Backyard Mammalwatching
I recently was just walking around my backyard and admiring the birds and plants. Then with my constant 24/7 mammalwatching mind thinking what backyard mammals do we get. So I made a list from all of the backyards I have lived in. Currently we have only seen giant pouched rats in my backyard in Harare. We do occasionally get bats but they don’t roost anywhere near us. But in my last house in Virginia we got a lot more. We had white-tailed deer, red foxes, chipmunks, grey squirrels, a white footed mouse that lived in our fence, and eastern cottontails. But it got me wondering what other backyard mammals do other mammal watchers get from around the world. I know how large it is and wanted to see the most interesting species and perhaps the ones that people have only seen once.
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7 Comments
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EllenLinton
Hi Moses! I currently live in Nevada and we’ve had Little Brown Bat, Western Grey Squirrel, California Ground Squirrel, and Raccoon in my backyard plus a Black Bear and Bobcat in our neighborhood. When I lived in South Africa, we had Cape Bushbuck, Vervet Monkey, Large Grey Mongoose, Cape Grysbok, Grey Rhebok, and Four-striped Grass Mouse (Rhabdomys Pumilio). We also had a decent view of the ocean and I saw Bottlenose Dolphins a few times.
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Alan D
Cool topic Moses. As it so happens, we keep a yard list of mammals, herps, and birds. We have lived in 3 locations.
Sacramento area (15 years, 4 species): Gray Fox (once), Douglas Squirrel, Mule Deer, Striped Skunk. So, not much.Tucson area (9 years, 19 species): Desert Cottontail, Hooded Skunk, Rock Squirrel, Northern Racoon, Coyote, Round-tailed Ground Squirrel, Gray Fox, Kangaroo Rat (Banner tailed), Bobcat, White-throated Woodrat, Big Brown Bat, Pocket Mouse (Bailey’s), Western Hog-nosed Skunk, Harris’s Antelope Squirrel, White-tailed Deer, Norway Rat, Collard Peccary (Javelina), Little Brown Myotis, Pallid Bat
Prescott Az (1 year, 15 species): Desert Cottontail, Hooded Skunk, Rock Squirrel, Coyote, Gray Fox, Bobcat, Western Hog-nosed Skunk, Mule Deer, Collard Peccary (Javelina), Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Pallid Bat, Cliff Chipmunk, Hooded Skunk, Mountain Lion (trail cam), Ringtail (Trail cam), Striped skunk.
So far, our Arizona yard wildlife has been spectacular and totally justifies the move. 🙂
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Ian Thompson
Current backyard mammal list in Victoria, BC:
1. Orca
2. Gray Whale
3. Minke Whale
4. Harbour Porpoise
5. Northern (Steller’s) Sea Lion
6. California Sea Lion
7. River Otter
8. Harbour Seal
9. Northern Raccoon
10. Columbian Black-tailed Deer (Mule Deer)
11. Black Rat
12. American Deer Mouse
13. Eastern Gray Squirrel (introduced)
14. Eastern Cottontail (introduced)
15. Humpback Whale
16. American Mink
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Warren Gilson
Hey Moses. Not counting feral introduced species, here in Australia I’ve had short-beaked echidna, common brushtail possum, Eastern Grey kangaroo, little red flying fox and lesser long-eared bat in my backyard. I now live two blocks from the ocean where I can see bottlenose dolphin and migrating humpback whales!