OK, we have talked about the critters in the backyard for some time, and the coyotes are still just on the other side of the fence, but the last week or so has been pretty neat. First we had a bunch of new bunnies born in the garden that I dug up while weeding. A bit of a squeek and then four of these guys hopped out from behind the cactus. This little guy is about the size of your fist; maybe days old but now able to fend for his own.

And then this evil guy appeared, out for a quick bunny snack! Inside our fence this is a five foot rat snake; harmless to us but quite lethal to the bunny population.

And then, today, another challenge to the backyard appeared. This hawk, in the center of the picture to the upper right of the feeder, shot through the screen porch, is waiting for whatever juicy morsel appears in our back yard ... bunny, bird, or cat ... ooooo ... better look up Bandit! This was with a 20x zoom through the screen. As soon as I moved the screen door to go outside the bird took off; but he's local and has been here several times before.

And a closeup of the latest raptor to grace our fence ... pretty cool.