Hi everyone ! Great thread ! we live next to a horse farm and we have a hay pasture in front of our front yard and woods behind us ... lots of critters here , esp the year round resident squirrels who wreak havoc wherever they go ...we have lots of birds year round , we feed them sunflower seeds and suet , cardinals, wrends, chickadees, titmouses, doves, blue jays , juncos, woodpeckers, sparrows, even bluebirds become spring residents in the nestboxes we have in the front yard and down by the garden ... they do their best to eat all the bugs they can find ... we had a wren build her nest on a shelf in our garage last year ... and we even have a pileated woodpecker that visits now and then ... and every so often we hear an owl hoot in the middle of the night , it always wakes us up ... so very cool to hear when they are so close to the house , especially when another owl hoots back in reply . We also have a hawk who hangs out just off our driveway , we think she is hunting for mice in the hay pasture . Of course we also have deer here year round but they seem to show up most often when the garden is close to harvest time ... they like to eat the green beans the day before I go down to pick them .We also have bats we see in the summer at dusk flying around hopefully eating as many mosquitoes as they can get . Last spring we had baby skunks in a den in the hay pasture , momma skunk met an untimely death in the road just past the hay pasture ... a rescue group came and picked up the babies ... they sure were cute . We also have raccoons who show up at night , we think they and the deer are responsible for raiding the birdfeeders on occasion . In the summer we have many butterflies on the butterfly bush and flowers and hummingbirds on their feeder . I can't remember what it is called , I did look it up when I first saw it on the butterfly bush, it looks like a mutant cross between a bumblebee and a hummingbird . I love to get up close and take pictures, they don't seem to mind me with my camera, even the bumblebees pose for me LOL , I like to go out in the evening and see them sleeping on the blossoms . The hummers love to perch up high on our swamp magnolia tree , in the redbud tree or atop the highest branch of one of the fir trees overlooking the front yard . Its fun to watch the male hummers fight off other hummers trying to feed . Never a lack of wildlife around here ;-) Iris PS Several years ago at the house we lived in before we moved here we had baby squirrels born in the tree in our front yard, it was so much fun to see them come down the tree and eat the birdseed and nuts we put out and run back up the tree when momma gave the its time to go home signal LOL ... I also had a fox run right past ( 1 ft away from me ) when I was in the backyard working in the flower bed.

Actually we are fat because of the fat fairy. Remember when you put your tooth under the pillow and got a quarter? Or nickel? Well, that winged (^(^((&&*&%$%$ takes the teeth and grows them into fat cells. When you are sleeping happily with all your adult teeth she sneaks in and glues it to your butt and thighs, and anywhere else she can. And uh, I kind of roll around in the dirt too, it sure makes me happy to be all dirty in the garden! Tally Ho!

Usually it is owls that will decapitate birds and other animals. The males this time of year will use the heads of prey to entice the affections of a female; they breed early. A Great-Horned Owl will very easily capture and decapitate a hawk, especially if said hawk has come back to a nest they may have used previously and found it inhabited by an owl. The owl will defend that nest (remember, they begin courting and breeding very early in the season, in some cases starting in late December) from what it believes to be an intruder (the hawk) .....smaller owl species might also decapitate smaller birds, but grackles are certainly possible culprits as well :)

I have a pocket of oak trees in my front yard that is home to many creatures. We had a hawk in our tree one year and that bird was such a messy, wasteful eater- dead birds and squirrels everywhere. I put up an eagle decoy and moved it around but it didn’t do much. The hawks moved to the neighbor across the street the next year. And then to the neighbor next door after that. IDK if it’s the same bird or maybe there’s more than one bird/family. They do flybys and hunt in my yard but they dont live in it anymore. I thoroughly enjoy watching this little microcosm of forest life...most times. The kids were yelling one day to come look at the window. A heron was in my little backyard pond and was eating my fish like it was a buffet.