Sure don't have that variety around here, and I live in an extremely unusual area. It's sort of a cul-de-sac in the city, about 20 square blocks that no one goes through on their way to somewhere else. That's why I built here, saw it on a map and drove through.

7 minutes by car, 21 minutes by bicycle, from the center of a million+ metropolitan area. 60 feet from an 800 acre undeveloped wilderness area with only a few trails, some springs and small creeks. That's "mine", as I take a three mile walk, gain and lose 500 feet, through it every morning I can. That's a lot of mornings.

Not many people walk through there, and I'm the only person who maintains the trails. Some mountain bikers go through, some folks walk dogs, not many. I do it even at night, to the amazement of my neighbors. I tell 'em that I figure I'm probably meaner than anything else in there, but really I watch my dog. If he sees something, I have my big light. Never seen anyone in there at night, though.

At the other side of that wilderness, about .6 miles away, there is a 4 lane highway and a park on the banks of a major river, with salmon, steelhead, sturgeon. So, I can walk about .7 miles, cross a residential road and a highway, and float to the Pacific Ocean if I were interested in a slow trip to the beach.

I also live .6 miles from a large wilderness park which is about 2900 acres, and that even has a few beavers. Years and years ago, while in college, I helped build a sewer through there. One of the conditions was that the area be restored to it's previous condition in three years. Those beavers have no idea that under their creek and ponds there is a very large sewer line. That gets a lot of pressure from school children and their wilderness hikes, etc., and they're fairly restrictive about dogs, so I don't head there much anymore except with tourists.

So, we have humongous woodpeckers, Pileated suckers which dig large square holes in trees, coyotes, deer, which piss of some of the folks with gardens, raccoons (I have a picture of 9 raccoons on my back deck with my cat in the middle of the pack, all of them looking to me for food), and no possums, anymore.

No big cats, no exotic snakes, a family of rubber boas and garter snakes, that's about it. No partridges, quail, pheasant,and only a few doves, the coyotes get most of the others. And fewer and fewer garter snakes, robins, and insects. Except mosquitos. They thrive.

Welp, that's it. Congratulations on the variety of your wildlife. But, Southern, or central California has more things like flowers growing accidently than most areas of the world have on purpose. There is a lot going for that country. I got to where I missed clouds when I lived there. Either the sun shone or it was overcast with a solid, gray mass. (When I lived there last Reagan used to helicopter over on his way from Point Mugu to his ranch. Used to wonder what a person could do with a Stinger, how you could pick out the right 'copter. There were always 3 or 4. Terrible thoughts, and if the FBI is reading this, REAGAN IS STILL ALIVE.)

Gotta go. Would trade you a deer for a bobcat.

Arf