Critter Sightings

We've seen lots of interesting critters already in the few weeks that we've been here. Some I've already mentioned:

Rabbits, which seem to be quite abundant and not afraid to get close to the house (hmm... this could prove to be a challenge if we decide to try to start a garden)

Toads, which are big and fat and fun to catch...

A couple that I wasn't able to get a picture of:

Snakes - Courtney spied one slithering across the driveway -- my guess was it was 3-4 feet long and I didn't see (or hear) a rattle, but then I didn't really want to get too close to it myself. (We have been told there are rattlesnakes around here.)

Coyotes (we think, anyway) -- We saw a larger creature running across the field as we drove home one day. At first, Brian thought it was a fox, but I wondered if it was in the big cat family. My friend who lives nearby said it was probably a coyote as they are common in this area.

And some new friends:

Turtles- This one was scared and had pulled its head into its shell. Courtney again was the one to spot this guy in the front yard.

Baby Birds - We spotted a bird's nest on top of a speaker that's mounted up in the corner of our back patio. (The birds fly in and out frequently and have been known to also fly into our bedroom window repeatedly in the morning!) A few days ago we noticed that there were baby birds in the nest -- I think we've counted three (although it's hard to see for sure).

And the most recent visitor, Flying Ants. These guys showed up all over our back patio and one section of the roof a few days ago. They would occasionally fall off the roof and then on the patio they would be running around and grouping in these clusters:

They were gone the next day, but have come back a couple of times. At first we didn't know what they were, but Brian caught a couple so we have been trying to do research online.

We think they are maybe carpenter ants and from what I've been able to deduce, this is their mating season, when usually after a rain the winged males and potential queens come out in large numbers to mate. We have seen quite a few on one spot on the roof, so we need to check it out more closely and find out if they have a nest up there (I really hope not).

I will be glad to see these last ones go! I have found several dead ones in the house, but fortunately they seem to be staying outside for the most part.

Who will show up next?