Wildlife Report (aka: our morning walk)

Every morning I walk my dog in our neighborhood. We have numerous trails and the neighborhood is up against a state park, so we also have lots of wildlife. Most of which has become accustomed to my dog and I (and the other "walkers" in our neighborhood).

We walk with our "Map My Walk" app running on my phone, so we can keep track of our route and the mileage. Usually it is about a mile each morning. Sometimes more, if it is nice out and quiet.

This morning we saw two sets of two donkeys (they are wild in our area) - each was a mother donkey and her young offspring. They crop the neighborhood lawns and nibble on edible flowers.

We also often see rabbits, and the younger ones sometimes run in front of my dog - as if they were playing "catch me if you can". Fortunately my dog does not have a strong prey drive - and he sees them all as odd cats, I think. Since we have cats at home and have fostered small dogs in the past, he is used to smaller animals being around.

We also always see many different birds, the local crows all know us (I feed them regularly at the house, and they sometimes leave small gifts)...and there are a pair of red-tailed hawks that follow us sometimes when we are in the green trails. I am sure we are flushing game for them. Sometimes we spot them diving.

We have seen coyotes, raccoons, skunks, possum and a bob cat on our walks. We respect their space and we always go in opposite directions. And we've been told by the local park ranger that there is a mountain lion in our area, as well.

So we have christened our blog posts about our walks as "The Wildlife Report" which is really meant to be a little funny since we live in suburbia, but truly the wild life is always around us, even if we don't always see it.

Here's hoping you all have a pleasant day wherever you are. And maybe stop for a moment to see if you can spot something wild and living in your neighborhood.