Desert fun

If anyone has talked to me since we've moved into the new house, I've likely listed the amazing creatures I've spotted that week. Now that we live on the outskirts of Tucson, we get to have the Sonoran Desert as our backyard. I figured you guys might like to see some pictures of what we've seen so far.

Many white-tailed deer sightings, several times a week

Many hummingbirds - you can see a bit of the desert in this picture


Meep! Meep! This roadrunner hung out on our patio for a while.


Coyote - Sorry the coyote is so far away--they are skittish and fast. One night I caught a few coyotes checking out me and Winston when I let him out for a bathroom break - I always make sure to watch over him, even though he is likely too big to tempt a coyote.


My favorite - a javelina! Although they look like wild hogs, they are technically peccaries. Apparently they aren't friendly and they smell funky, but I think they are kind of cute.


This is the view from our kitchen and living room!

I don't have pictures of everything we've seen, unfortunately. Of course we have a ton of lizards running around, including one lacking a tail thanks to Winston's hunting skills (he brought him to me as a present, then finally let the poor thing go when I told him to). As for birds, we have tons of quail around here, and the other day some sort of raptor landed on our patio railing (the bird flew away before I could snap a picture). There are also plenty of adorable bunnies with huge ears, and although it is tempting to feed them, it is a bad idea to bring coyotes and bobcats closer to our house. In terms of creepy-crawlies, we saw a snake on our walk. We've seen a few tarantulas, too, which are welcome visitors - they are harmless, quite pretty, and they eat scorpions. We did get one scorpion in the house, and have used our blacklight to spot them outside - they are my least favorite creature out here. Finally....depending on who you are, you may be happy or bummed that we haven't seen any bobcats yet.

This place is truly amazing. It is a shame that Katherine won't remember seeing the Sonoran Desert so close!