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Wildlife
Photos
The following are pictures that I took of wildlife at my
house.
Click on the thumbnail images to see full sized JPEG
pictures.
The pictures were taken with an Apple QuickTake 200
digital camera (and as you can see I'm not a good
photographer), transferred to hard disk and touched up
(mostly the pictures were lightened) using the QuickTake
software, thumbnails were created using Adobe PhotoShop
4.0.1, and finally the web pages were created using Adobe
PageMill 2.0 and Claris Home Page 3.0.
Birds
Birds seen around the property include bluejays, quail,
owls (who can be heard regularly at night), and hawks (who
nest in the eucalyptus tree behind the property, and fly
around the hilltops).
Deer
This is a recent picture of the deer (a family that has
grown over the years) near the back door.
A number of different animals live in harmony - here is
the neighbor's cat (partially obscued) and one of the deer.
See below for a closeup of a deer and
peacock.
Every year, there are a couple more new baby deer that
appear around the property. They grow up fast, losing their
spots, and they run fast! Here is a picture of one of last
year's fawn.
Lizards
Lizards/geckos are quite common, and often like to
sunbathe on the decking. One was even sneaky enough to come
into the home through a crack, and I put the lizard in this
jar to move the lizard outside.
Peafowl
This particular peacock is not afraid of people, and
likes to sit on the deck railing. The peacock just turned up
one day in Nov 1998, and decided to stay (the peafowl leave
and return for periods at a time).
The peacock and other animals interact quite closely
sometimes - I have seen squirrels and birds "play" with the
peacock. Here is a photo of the peacock and a deer together,
taken from the kitchen window.
Around mating season, several (about 5) female peahen
visit the peacock. This is a particularly trying time for
everyone - the peacock makes very loud cries (usually
whenever he hears cars, fire engines/ambulances/police,
aircraft, dogs, noisy parties next door), and he likes to
chase the peahen around the decking (and the peahen often
jump onto the roof to escape the peacock), and when the
peacock sees his reflection in the big picture window, he
attacks the window (thinking it is a rival male) and
probably hurts himself (although 2 mins later, he is doing
the same thing). The photo shows the peacock and some of the
peahen looking for food in the back yard.
When the peacock first appeared at the house, I wasn't
even sure it was a male - it didn't seem to have the
traditional long colored tail feathers. Eventually the tail
feathers grew and the peacock would often spread its tail
feathers. It was usually hard to take a photo of this.
After mating season (and I have been told, twice a year),
the peacock sheds all of its long colored tail feathers,
which eventually grow back. The peacock dropped the feathers
all over the place, and the more "downy" feathers are still
around. I collected approx. 75 long feathers, and 25 shorter
feathers from the one peacock, as shown.
Here is the peacock closer up, just before losing all his
tail feathers.
Possums
Normally possums can be heard at night (they are
nocturnal creatures) in the trees. But one day, two possums
( at least I think it is a possum in the picture - it has a
long tail like a rat, and the tail looks like it has been
used to swing from tree branches) came out to play during
the day.
Raccoons
Occasionally raccoons can be seen skulking around the
house - one even walked in through the open back door,
probably attracted by the smell of food.
Snakes
Snakes can be found in the hot summer months in long
grass. In July 1997 I had to kill a snake that got caught
under my garage roller door. It was about 4-5 feet in
length, and I believe it was a non-venomous common brown
garter snake.
Squirrels
Squirrels are very common, and like to run around on the
deck railing. This particular squirrel decided to sunbathe
on the roof outside a bedroom window.
Snow/Hail
While it hasn't snowed at this altitude yet (it was very
close for a few days at the end of Jan 2002), there have
been a few hailstorms.
Others...
Other animals seen/heard include hedgehogs. Further up
Mt. Hamilton, apparently wild pigs live in the bush.
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