wild animals

WDP — Wild Critters Large and Small

Fandango19 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Do you ever see wild animals?
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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:

WDP — Wild Animals

Fandango33 Comments

Do you ever see wild animals?

My wife and I live in a suburb of San Francisco on the East Bay, and we see a lot of animals around our home and neighborhood. Are they “wild animals” like lions and tigers and bears, oh my? Well, they’re not domesticated, that’s for sure. They live in the wild in and around our area and they roam free and forage for food.

These animals include deer, like the one in the picture above taken in our backyard. We also have seen coyotes, raccoons, and even tarantula spiders on our property. But it’s the moles and gophers who bother me the most because they eat our plants and destroy our lawns. And trying to rid our yard of them is like playing real-life whack-a-mole.

Supposedly there are bobcats and mountain lions in the hills around our neighborhood, but I’ve yet to come across any.

Written for today’s WordPress Daily Prompt. I thought I’d give this new WordPress prompt, which started to appear on the Home screen on the iOS app maybe a few weeks ago, a try. The prompt questions seem somewhat unimaginative, but so is my response to today’s prompt. Sorry about that.