Wildlife In The Suburbs

[Shapotomous]

This is why i make sure i can run faster than at least 1 other member of the foursome whenever i play! 

[chisag]

1 hour ago, sixcat said:

One more for the archives. This was taken in the parking lot of Cross Creek Country Club in Mount Airy, North Carolina in 2018. 

 

 

...  Most don't know Mt Airy is the Mayberry in the Andy of Mayberry show. My high school girlfriend was born and raised there before moving to Greensboro and knew the "Sherif without a gun" as well Floyd the Barnber and traveling to Pilot Mountain that is of course Mt Pilot in the show. LOL I just watched an episode yesterday! 

[sixcat]

24 minutes ago, chisag said:

Most don't know Mt Airy is the Mayberry in the Andy of Mayberry show. My high school girlfriend was born and raised there before moving to Greensboro and knew the "Sherif without a gun" as well Floyd the Barnber and traveling to Pilot Mountain that is of course Mt Pilot in the show. LOL I just watched an episode yesterday! 

I live just across the Virginia state line from Mount Airy. Maybe 20 minutes from downtown. Grew up here, left at 17, married a local girl and moved back at 34. I'd live in Mount Airy if I had a choice in the matter. My wife is currently 9 years shy of Virginia State Retirement Plan kicking in so, it's not quite an option just yet. But will be in a few years.

Some top quality golf in this area as well. My home club has reciprocal privileges with Pilot Knob Country Club in Pilot Mountain. Play there quite often during the winter months. It's always 15 degrees warmer down the mountain than it is up here. Mount Airy is only 20 minutes away but it's down nearly 3,000 feet in elevation, which is why commuting is out of the question. Fancy Gap Mountain is no joke!!!

[bens197]

Today on the golf course. Couple of babies.

[chisag]

3 minutes ago, bens197 said:

Today on the golf course. Couple of babies.

 

... How can anyone not be in awe of nature? As I mentioned before, I see plenty of coyotes on courses here and occasionally see a pack traveling together but that is rare. When I saw a family of 2 babies with their Mom and Dad kinda frolicking on the 18th hole, over to 10 and then back to 18, my pard and I just sat their for 10 minutes in the 105* heat taking it in before teeing off. 

[Philip_R]

16 hours ago, PMookie said:

And WHY does anyone live there?! Good gracious.

Well if you talk to anyone here they will tell you its the best and most beautiful place in the world.  Where else in the world can you work as an engineer and see elephants from the office, stand guard with a 375H&H Magnum while the maintenance crew service an aerator, have 4.5m Mambas guarding pumps and motors from thieves, wake up at night from lions roaring next to the river, or hippo bulls fighting. 

And then have 4 awesome golf courses in a 60km radius to play on.  

• Skukuza Golf Club which is an unfenced course inside the Kruger park.
• Leopard Creek where the Alfred Dunhill Championship is played every year.
• Malelane golf club
• Kambaku Golf Club

I dont think a few elephants or lions will scare me away from this place easily. 

[Siamese Moose]

On 7/6/2022 at 11:58 AM, sixcat said:

They weigh between 150 and 200 pounds fully grown. 

Can we all agree to keep this a secret? Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources still claim the Eastern Cougar (Mountain Lion) has been extinct since the 1920's. North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky all disagree. So do the farmers in southwest Virginia that have game-camera footage. These two relaxing in the trees were less than 50 miles south of the Virginia state line. Hard to imagine them being so prevalent that close to Virginia, within the same mountain range, and not be in Virginia. Virginia Tech has even proven the existence (with photos) of Mountain Lions as far north as Gravel Springs Gap 50 miles west of Washington DC. Again, same mountain range. 

My state can be completely ridiculous sometimes. 

Some 25-30 years ago I was the editor of a newsletter for a bike racing team. I was contacted by a guy with a group "tracking the return of the mountain lion to the eastern USA". He wanted me to ask our trail riders to look out for a list of signs and report them. Even then, they had pictures and other evidence of lions in the southwest Ohio area. They didn't want any publicity about it, because the gernal public would have freaked out. But as he said, "They've been here for at least 20 years (and this was 25 years ago), and if the public isn't seeing them it's because they've learned how to live unseen."

[chisag]

12 hours ago, Philip_R said:

Well if you talk to anyone here they will tell you its the best and most beautiful place in the world.  Where else in the world can you work as an engineer and see elephants from the office, stand guard with a 375H&H Magnum while the maintenance crew service an aerator, have 4.5m Mambas guarding pumps and motors from thieves, wake up at night from lions roaring next to the river, or hippo bulls fighting. 

I dont think a few elephants or lions will scare me away from this place easily. 

 

... Are you telling us you would not be just as happy in Brooklyn or Manhattan with millions of people quite literally living on top of each other and the only animals are dogs on leashes with owners carrying plastic poop bags?  Just having worked there in April and riding in my transportation car to and from the set, I was amazed that one building/house is attached to the next for m-i-l-e-s without a break. I have no idea how anyone could live like that but obviously millions wouldn't have it any other way. 

[sixcat]

3 hours ago, Siamese Moose said:

Some 25-30 years ago I was the editor of a newsletter for a bike racing team. I was contacted by a guy with a group "tracking the return of the mountain lion to the eastern USA". He wanted me to ask our trail riders to look out for a list of signs and report them. Even then, they had pictures and other evidence of lions in the southwest Ohio area. They didn't want any publicity about it, because the gernal public would have freaked out. But as he said, "They've been here for at least 20 years (and this was 25 years ago), and if the public isn't seeing them it's because they've learned how to live unseen."

I literally grew up in the Jefferson National Forest (Google Maps search "Iron Mountain Horse Camp Virginia"). We had a bit of everything considering the remote nature of things and the fact that it was about 80% undisturbed wilderness. We were seeing mountain lions, black bear, cottonmouth,  and a whole host of things the state of Virginia still classifies as not being found in Virginia all these years later. I haven't lived there since 1992!!!

[Philip_R]

12 hours ago, chisag said:

 

... Are you telling us you would not be just as happy in Brooklyn or Manhattan with millions of people quite literally living on top of each other and the only animals are dogs on leashes with owners carrying plastic poop bags?  Just having worked there in April and riding in my transportation car to and from the set, I was amazed that one building/house is attached to the next for m-i-l-e-s without a break. I have no idea how anyone could live like that but obviously millions wouldn't have it any other way. 

In my view, those poor people living in the cities and tell everyone they are happy don't know any better.  I used to live in Johannesburg for a couple of years, but got out as soon as I could find a decent job in a small town. 

[berkeleybob]

When I was living in the Bay Area during one drought year, deer made their way out of the hills to look for food in among neighborhoods further in towns than usual. Then it was apparent that mountain lions were following their food, the deer. People were told to keep their small dogs inside during that summer. I remember meeting mean raccoons but luckily no mountain lions.

[Rickp]

On 7/6/2022 at 11:58 AM, sixcat said:

They weigh between 150 and 200 pounds fully grown. 

Can we all agree to keep this a secret? Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources still claim the Eastern Cougar (Mountain Lion) has been extinct since the 1920's. North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky all disagree. So do the farmers in southwest Virginia that have game-camera footage. These two relaxing in the trees were less than 50 miles south of the Virginia state line. Hard to imagine them being so prevalent that close to Virginia, within the same mountain range, and not be in Virginia. Virginia Tech has even proven the existence (with photos) of Mountain Lions as far north as Gravel Springs Gap 50 miles west of Washington DC. Again, same mountain range. 

My state can be completely ridiculous sometimes. 

We have Sandhill Cranes always walking around.  

[Shapotomous]

Almost ran into this guy tonight.  He was about 10' from me as I came across that bridge.  I drove up to the tee box and got the picture from there, about 25 yards from him.

[Shapotomous]

I think i woke up in Australia this morning...

 

[Rickp]

12 minutes ago, Shapotomous said:

I think i woke up in Australia this morning...

 

I’ve seen something similar in FL, big & ugly!

[MattF]

2 hours ago, Shapotomous said:

I think i woke up in Australia this morning...

 

Nope, ours are bigger...with teeth.

[azstu324]

Not as exciting as some of the other critters on here but this guy seemed to be following us around the course. He was WAY to comfortable and just keeping about a 15' distance from most of us. We'd whistle and yell but he just looked at like "why you guys getting all crazy?" 

These are pics from 3 different holes 

We had this guy living in our mesquite for about a month a little while back. Was nice because it kept all of the little birds from pecking out our summer grass seed. 

He left when our neighbors got a giant owl in their tree

And these guys were all over the course at Poppy Hill. One of the things we miss most about living in PG CA

[Robha]

On 9/11/2022 at 11:27 PM, azstu324 said:

We had this guy living in our mesquite for about a month a little while back. Was nice because it kept all of the little birds from pecking out our summer grass seed. 

He left when our neighbors got a giant owl in their tree

Nice photos!  Did you have a camera setup on a tree for him, or do you just 've got a really good zoom on yours? Quality is really crisp!
Recently got my favorite Haflinger Slippers from https://gritroutdoors.com/haflinger/ stolen by either racoon or some fox, been busy entire weekend installing cameras to see what kind of wildlife visitors I get at night

Edited September 19, 2022 by Robha

[azstu324]

4 hours ago, Robha said:

Nice photos!  Did you have a camera setup on a tree for him, or do you just 've got a really good zoom on yours? Quality is really crisp!

Ha thanks! It's my Kodak pixpro Astro "intro to photography" camera that bought a couple years ago. 

It's ok.. not great. I wish that I would have just spent the $ for something nicer with more manual adjustments. The auto adjustments on this can be a bit temperamental at times. 

It does have a pretty crazy zoom though which is great for stuff like this. 

 

[Robha]

23 hours ago, azstu324 said:

It does have a pretty crazy zoom though which is great for stuff like this.

Yep, that's why I was confused

[chisag]

On 9/11/2022 at 1:27 PM, azstu324 said:

We had this guy living in our mesquite for about a month a little while back. Was nice because it kept all of the little birds from pecking out our summer grass seed. 

He left when our neighbors got a giant owl in their tree

 

 

 

... Just awesome photo's. I have always felt Hawks are my spirit animal. My son agrees and gave me this Hawk art for my birthday. 

[Rickp]

Had this guy sitting in my neighbors light post.  He’s been hanging around for  a week or so.

[sirchunksalot]

I was grilling out and dumped my ash pot into a garbage can next to the carport and heard a squeal. I about jumped on the roof, I've never had that happen. Looked in the garbage can and saw this little fella.

I'm not a fan of rats, but I'm also not a fan of letting critters suffer if I can help it. I took the can down next to the woods and turned it over so the little fella could escape into the woods. 

[Shapotomous]

@sirchunksalot

Much like the terminator... He'll be back!  .  With his friends!

[chisag]

53 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

I'm not a fan of rats, but I'm also not a fan of letting critters suffer if I can help it. I took the can down next to the woods and turned it over so the little fella could escape into the woods. 

 

... We all share this planet together my friend. Well done! 

[sirchunksalot]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

 

... We all share this planet together my friend. Well done! 

I agree, I don't want the guy to get in my house but didn't want to see it suffer. I have a pretty soft spot for animals.