What animals are in your yard or local region?

[Alien J]

I found out why my suet has been disappearing so quickly.







And here's his partners in crime.

And here's some other backyard friends.

 

[Alien J]

Tonight, well, about 3 o'clock this morning, I was sitting out on the back deck in the dark. I was hoping to see a meteorite or two from the Perseids meteor shower despite the full moon. I heard movement in the woods and saw flashlights. Then I heard a gunshot. A few seconds later I heard something on my deck. I waved at the light to make it come on and sitting not two feet away from me, on my deck railing was this fellow. Excuse the poor quality, but I had only my tablet with me and it's quite awkward to take pictures with and I wanted to take it quickly! I accidentally had the flash on during the first pic. Poor racoon. Blinded by the light.

 

[Alien J]

I'm posting this here bcuz it seems like the most appropriate place for it. Can anybody tell me what this is? It certainly looks like it was intentionally constructed by something. I can't imagine what. It's about 7 inches long, 4 inches deep and about as big around as a baseball. I've been watching it since 7/25/25. I'm tempted to open it...

Oops...guess I'm time traveling to 2028!

 

[Sparkles99]

I’d leave it be & watch it closely. Whatever is in it might die if it’s cut open.

Sorry about the gunshots!

 

[zoo mom]

Looks like a wasp nest. Leave it alone.

 

[Alien J]

Looks like a wasp nest. Leave it alone.

There's never any bugs near it. Just spider webs. All the wasps around here make paper nest, except the mud daubers, who make mud nests! I won't put myself in harms way, as much as possible anyways!

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

There's never any bugs near it. Just spider webs. All the wasps around here make paper nest, except the mud daubers, who make mud nests! I won't put myself in harms way, as much as possible anyways!

Could it be a luna moth cocoon? I try to image search it and that was the closest thing it kind of looked like. Yours looks bigger than a normal one though, so I'm not sure. One of my neighbors saw a luna moth about a week ago. I'd have to do more research but maybe this is time of year they normal come out? I forget your current location but maybe research they cocoon around you

 

[Alien J]

Could it be a luna moth cocoon? I try to image search it and that was the closest thing it kind of looked like. Yours looks bigger than a normal one though, so I'm not sure. One of my neighbors saw a luna moth about a week ago. I'd have to do more research but maybe this is time of year they normal come out? I forget your current location but maybe research they cocoon around you

As a very amateur moth/butterfly researcher and raiser (I've raised a Giant Leopard Moth, a tussock moth, an American White Ermine to name a few) I can say we definitely have Luna Moths. I don't know of any moths or butterflies that use leaves as their cocoon. I know that some caterpillars over winter in rolled up leaves, but this is far too big. I've been doing Google lens searches, too. The one thing I found that looks almost identical is a weaver ants nest. However, we don't have weaver ants in the US (I'm in West Virginia now). They're from Australia. I'm a regular contributor to iNaturalist, so I'm going to message one of the bug guys and see what they know!

Here's a Luna Moth I spotted on the side of my house last summer.

 

[Shezbug]

I'm posting this here bcuz it seems like the most appropriate place for it. Can anybody tell me what this is? It certainly looks like it was intentionally constructed by something. I can't imagine what. It's about 7 inches long, 4 inches deep and about as big around as a baseball. I've been watching it since 7/25/25. I'm tempted to open it...
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Oops...guess I'm time traveling to 2028! View attachment 462993
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Some of our orb weaver spiders make little leaf houses for their egg sacks, I wonder if this is a similar thing.

 

[Finchbreed]

Wasps and ants are the only things that seem right for that size and style of nest.

 

[Alien J]

Wasps and ants are the only things that seem right for that size and style of nest.

I agree. But when I searched for any spiders or ants or wasps/bees/hornets that use leaves for a nest I came up empty.

 

[flyzipper]

I think these are wild turkeys of some sort.

Another group had already crossed before I snapped this pic...

(a most excellent cross guard, but I'm glad this road wasn't busy)​

 

[Alien J]

I think these are wild turkeys of some sort.

Another group had already crossed before I snapped this pic...

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(a most excellent cross guard, but I'm glad this road wasn't busy)​

That's exactly what they are..wild turkeys. We have a lot of them around here in southern WV. I've almost hit a couple driving up and down the mountain. Where are you?

 

[flyzipper]

Where are you?

I'm in southern Ontario, Canada.

They seem to have a fairly large range, and I'm close to their northern limit according to the map shown here.

 

[Sparkles99]

We have them in Ottawa too. They certainly are adaptable!

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Some recent wildlife pictures

I believe this is an eastern banded hover fly. I'm not familiar with them at all. This little guy looked like a tiny dragon fly. Hoverflies are pollinators according Google. This one appeared to being doing that when I saw them. Other species resemble bees.



A rabbit.

A groundhog


And I pretty sure this a green heron. I wish I could get closer to get a better pictures

This where I see them at couple times

 

[Finchbreed]

I saw part of the local flock of Correllas (about 200/300 birds in the group I saw) in a paddock on my way out to the tip on Sunday.
Sorry no pics - was not looking for them.

 

[Emma&pico]

This little guy keeps coming into my garden for crab apples falling off tree I know when he’s in garden because my dog goes mental

 

[Shezbug]

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This little guy keeps coming into my garden for crab apples falling off tree I know when he’s in garden because my dog goes mental

Hehehe just delightful!

 

[MommyBird]

It's that time of year again, the elk just started bugling. This guy was so noisy all night and this morning.
He knows he is so handsome and I think he is very used to posing for pictures! I just popped my head out the front door to take these.
the first pic he was bugling, then he saw the camera and started posing.