Other creatures that call this home

I busted out the zoom lens for some up-close animal shots on this one.

This is the second set of chicks being raised by the Western Bluebirds this year.  I am kind of assuming it is the same pair of parents.  The first go around they utilized a different birdhouse just a few feet away from this one.  This is the first time this birdhouse has had any action.  It is within a fenced area that protects some cymbidium orchids and other plantings in what I refer to as "Shazaam's Cymbidium Oasis".  Maybe the fence will help protect the chicks from the neighbor's semi-feral cats when they are learning to fly?  I never know if the chicks survive or not; I have never been there to witness their fledging.

I read that Western Bluebirds eat a lot of insects in Spring and a lot of berries in Summer.  Sure enough, with the first round of nestlings I saw them bringing little crickets and such to the nest.  This second time around I am seeing them bringing these little black berries, which could possibly be from nearby Italian Buckthorn (Rhamnus alaternus) shrubs, or a native Coffeeberry (Frangula californica) shrub I recently planted that has a few berries on it, or perhaps something else like a Privet, which we have plenty of around here.  Either way, it is just one berry after another, about every 60 seconds, it seems, at least in the evening time when I see a lot of activity.

The deer are always very comfortable on the property too.  I think that, to them, it is a sort of vacation/retreat destination, as well as a family-friendly venue, a safe place to birth and raise their young.

A buck (background) recently arrived on the scene.

These two fawns have been around a lot--pretty much since they were born, it seems; about 2 or 3 months.

Sattelite dish ears.

The summer dryness is setting in here and the deer are getting less and less picky with what they eat in my yard.  Oh well--it comes with the territory!  Most of my unprotected plants are ones that they have an aversion to, but there are a few borderline plants that will get grazed occasionally.

And this is "Angus", who was recently neutered.  The humane society offers that service for "community cats" (outdoor cats that don't have proper owners). They suggested that name and it kinda stuck.  He is a cutie, alright...

Here is Angus, along with one of his 2 siblings (the black cat) who will be the next to get fixed.  The grey/white cat is the surrogate mama.  She is fixed, but she always seems to raise and care for the kittens from the unspayed female cat that lives nextdoor and is very skittish.

I think I will have no trouble trapping the black one! I don't know if there are more unfixed cats that I don't see.  But these are the ones that frequent my yard.