Canadian Critters

We have the smallest back yard that I've ever lived with.  It's tiny!  But, it has one very big saving grace.  Our home backs up to a nature preserve.  Our back fence is a woven wire fence that allows nature and all its wildlife to visit us!

Since we moved in this past spring, we've experienced a constant array of "friends" that visit our back yard.  We get the usual stray cats and dogs, snakes, and mice.  But it was the uniquely "Canadian" critters that we enjoyed the most.

Our first experience came with the squirrels.  We have all kinds of squirrels that I'd never seen before!  I've named the guy below Grey-Back.  I'm not sure if he is suppose to look this way or if he just had a very bad winter!

Then we have brown squirrels that are very similar to the kind that we have in the South.  But, some do seem to have much more gray than brown.

And then there are the black squirrels!  The one and only animal I saw during our house hunting trip in the winter was a black squirrel sitting in the stark white snow.   You see more of these guys than any other kind.  Some even have a bit of brown mixed in.

We have several rabbits, mamas and babies.  Baby never wants to stick around for a picture!


And a wood chuck!  I originally thought he was a beaver!  Peek-a-boo!  I see you!

We have birds of all kinds.  Geese are everywhere……everywhere!!!!  Then, as the end of fall approached, it was a mass exodus as honking, winged creatures continued on what felt like a never ending parade over our house as they headed south for the winter.   Also, we're just over a mile from Lake Huron, so we get a lot of sea gulls, especially on trash day!  We get the occasional duck.  And oh my, the turkeys!  We have three that frequent our yard.  I've gotten up several mornings and they would all be perched side-by-side on top of the fence.  It's almost like they're waiting for Brenna to put out the feed!  Which is of course why we have all these "friends"!  Because Brenna feeds them all!

And finally we have the chipmunks, who have been the friendliest and most fun by far!  I could sit on the back porch all day and watch them chase the squirrels and stuff their little cheeks.  We were never able to get them to eat out of our hand, but they would come onto the back porch rug and eat beside us. By the end of the summer, they would come to the back door and peek in to see if anyone would come out and feed them. 

All these guys have definitely made our back-yard fun so far.  As of now, we're covered in snow and only the squirrels have come out to play.  Everyone is hunkering down for the winter.