As I’ve mentioned in other posts, we live at the edge of a nature preserve in Rancho Vistoso. One of the delights of living here is seeing animals in their environment whenever we walk through the neighborhood and preserve. Occasionally, wild things show up in our yard (both front and back) or at our fence. We live with bobcats, deer, coyotes, ground squirrels, geckos, and javelina as our neighbors. A mountain lion and black bear have been spotted in other areas of Vistoso but we have not seen them in our neighborhood. We also have snakes (I just saw a king snake at our patio door), tarantulas, and scorpions on occasion. The bird families are many and include road runners, Gamble quail, mockingbirds, redtail and Harris hawks, mourning doves, white wing doves, cardinals, cactus wrens, and smaller birds I haven’t identified. Sometimes it feels like we’re in the cage as animals peer at us through the fence. The deer especially look over at us as if to say “Ahh, poor humans, closed in by fences while we have the whole Sonoran Desert to roam.”
Ken and I sit on our back patio every morning with our coffee/tea and watch the birds. I put Desert Blend birdseed atop the fence posts and they greedily scarf it down scattering a goodly amount on the ground. The small birds come first, then the doves. White-wing doves are bullies shooing other birds away until a quail shows up, then they back off. Quails reign. When a hawk flies in all the birds scatter. Once in a while a hawk will catch a dove and sit on top of a fence post to have breakfast with us.
Last week as we sat with our morning beverage, we were visited by a javelina I dubbed Miss Piggy. She was so friendly. She came up to the fence and allowed me to take several pictures of her. I took videos of her, too. In one her snout is moving back and forth as she surveyed me and my camera. She snuffled a couple of times, I think in acceptance. (I posted a video below, I hope it works.) She scrounged around for leftover seed on the ground. After about twenty minutes she went on her way.
The next morning, she was back. She came right up to the fence and stuck her snout in to say, “Hi, I’m back”. I went over to see her and found she was accompanied by her family. I suspect she is a teenager and she brought along the parents who were both much bigger and two little brothers who were much smaller. The photo I have of them isn’t very clear. They were more standoffish. Only Miss Piggy came up to the fence again to say Hi. I am constantly in awe of the natural world that surrounds us.
We have great weather so we’re able to enjoy being outside in all seasons. I walk between three and seven miles daily depending on the heat and the time I get started. Every season brings its own delights with wildflowers, blooming cacti, and animals. I’m looking forward to monsoon season which is about to begin. The intoxicating smells of the desert during rainstorms cannot be equaled.
Delightful! I was drinking my cup of coffee while I read this, and the videos worked, so it was like having a cup of coffee with you and enjoying your essay about the wildlife, which I could picture. I spent some large chunks in Tucson when I was younger.
Thank you Vickie. It’s a wonderful world out there. So happy you can join me.