My wife and I live only 35 miles east of San Francisco, but sometimes I feel as if when we moved here four years ago, we moved to Wild Kingdom. The photo above is one my wife took in our backyard in June 2021. Deer are very prevalent around these parts and we see them all the time.
It’s not unusual to see coyotes in yards and on the streets. We need to keep our eyes out for them when we’re walking with our dog, but so far, the coyotes we’ve run across seem pretty skittish.
Of course, there are those pesky scavengers, raccoons, that seem to be looking for scraps around, and sometimes in, our trash bins.
I have no personal experiences with bobcats or mountain lions, but a few of my neighbors swear they’ve seen them wandering through their yards.
And making appearances from beneath the surface of the earth are gophers and moles. The moles I don’t mind so much. Yes, they drill holes in the surface, but dine primarily on grubs and other bug thingies in the ground. But gophers feast on the roots of shrubs and plants, killing them.
And finally, at the other end of the “wild” spectrum who inhabit our yard:
This, That, and the Other 
I live in alberta, Canada and we have the same wildlife. Our deer look different though !!
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A good thing about icy winters is that giant spiders can’t survive in it. I’d freak if I saw one here like that. Beautiful shot of the deer!
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We have lizards everywhere here in Florida. I am getting used to the one that lives in my mailbox, as he used to scare me all the time when I opened the lid, but now I expect him to be there.
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Ever run across any alligators or crocodiles?
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I did see one alligator in Florida, but that was before I lived here. I saw it on a golf course in the Everglades.
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A magnificent shot of the deer — how nice to have him visit!
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Thanks.
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Great deer portrait! We usually see them at night while trying desperately to swerve our car to avoid a collision. Deer don’t get the whole “watch out for cars” thing.
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Hence, the expression “Like a deer in the headlights.”
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Wow!
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For some reason I thought you were in Oregon 😀. 35mi E of SF is near Livermore, where my grandfather was born. His father had a farm that is now a neighborhood. Knew the Wente brothers next door.
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I’m in Danville, about 3-4 towns north of Livermore.
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Gophers sound like some blokes I know – eats, roots, shoots and leaves 😂
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Good old Lynne Truss!
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That’s an amazing list of animals to encounter. And i wonder if you will one day ultimately see one of those mountain lions.
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I wouldn’t mind seeing one…from a safe distance, that it.
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You can keep the tarantula
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You sure do get a lot of wildlife where you live!
Pretty neat!
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