Of course we live with our backs to a wilderness mountainside with hundreds of acres of critter habitat. So we have animals of all sorts among and around us. Some are welcome and some are not…
Copperheads
This spring Larry found a snake skin in the wood pile. It turned out to be a copperhead that had shed its skin. There was the large, wedge-shaped head and, if you opened the mouth, you could see the holes where the two large front fangs were. What was cool was the skin left a perfect 3-D impression of inside the mouth, and you could see the elongated poison sacs behind each hole where the fangs were. Copperheads are all around us. I’ve almost grabbed one on two different occasions when weeding in the undergrowth around berries. Luckily, they were lethargic in the cool weather and headed the other way! But those are the only two we’ve seen in our 3 years here. The copperheads here are colored very different than the ones we’re used to. These don’t show the bright copper colors and light browns and light tans. They are darker brown and the heads are a darker, muted copper. Hard to see around all the black and dark gray rocks.
Various Assorted “Good” Snakes
Of course we have “Big Bubba,” an impressive/scary 8+ ft. black racer, various smaller black racers, black rat snakes and the occasional black snake. We like to see these guys around– as they eat rodents and are even known to eat copperheads. And I found a little ring necked snake under one of my buckets one day. Cute little guy.
Bears
Larry happened to go to the door one day in early September and saw a black bear eating my bird suet. He had bent over my wrought iron bird feeder stand, bent it like an upside down letter V! The bear scampered off across the branch and into the woods when Larry opened the door. Kinda makes you sleep with one eye open when we have to keep the windows up during warm summer nights. The wildlife people relocated a nuisance bear from the Asheville area and turned it loose up Stagger Weed Road (Yes, that’s the real name), just a couple of miles from us. So far, Asheville’s “nuisance” bear has killed two goats belonging to a friend of ours who lives in the area.
Foxes
We haven’t actually seen foxes. But we’ve heard them and can see where they dig in our yard looking for moles and voles. Every few mornings lately, our cat Thomas comes hurrying back in the house, all shaken and jittery, after we let him out at first light as we ordinarily do. We suspect he’s had a close encounter with a fox. Thomas will go to the windows to nervously look outside for the critter.
Coyotes
At least we haven’t had coyotes since our first fall when we saw a herd of 10-12 deer 20 yards across one of our branches. That was unusual. We usually see a doe with one or two fawns– and once we saw a couple of young bucks passing through. The bucks are stealthy. After seeing that herd of does, we could hear the coyotes calling to each other that night as they were probably stalking the deer.
I love my wild birds! I now have three feeders on my new steel stand. I still have those bands of marauding squirrels that manage to foil my protection and occasionally get to the 
seed. But here’s a list of some of the birds we see in our front yard, year-round:
- Cardinals
- Finches
- Goldfinches
- Dark Eyed Juncos
- Rose Breasted Grosbeaks
- Black Headed Grosbeaks
- House Wrens
- Blue Jays– aggressive little thugs
- Crows– sly, smart and aggressive raiders, until we chase them away
- Towhees (love their calls!)
- Mourning Doves
- Thrushes
- Chickadees
- Indigo Buntings
- Tufted Titmice (Titmouses?)
- Downy Woodpeckers
- Red Headed Woodpeckers
- Cow Birds
We also have a flourishing herd of ground squirrels living in the rocks in both the branches around the property. These cute little guys forage under my bird feeders and stuff their little cheeks full of my expensive bird seed and take it back home to share with the family. And attract snakes.
I just love this place!
