<p>I’ve lived in my house in the suburbs for 20 years and I’ve become quite accustomed to deer trying to feast on my rhodys during the winter. Thank you deer netting. You’ll also see an occasional coyote, fox or quail.</p>
<p>But this season has been different. We’ve had flying squirrels in the attic. Thank you Havahart traps.</p>
<p>Chipmunks digging under the garage. Thank you chipmunk swimming pools - they really do work. (DH 30 chipmunks 0) </p>
<p>And big thank you to my DH who takes this all in stride.</p>
<p>But this morning takes the cake. 26 turkeys in the backyard. I think I may have seen one or two over the years, but 26?!? It is almost dark now and I can see some of them outlined high in the trees.</p>
<p>If you’re in Massachusetts, as I assume, I am surprised you haven’t had turkeys before; at least inland, there are flocks of them. They’ve never done us any harm, and they don’t hang out long. Our best wildlife was a young moose…down here in NY, they’re talking about a black bear in Armonk. I had to assure someone that black bears are really pretty herbivorous, and coyote are more potentially dangerous to her yappy dog!</p>
<p>Flocks of turkeys are common around here. I had a turkey fly into my picture window; hit so hard it died. Shook the house so that I thought a tree branch had fallen on it. I’ll have to google chipmunk swimming pools, they are a nuisance since our kitty died. I saw a pheasant wandering through the yard once. I think PA may stock them for hunting, this one was a good bit off course.</p>
<p>I am in the suburbs of MPLS/St Paul and we have wild turkeys, foxes, stupid deer who eat my plants, coyotes, turtles, toads in the hot tub, raccoons, a gazillion squirrels , mice trying to sneak in the house and a neighbor just caught a picture of a cougar on a trail cam at their backyard waterfall! :eek: What’s up with all of that?!?!?</p>
<p>We actually feed the turkeys cracked corn. They are fascinating to watch, we’ve only got a dozen that come around daily. Squirrels, a lot of rabbits, groundhogs (did you know they whistle?), a pair of black bears- mother and baby, bats from the attic, porcupines, coyotes, foxes, skunks, and yesterday a 'possum. No moose in our yard, yet. Though there have been reports of them nearby.</p>
<p>We love seeing the occassional turkey but 26 at one time is crazy. I bet your town does a turkey shoot this fall. The turkeys in my area hold up traffic because everyone takes pictures of them in the middle of the street. We have a family of six deer that live in my backyard. They seem to enjoy our flower beds with the thick mulch. I find them sleeping every morning and a couple have given birth on our property.</p>
<p>A few years ago a developer clear-cut and bulldozed hundreds of acres of woods about a mile away from us, in order to build a shopping mall and some condos next to the highway. The wildlife, of course, had no alternative but to flee into the neighboring areas. Many animals seemed disoriented; there was a family of black bears walking down our street in the middle of the day, looking like refugees. At night there were noisy raccoon fights as the oldtimers fought off the newcomers, and in the mornings my dogs would find raccoon carcasses in the woods across the street. The deer population exploded and ruined our gardens. Now things have sort of settled down though there are still too many hungry deer; we have given up on planting anything except daffodils, which deer won’t eat. </p>
<p>The foxes, skunks, hawks, possums, turkeys, owls, pileated woodpeckers, beavers, hawks, bats, black snakes, turtles, and so on that live in my rural neighborhood enrich my life no end. I almost always see something interesting if I go out for a walk early in the morning.</p>
<p>momma-three, there’s no hunting allowed in our town and that’s part of the problem. It’s not uncommon to see 6-8 deer stroll down the street in the middle of the day. Car-deer accidents happen frequently. Lyme disease cases have quadrupled in our county in less than 10 years and our state has one of the highest rates of Lyme disease in the country.</p>
<p>And seeing all of those turkeys in my backyard was just plain creepy. :)</p>
<p>That thread is what inspired me to try the chipmunk swimming pool. My DH has had great success and we have a much quieter yard. Well, we did - until the turkeys moved in.</p>
<p>I would get professionals to critter proof your attic. A couple of years ago some raccoons decided they liked ours- they lifted the edge of soffits where they met the roof to get in/out. Then momma had her nest and quite the playground- they chewed on insulation, etc (they hadn’t chewed on any wires, but could have). Our home insurance paid for things. The critter pro used wasp spray in the garage space near the house attic space to deter them from trying that route until they found a new house to bother- apparently they dislike the smell.</p>
<p>Saw a bunch of turkeys once last year in backyard and got them on camera crossing the cul de sac, only time in 17 years. What surprised me last summer was mamma duck and her 9 ducklings in the back yard (so close to her they were her shadow)- we are at least 2 miles from any bodies of water- she must have used the neighbor’s small backyard pond for drinking as they couldn’t have reached any birdbaths. The dirty birds are mourning doves- they like to sit on the birdbath edge facing out, especially in winter (to keep warm?), and foul the water.</p>
<p>Have to remember to look for front yard deer crossing the driveway when coming home at night- it would have been terrible to wreck the car mere feet from the garage door. I fence in some plants and the bird feeders to keep the deer away. Squirrels have free reign-at least they have to work for the sunflower seeds. Placing feeders the 10 or whatever feet from any trees is impossible in the back yard.</p>
<p>It is a site to see a hawk take care of a hapless rabbit or smaller bird from your dinette. The birds disappear when the hawk decides to cruise the neighborhood for a few days. Red foxes are shy- only have seen one twice, one winter sunning on the back retaining wall.</p>
<p>Startled what I think was an opposum just outside the back garage door when took dog out one night. Chipmunks are cute here- but we keep garage doors closed to prevent critters from raiding the birdseed supply, had to chase a chipmunk out one year.</p>
<p>We live in the city- 1/2 mile from a middle school, 1 mile from a HS the other direction. The area was woods until the unfarmable hills were eventually developed. Daffodils are the common spring flower around here, plus some hyacinths- hard to protect most others from deer and rabbits.</p>