Hey all you cool cats and kittens…it’s Catherine, your Editor-in-Chief here, reporting from my own backyard. Don’t worry, I’m no tiger king or anything, as all the animals here live in their natural habitats. Here’s a little report on some of the animals we’ve seen and how things are going! 

The other day we had 38 turtles sitting out on logs in the marsh behind our house, basking in the sunshine…and yes, we counted.

We recently put out our bird feeder and all sorts of birds have come to visit! It’s quite beautiful to watch all of the brightly colored birds fly around.

We also have a deer family that roams around the area. It’s always nice to see them passing by and grazing on some of the plants.

The rabbits are also a joy to have around the backyard. They are so cute to watch and they help out with clearing the lawn of weeds, like dandelions.

A lone wild turkey decided to join my backyard as well…he must have gotten lost or followed me home from Fairfield!

Lastly, our favorite animal in the yard is our whistlepig, which is another name for a groundhog, but we call him Hedgie. We feed him celery, romaine lettuce and squash, but he’s not a big squash guy.

This of course is not an exhaustive list of all of the wildlife that we see here in the backyard, it is just some highlights of what we’ve been seeing around here as the spring season sets in.

Running a backyard completely hands off, that is besides feeding Hedgie, can be a bit troublesome and treacherous for the animals and residents alike. Sometimes unseen turtles may sadly perish by lawnmower and deer will risk it all by bounding across the street. Red squirrels will steal food from the birds and little mice will wreak havoc on your patio cushions.

Despite the issues that may come along, just remember the circle of life (cue “The Lion King”) and that it’s all a part of nature. It’s probably much better off that these animals are out in their natural habitats as opposed to in cages getting fed expired meat from Walmart.

The message I want to send you all is to respect and appreciate your surrounding nature and its beauty. It’s not something we should abuse, but instead it is something to watch and admire from a distance.

(Photo contributed by Catherine Santangelo)

About The Author

-- Senior - Communications --

Catherine is from Pelham, New Hampshire. She loves to write, hang out with friends, watch movies, and is a big Boston Bruins fan.

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