Bears? I would be afraid to step outside if I knew there were bears out. I'm talking about those big ones.

I would love to meet the members here! I actually wish to one day visit Carolyn. She seems awesome.

What about me?

Bears aren't too bad. They mostly just knock over your garbage cans. But they have bear proof bins.

Carolyn is the bomb. Neener neener neener!

did you first meet Carolyn when you were getting a bird from her, or was it before that?

Just when I got Coyote. She sent me a link to this site and the rest is history. Y'all are stuck with me now!

I get bobcats in my back yard sometimes. It's cute when they just hang around for a few minutes and leave, but it's a nuisance when they start hanging around a lot. That's when I grab a rake and chase them out of the yard lol. What scares me though is the idea that a mountain lion might show up one of these days. A few years ago there was actually one roaming around in our general area, and there are a lot of them about 4 miles down the road in Sabino Canyon.

Bobcat mother and kitten in the back yard drinking from the water bowl I put out for birds:


Here's a gila monster in the back yard. I only get those about once every 7 years. They're poisonous so I don't get too close while I'm taking pictures.

I'm a reptile enthusiast, but those things are freaky.

I can't believe you have gila monster sightings! I've lived here my entire life and have never seen one out in the desert! And I even once witnessed a roadrunner battle and kill a rattlesnake, but I've never seen a gila monster outside of the zoo. I'm so jealous!

Well I've never seen a roadrunner fight a rattlesnake so I'm jealous of you! Well maybe. That sounds like it would be scary to watch, I'd be worried about the roadrunner.

We live in different parts of town so we get a different mix of wildlife. I'm in the foothills where there's a lot more natural vegetation than there is in the city. The city is probably too landscaped for gila monsters. They're not common in my area either, I think I've seen 4 of them in 25 years.

It's weird to watch a gila monster move around. Most of the lizards out here are fast. A gila monster is slow and walks with the same type of motion that a turtle uses. I found a video about them on youtube, and the walking speed at the start of the video is the fastest that I've ever seen them move. That's why I'm brave enough to take pictures of them - if he decided to come at me I could easily outrun him!