Backyard Families

Quote of the day:
"We love those who know the worst of us and don't turn their faces away."
--Walker Percy

We seem to have three new families in our backyard.

For the last few weeks a “teenage” hawk has been attempting to stake out territory just below our home in the canyon. We have heard his cries from early in the morning until the wee hours of the night.

He regularly swoops between our house and our neighbor’s. I’ve never seen him catch anything, but I know there is plenty for him to catch.

The neighborhood crows regularly try to chase him off. But he hangs in there. He’s likely a red-tail, and a neighbor down the street spotted a high-up nest which may have been his home.

I have seen skunks in our yard from time to time, and I saw a whole family cross our street a couple months ago. I haven’t seen any recently, but I sure have smelled them. A skunk is spraying three or four times a week, and it’s close to our house. So there may be a family of them close by.

Another animal I see only occasionally is coyotes, down in our canyon. But over the last several weeks, we have often heard them just a few yards from our house. (Yes, our cats stay indoors.)

Sometimes we hear them in the afternoon, more often at dusk, and sometimes in the middle of the night, piercing the silence.

The other night at about 8 o’clock there was a loud and distinct family conversation going on. We heard a mother’s barking and the high-pitched howling of pups. Maybe they were learning table manners.

From all this, you might think we live out in the country somewhere. But we’re in the city of San Diego, close to San Diego State University.