Suburban Forest (Atlanta, Buford: apartments, homes, neighborhood)

[RainyRainyDay]

Adding to the animal catalog, I occasionally see a bat while walking my dogs after dark,, and we even had a hibernating bat tucked under the eaves of our house - outside, not inside - the winter before last.

Just a week or two ago, after some heavy rain, I found a huge frog sitting on our driveway. I'd never seen a big frog outside of a zoo before! Looked it up online and figured out it was an American bullfrog, probably a female (they're bigger than males). It was neat! Must have come from the creek that runs behind our subdivision. We can hear frogs croaking at night.

[plessthanpointohfive]

Yeah, we have bats in the city, too. I was out at twilight with my son on Iverson St behind our house (so he could ride his scooter on the street in peace) and there were bats flapping around.

[RoslynHolcomb]

Bats are cool. We built a bat house at our previous home and will probably do one here as well. They eat a ton of mosquitoes. I love those little dudes. We haven't seen any wild life here besides birds. Though my husband did see a couple of coyotes on Tilly Mill the first week we moved here.

I'm sure that once we do a little more work on our garden next year, we'll probably attract more wildlife. I plan to put in a kitchen garden, and that usually attracts the bunnies like crazy. I would love to plant a fig tree as well, though you go in knowing half your crop will likely be consumed by birds.

[plessthanpointohfive]

Yeah, but once that fig tree gets big you could never eat it all before it rotted anyway...

We had figs and plums growing up and 90% of the crop would rot on the ground because the trees were so prolific...couldn't keep up with them.

[spacelord75]

This reminds me of this past x-mas eve...my wife and I are watching A Christmas Story in our family room with our dog with a firing going...very picturesque...when all of a sudden our dog gets this weird focus on something and then something starts flying around the room! Sure enough, it was a bat! My wife covered herself in pillows, I tossed the dog into the bathroom so she wouldn't get bit or bite it, and then fanned it towards the door to go outside...what a scene! I guess it had been roosting up in the chimney and the fire freaked it out and it fell into the room.

[plessthanpointohfive]

Originally Posted by spacelord75

My wife covered herself in pillows,

There's something very funny about that visual...

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

Just a week or two ago, after some heavy rain, I found a huge frog sitting on our driveway. I'd never seen a big frog outside of a zoo before! Looked it up online and figured out it was an American bullfrog, probably a female (they're bigger than males). It was neat! Must have come from the creek that runs behind our subdivision. We can hear frogs croaking at night.

We have little frogs all over our area after a rain, but I've not seen a big one like that yet. Although we had a large toad sitting in our driveway once, and my wife talked to him for about five minutes I guess before he hopped off.

A few days ago I saw a fairly large turtle (12" diameter, perhaps 4" or 5" high domed shell) crossing Civitania towards the pond by our subdivision. That was pretty neat (first turtle I've seen down here not in water).

[masonbarge]

I live in town (near Piedmont Hospital). Due to Tanyard Creek Park, the wildlife is unbelievable for such an in-town location. (We are on the migratory path for birds.)

A lot of unusual bird species. I saw a great blue heron in Tanyard Creek a couple of weeks ago. Lots of ducks and geese and once -- hard to believe -- a wild turkey! Bluebirds have made a comeback due to houses on Bobby Jones golf course.

No shortage of raccoons, possums, and foxes -- and this is just a few blocks from Peachtree in south Buckhead. (There was hysteria a year ago when a coyote or coyotes were discovered in Buckhead.) We have a hawk in the neighborhood.

Bats are really not uncommon at all. If you ever go to a baseball game at Turner field, at night, just look up and you'll see hundreds feeding on the insects that are attracted to the lights. We got a bat inside the house once, which is not a big problem. They are smart and will fly out a door if you open it, unlike birds, which can be a major hassle.

I had to take out the cat door once because a raccoon would come in the house and steal the cat food. I caught him once, LOL. I don't know who was more scared.

You can see beavers in Peachtree Creek or the Chattahoochee if you know where to look, especially around dawn or twilight.

Also, plenty of snakes. Almost all of them are non-venomous and beneficial. You'll see small copperheads on extremely rare occasions. It would be difficult to get bitten and almost no chance of dying from it, but it would be painful (and very expensive if you didn't have health insurance). I imagine a few dogs must die every year, though.

Sorry to talk so much about that, since fear vs. actual danger is about 10,000 to 1. Almost zero actual danger. (IIRC, there were no fatal snakebites in the entire US last year.) I can't believe how hysterical people get when they see a garter snake.

Spiders and poison ivy are bigger hazards. You actually have a one in a million chance of a serious spider bit. I have a friend who was bitten by a brown recluse on the thigh, which caused a scar. And I have seen a black widow in my garage.

Poison ivy - the only thing I am actually scared of. It's all over the woods. I have two neighbors with English ivy beds and both of them are full of poison ivy.

[Buckhead Betty]

I live near you, masonbarge. Lots of people have sighted a huge owl in the area. The hawk family lives right around Peachtree Creek. A few weeks ago, one of them bumped into my window a few times, apparently after some prey. I was worried that maybe something was wrong with it. I also saw one sitting on the ground in Memorial Park as I walked by. It never budged, even as I approached within 10 feet with my dog.

There is a family of red foxes living in Bobby Jones Golf Course. I haven't seen them, but one day I was walking on Woodward Way, and my dog nearly took my arm off lunging hysterically toward the creek. Several people passing by had seen the fox way on the other side, which my dog had smelled or seen (or otherwise known about with dog senses).

Racoons out in the daytime might be rabid. Fulton Co.Animal Control has noted several in North Georgia in the past couple of years. If one comes into your house, call Animal Control, (404) 794-0358 and they will probably come out and help. They might trap the animal, but likely will refer you to an outside company. I wouldn't tangle with a possibly rabid animal.

We once trapped a possum in our crawl space, which was taken and released in the woods. My dog, the great hunter, has killed one possum, countless squirrels, chipmunks, moles and one huge rat. Fortunately, she has no interest in birds. The migrating ducks are safe.

Coyotes hunt small animals, so I wouldn't leave a little dog under 15-20 lb. out in the yard, especially after dark.

That's probably a lot for my first ever post. I just discovered this site. I hope I haven't broken any rules right off the bat.

[goozer]

Originally Posted by aries4118

Atlanta: The City in a Forest.

In my opinion, this would have been a MUCH better slogan for Atlanta (during the recent multi-million dollar PR campaign to attract visitors) than "Every Day is an Opening Day." It is ironic that this chosen slogan harkens to baseball and yet Atlanta has a pretty apathetic baseball fan base. Not saying this city doesn't have its Braves fans, it does. But there are very few parks in cities this size where you can walk up and buy playoff tickets on the day of the game. Try that in New York or Boston.