A few minutes ago, literally, I was watching a deer ramble through my backyard. In New Hampshire, the deer is on the pinnacle of our very interesting, and diverse, wildlife.
Our yard has a variety of features that attract the local animal populace. First off, we have a good-sized yard (one or more acres). We live along a river, so the back end of our yard meets the river. The other feature is that we have a mini-farm of fifteen chickens (to read about their latest antics/cuteness, read Spring Is Here) that tend to attract many unwanted guests.
We have many guests due to the first two features (yard size, river, etc…). For example, that deer was probably ambling up from the river. More than once we have had random animals run through our yard. Once, my mom was reading on the back deck, and a coyote sprinted through the yard without a glance, stopped, and ran to the river. We believe that the coyote dens are down there. Also, because of our yard size, we will have flocks of up to twenty turkeys fly though or land in our yard throughout the spring, summer, and fall. Last summer, some beavers who lived in dams in our river or in offshooting streams, entered our yard and chewed down a nice line of trees marking our property and providing privacy in a few, quick nights. We also have a very large chipmunk, squirrel, and raccoon population. Finally, we have occasional visits from deer and other large animals.
The chickens also have a habit of attracting unwarranted guests. Once, last summer a fox broke in and killed one chickens and had another in its jaws when my parents scared it off (the jaw-trapped chicken lived). Just today, we also had the neighbor’s dog in the yard, who was amused with them, but not aggressive. Finally, a variety of other animals (small children included) enter and are highly interested in the chickens.
So, no matter how diverse some yards may be, if I might say so, we have an incredibly diverse yard!
