Sounds like a Yeti to me.

Hi Azura, I have the book Birds of Denver and the Front Range that was given to me by my brother who owns a Wild Bird Supply store in Illinois, but I find I use my original book far more often. Sometimes I use the Denver book, but its more for a cross reference to compare pictures. My "main" book is A Guide to Field Identification Birds of North America by Golden Press, New York and I like the pictures and the way its set up better. That book was also given to me by my brother when I first started bird watching (now called birdingbut I still prefer bird watching!) There are other Colorado birding books available, but I dont know anything about them. Heres a list of the Most Frequently Seen Birds of the Denver Area which can be really helpful when youre first starting to identify them and trying to eliminate all the ones in the "complete" bird book that arent even a possibility. The ones youll see most often around here are House Sparrows (not really sparrows!), House Finches, Black-capped Chickadees, Pigeons & Doves, Blackbirds, Blue Jays, several different Juncos when theyre migrating thru in spring and fall (and sometimes in winter), and, especially if you put suet out, Flickers, Hairy Woodpeckers, and Downy Woodpeckers. Oh, and Robins, of courseI have them all winter. If you put out some feeders youll see a lot more birds than if you just watch for them, but I recommend staying away from millet or "all purpose" bird seed as it just attracts dozens and dozens of House Sparrows that will keep many other birds away. I recommend safflower seed, thistle seed, black oil sunflower seed and suet. That will get you at least all of the birds I mentioned above (except the House Sparrows), and many more, but just not as many of each. I love to watch the chickadees, but still havent attracted much of a following at this house, which is only a couple miles away from my last house where I had lots of them. But little by little theyre showing up. If you put the feeders near deciduous trees, thatll help even more. Heres a link to the best online bird identification site Ive found. Click on "all birds." AND, if youve never heard of it before, heres a link to Bird Cam where you can watch Eagles, Falcons, Kestrels, Ospreys, and Owls laying their eggs and raising their young. Its fascinating to check in on them every now and then. Check out the Eagle Cam. They should be laying their eggs pretty soon. Just in case all you see when you go there is an empty nest, remember that these are live cams, and the Eagles come and go! Enjoy our feathered relatives, Skybird (without the feathers!)

I vote Coyote. Based on your location. Coyotes do quite well in suburbs where small mamals are plentiful. They are pretty elusive unless they have babies nearby. You shouldnt really see them during the day. If you lived further south, I would have said red wolf. They are similar in size to coyote, with a snout that looks very close to what your photo has. We are lucky enough to have some here nearby (National Forest just a few miles down the road), and they are on the way to recovery. Of course we also get bear and deer. If you have bird feeders near that brush, you are likely to see more wildlife like Mr Coyote - easy pickins. The birds eat and spill seed, small mamals come to eat the seed, and house cat comes to eat small mamals. Mr Coyote is doing what comes natural. If he gets close enough to get photos - I personally would relocate the feeders (if you have them)further out and or avoid throwing food for the birds. Enjoy him from a distance but don't encourage him.

WOW that's serious. I can smell the rat nests from *here*, pesky. ugh ugh ugh...how the city refuses to do anything about that public hazard is beyond me. Maybe they're waiting for a pet to get bitten by rabid vermin?? (sarcasm). How can they ignore anything that looks like those photos? I just don't get it. I wish you fast and effective luck in your pursuing it through the channels you know of. And sable, glad to spread the word of "Rascal" -- he also wrote a book called "Raccoons are the Brightest People" which was in heavy rotation on my nightstand with the first-mentioned book. http://www.amazon.com/Raccoons-Brightest-People-Sterling-North/dp/052518788X REALLY worth reading along with "Rascal"; like the nonfiction version of it. And re starlings: we have had an ongoing battle with them as they nest *right above* our front door every year, leaving poop-trails down our walk and driveway, across the court to one particular tree they always fly to...just constantly embarrassing, as no matter how often we cleaned the walk and the door, they'd mess it up again as soon as we were done. We tried putting metal mesh to block the entrance they'd been using--they pecked right through it, even though our contractor said it had always stopped starlings before. I hated starlings until I found a book called "Arnie the Darling Starling" at Goodwill. I do agree with the criticisms of the author's care for the bird, but I will never look down my nose at starlings again (although of course I'll keep my mouth closed when I'm looking up at them : )). (actually, I'm happy that that one negative [and correct, IMO] reviewer mentioned Linda Johns, because I now search or her books every time I go to GW. ONE of these days, one of these days...) Here is a link that might be useful: O.K., they're cute too : )