Saturday, May 15, 2021

Like a Disney movie

Over the past six months or so the boys and I have become consistent twice-daily walkers. We take George out very early in the morning and then again after dark for a lap or two around the half mile circle that is our little neighborhood. Partly because of the timing, but maybe in part because we're actively looking, we see so much wildlife lately.


Yesterday I snapped this photo of our neighborhood deer, who are almost tame. (I apologize for the crappy picture; it was my cell phone camera). There were actually three but I didn't notice that until they started to saunter away. George stood stock still and just looked at them, as he's learned to do. We encounter these same three deer (a large female and two smaller animals of undetermined sex) almost every day and we always stop for awhile and just quietly look at each other.  Last night we saw the large one standing in this same yard, close to the road, a big black silhouette under the street lights. Sometimes they'll even lower their heads and graze in our presence! It feels like such a privilege to have them around and to have their trust.

We've been seeing lots of rabbits, too. One of our neighbors has a large shady yard sloping downwards in the back towards a small pond, and the whole grassy hill is covered in dandelions. It's really pretty and that's the yard where we usually spot rabbits. We saw one over there just this morning, in fact. Afterwards we saw a pair of bluebirds flitting around some power lines and pine trees and the male was the most spectacular shade of blue I've ever seen. 

It's also that time of year when we see large turtles all around the neighborhood. The other night we saw one crossing the road and I swear it's shell was at least 12 inches in diameter, obviously an older turtle. It's been a couple of weeks since we've seen an owl, but one night early this week we heard two of them making crazy jungle noises in a tall tree. Sometimes I'll wake up at night and if my bedroom window is cracked I'll hear them calling to each other.

Add to all this the cardinals nesting in our pomegranate tree and the little Carolina Wrens nesting in the attic vent slates on our roof, and as I told Gregg this morning, "It's like living in a Disney movie right now!" I like it a lot. Who knew buying a house so close to the creek would be so perfect for nature lovers like us? We feel very fortunate.


39 comments:

  1. I have once seen a cardinal on one of my visits to the US - what beautiful birds they are.

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    1. Pat, they are indeed beautiful, but so commonplace that many people take no notice of them. Isn't that a shame?

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    2. I asked a fellow worker in Florida what those red birds are called, and he thought for a while and said, "We call them 'red birds'."

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  2. A female cardinal just took off from my feeder and now a male has taken her place. I know what you mean about the Disney movie! I feel that way here sometimes. We are both very, very lucky aren't we?

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  3. How wonderful! I hope those cardinals are doing well.

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    1. Mama cardinal sits on the nest every day. I haven't checked again for eggs, but there may be some by now.

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  4. I envy you all that wildlife in your neighbourhood. All we get round here is birds and squirrels. Yesterday we had a squirrel in our back garden, which is most unusual because they usually prefer somewhere with plenty of shrubs and vegetation where they can hide in an emergency. There's nowhere to hide in our garden!

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    1. I like squirrels a lot! They're so quirky and playful that they're fun to watch.

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  5. Lovely! I have a resident squirrel (ours are the red kind) here at the house, and many more in the neighbourhood. Most of the birds I see and hear here are blackbirds, sparrows, doves, black tits, magpies, crows and occasionally a robin, woodpeckers and jays. Out on the fields, there are nearly always birds of prey to spot (buzzards, kestrels and peregrine falcons) as well as herons and larks. This time of year, the early evenings are perfect for hares. For our highly industrialised area, I think that is pretty amazing!
    At O.K.‘s, many storks are nesting on top of tall buildings, and can be seen searching the meadows for food. There are also pheasants around, often heard but rarely seen.

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    1. Birds of prey and hares....sounds like a landscape after my own heart. I also know how beautiful your country is from the pictures you share taken during your hikes.

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  6. Replies
    1. We love animals and so it's really great for us!

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  7. Here because of the prolonged lockdown some animals began to get closer to urban centers, ones that had never done so before.

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    1. That's been a surprising and often nice part of lockdowns...one of the few good things about them.

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  8. Turtles are great! Deer? We are almost overrun by them. The same thing goes for bunnies. And aren't cardinals so pretty!!

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    1. Deer are very plentiful here, too. I'm relieved that "our" deer are surrounded by a couple of miles of residential area and so no one can shoot at them.

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  9. My first reaction to the title was to sit up and wonder 'which movie"? I was relieved it wasn't one of the morbid ones.

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    1. I wish it was like the Beast's castle in Beauty and the Beast and that furniture and items in each room could come to life and clean themselves!

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  10. I think it's wonderful you have so much wildlife. Animals seem bolder here simply because we haven't been out bothering them for the last year.

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    1. That was the best part of the initial lockdowns last year, the animals being emboldened!

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  11. It is wonderful to have lots of wildlife around! We have a large number of squirrels and birds but no deer. I love watching them all and we always feed the birds. I'm so happy you two found a house in a location you enjoy!

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    1. We sadly made the decision not to put up bird feeders this spring. There was a problem with infection in wild birds and those in the know asked the public not to put out feeders until late April to help control the spread, and by then we were spending money in the garden. Since money is tight we decided to sit this summer out and maybe start feeding again in the fall. We do, however, have a hummingbird feeder up which is great fun.

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  12. You are so lucky. We have plenty of Deer here, but they are very wary of humans. Also Billy runs after them. Your new home is proving to be a good-un.

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    1. It IS proving to be a good-un! Thanks for stopping by, Cro.

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  13. I know you never expected this nature bonus when you bought the house. So yes - you are indeed very lucky. Most English people do not live in detached houses. We tend to be joined up to our neighbours so I am a little envious of the fact that your house is a separate unit with significant space around it. I would love that.

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    1. I wouldn't like being joined to my neighbors, even the ones I like.

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  14. I love watching for the critters that visit my yard. Right now we have a rabbit's nest in the front lawn so we mow around it to protect the babies we think are in there. Cardinals and hummingbirds are always a treat to spot. We live in a suburban subdivision so it is a bonus to find these near us.

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    1. We have hummingbirds too! And a rabbit's nest....how nice is that! Lucky you.

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  15. Are we not both so lucky to each live in such wonderful places.

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    1. Your home landscape is dramatic and gorgeous!

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  16. It's great that you get so much wildlife there. I never tire of seeing animals in our garden, even here in the middle of the city. We saw a fox creeping around just yesterday morning!

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  17. You are fortunate indeed; all that nature on your doorstep - it is joy in life and an education in itself for young and old alike. By turtles, do you mean what in the UK we'd call tortoises, or do you mean true fresh water turtles? I think it must be the latter.

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  18. stinko
    Blogger is not letting me leave comments.

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    1. But the damn cryptocurrency spam comments keep getting through! Of course they WOULD.

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  19. You are living in your very own Disney movie. After destructive fires a few months ago at the edge of our town, we are now seeing many coyotes in our neighborhood, which is new to us here, and I love coyotes.

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    1. Coyotes are considered invasive pests here and I imagine a lot of them end up shot. :( People are afraid of them hurting pets although I haven't heard of that happening. Probably the real trouble is the native wildlife they eat, as they're NOT natives to SC.

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