Some of our back yard critters...

Kudos to you Tony for all the great colorful pics. Hope some of them will come visit you in the next few months.

thank you for sharing Tony.....what a remarkable pleasure to see these little fellas romping about on your estate......

Fine photographic captures of these wildlife critters. The armored tortoise looks like he is headed for the pond for a relaxing (and easier) swim !

An incredible collection of pictures of God's creations. Thanks for sharing.

Wonderful images and animal variety. What a yard to have!

fantastic Tony. The birds in particular are all beautiful. I'm assuming they are all indigenous? Do you have the "introduced pest" problem locally and in the U.S in general? Its a terrible problem here in Australia. Actually deer, all non indigenous, and while beautiful animals are causing serious issues here. As there are no natural predators their numbers have spiraled. Foxes, again a beautiful animal, have nearly wiped out some of our small local marsupials, special captive breeding programs are just keeping some species alive. And of course millions and millions of rabbits that have done serious economic damage in the past. We also have thriving populations of starlings, sparrow, pigeons, Indian minors and spotted doves that are overtaking our local birds. 

Thanks for the nice comments fellas!!

Geoff, the most worrisome pests can be wild boar but we see very little of them as the National Park tries to keep them in check. Black bears are in abundance in this area and people know to keep bear-proof trash cans. We've seen only one so far in the back in 21 years! (Pics of him up next)

I used to feed corn to the deer but that brought them to the house and to our garden. Now they stay in the woods behind our house. We have bluebird boxes and the starlings and sparrows were a nuisance until boxes were made with smaller entry holes.

By the way, it is illegal to shoot or in any way harm US songbirds except for two which are considered pests and are allowed to be eliminated: English Sparrows and European Starlings. 

Male spring bear in the trees:

Looks to be about what I see in my back yard in Spartanburg, except for the Bear and turtles. 

Bears can climb trees??? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that!
Great pics, Tony. Thanks.

Posted by: @carsman1958

Looks to be about what I see in my back yard in Spartanburg, except for the Bear and turtles. 

HA; then you have a GREAT back yard John!

Posted by: @jkuvakas

Bears can climb trees??? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that!
Great pics, Tony. Thanks.

Ha! Yes, they sure do John and are very proficient at it; especially in Spring when berries are ripe. I'm sure to use a long lens when I photograph them.

Speak of the devil; shot this photo this morning of three little darlings; mom and two yearlings. 

@perrone1 thanks Tony. Love bears. Same laws here in Australia. Illegal to hunt/kill any native bird, but yes to introduced species. I have asked our local council for a humane cull of the local spotted doves to no avail.