Our Backyard - Raccoons, Possums, Foxes, Squirrels

Below is our backyard. Ken calls it our "meadow" ... that means he doesn't have to mow it. What you see are wild onions with the morning rays of sunlight hitting the blooms. This is where some of the wildlife lives in our neighborhood: butterflies emerge from their cocoons here -- and that's where I get the butterflies that I put into my cat shots.

It's about 9:30 pm. Below you see our Black British Shorthair, Nox, sniffing the Raccoon outside the door of our den. Zak, our Blue and White Maine Coon, watches from a safe distance. Who knows? The Raccoon may decide to open the door! Nox is our Alpha Cat but Zak is vying for the job.
The Raccoon and Nox both turn away from the glass door at the same time, Zak hasn't moved. But you can see an Oppossum (we call them "Possums" here in Texas) eating cat food from the bowl inbetween the uprights of the cat tree, taking advantage of the Raccoon being interested in the indoor cats.
Here's a closeup of the Raccoon. I think this is a Mom, because she brought two little ones by the next night.
Now here we have the newest arrivals -- two of the three Foxes we've seen. They are very skittish and I could not get a picture of them without using my on-camera flash. I thought that would spook them, but they were too hungry. It's almost as if the one on the right is the lookout, as he was darting in, wheeling around and trotting down to the edge of the patio while the other just sat gobbling up kitty kibble.

Below is another shot of them, both of the Foxes are looking in at Ken who was watching TV.

After the outside animals have had their way with the one bowl of kibble I put out at night, that's it. I do not put out another bowl until the next evening. I would hate for the Squirrels and Birds who come during the daytime, to run afowl of these guys. So the evening (with one exception) is the only time we see the Foxes, Possum and Raccoons. Daytime is for the Squirrels and Birds.


This Squirrel is sitting on the edge of the patio eating sunflower seeds after taking a drink which I found I have to support with two bricks or it lands on the ground below.

So that's the activity that goes on in our backyard. "Kitty TV," we call it!