lay their eggs and it is nothing to see Dolphin and Manatees if you are out in a boat. My parents live outside a town called Clewiston, on the southern side of Lake Okeechobee, and they have gators, bobcats, racoons, otters, foxes, gopher tortoises, and a wide variety of bird species which visit their property. I even have racoons, possums, about 5 different type lizards (including Knight Anoles and Iguanas), geckos, a gopher tortoise, numerous types of birds including a red tail hawk and parrots, numerous species of butterflys and I live in town. I have a half acre lot as does everyone on my street so we're not crammed up like some towns but it is still in town. Unfortunately development is crowding our wildlife, but thanks to individuals making their property small refuges and conservation groups do their part we do still have quite a lot of wildlife here.

Well if that turns out to be the culprit, I give dees the credit, since she (or he) first suggested the nighthawk. I'm not very good at onomatopoeia: TCHK or "peent" . I have enough trouble spelling actual words, much less trying spell random strange animal noises. :-) I remember watching nighthawks in Ohio, climbing into the sky and diving, over and over, late into the night until all you could see was the two white bands on their wings. I also remember seeing (and hearing them) in Minnesota when we lived there. I don't think they live in Virginia near me.

It doesnt sound like the Carolina Wren or the mockingbird unless its repeating a louder and more annoying call than the ones on the website lol. I would love it, if it was Screech Owls. I have seen them around but they sound different than what we are hearing. We also have a big nesting of Barred Owls in the woods behind us and they get in the trees by our bedroom window and put up a racket of monkey noises some nights. They are hysterical. I hear them some afternoons too in the little meadow area between us and a neighbor. It sounds closest to a cardinal mating call but it consistently has only two "notes"/syllables to the call with the second being a slightly higher pitch than the first. It waits a few seconds before repeating it. It Doesn't sound like a typical chirpy songbird or a crow or hawk etc. It does sound a little astroid or video gameish but it is loud! I guess I should get some binoculars so I can try and see it. Maybe some small ones w a camera in them so I can take a photo and then I can look it up. This has been going on for several years every spring so its probably a mating call of something lol. I will have to look at reviews on amazon lol.