wildlife in our midst

[J.A. Veil]

It is not surprising to see deer around the Severn River drainage area, particularly at dusk or after dark. We occasionally see foxes here too. However I was quite surprised to look out my kitchen window about 3:45 this afternoon and see a deer about 20 feet away from the house at thte edge of the woods behind the house. A few seconds after that I saw a fox just 15 feet to the left of the deer. I took some photos. Some did not come out because of rain drops on the window. But the photos below (full scale and zoomed in on each animal) show that local wildlife are nearby.

By the way, I live in the Carriage Hills community about a mile north of Bestgate Rd off of Generals Hwy. We also frequently get raccoons on our deck.

As I was typing this message in at 4:15, my wife called up and said she just saw two foxes run into the woods and a raccoon jump from the deck to a tree branch. The animals are getting bold today.

[J.A. Veil]

Five minutes after making the earlier post, I heard rustling about 30 feet up in cherry tree. The raccoon that my wife had seen was sitting up there eating unripe cherries. I was amazed that the slender branches near the top of the tree could support its weight.

[27 sailfish]

Cool pictures :thumbup:. My guess is there is no place left to run to - so the critters are just dealing with us loud humans :D.

[TDLewis]

Everything comes out after the rain - it's like salad dressing on all the greens!

I'd steer clear of any fox or raccoon that you see during the day though..

[MMcDo]

Yeah,
Guess with all of the trees and bushes, they are comfortable. Had a doe ten feet from my house last weekend in Herald Harbour. In previous years I had a doe and fawn, then large Buck in the fall/winter. I think when the black berries come out, they try to track them down, cause that is when I usually see them. We have houses all around us, but they still show up when it is quiet. Watch out for the Box turtles too.
Mike

[HJS]

Kool pics. Also seems like MD is producing a bumper crop of rabbits this year. Kinda surprising, I've always heard that a wet May/June is not good for rabbit reproduction.

[TDLewis]

Here's a real crazy thing for you - yesterday there was a bobwhite quail whistling from inside the neighborhood! I guess there must be a wild covey somewhere over here....either that or some other bird hunter just released his training birds.

[Megabyte]

I invite all of the wildlife into my back yard except the raccoons.
They steal food from my squirrel feeder and spread nasty diseases too.

I invite the raccoons... only if they like to be targets for a .22 short.

[Polar Rock]

good post John,

I had a similar experience while at my Dad's place in NC. I posted pics on the Photography Thread. Check these Foxy Photos out:

http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/photography-talk/266325-lake-side-fox-den.html

[J.A. Veil]

Those are great photos. I am using a 5+ year old, 3 megapixel camera. It takes decent pictures, is water resistant, and fits in a shirt pocket, but it does not have the optics or resolution to take high quality images.

Twelve years ago, when I was more interested in wildlife photography as a hobby, I lost two camera bodies and a bunch of lenses in a boating accident in Tampa Bay. I was not driving and no one was hurt, but the accident was a traumatic event for several of the persons onboard. After that, I decided to go for automatic, basic cameras.