The park itself is beautiful and contains about 450 homes. There is a Home Owners Association which has been doing a great job over the years. Because we have lived in Carlsbad for about 40 years, we have known of the park for many years and known many people who live there. It has a fine reputation as being a good place to live. The HOA makes sure the grounds are kept immaculate and also regulates the appearance of the homes, from the colors painted to the appropriate landscaping. There are lots of trees and small garden areas throughout.
It is not stringent in its requirements. I went through and read all the board meeting minutes from the past five years before we moved in and found them to be very accommodating with the residents.
At least there is no 'wild life' among the residents! However, the park is divided by a small creek and narrow woodland area and thus encourages some wild life. Sorry, I have hardly any photos, but here is a description of our first encounter with wild life.
Not long after we had moved in,we were woken in the night by loud yipping, yapping and yowling. Our neighbors to the north spend six months of the year elsewhere, and the coyotes had moved into the back of their yard, which like ours, overlooks the creek.
It is pupping season (there's probably a different name for that for coyotes, but I don't know it), and they had made a fine catch for dinner. This has happened twice since we've been here, but the neighbors moved back for a while and cleared out the coyotes. The neighbors have gone again, so maybe we will be visited once again.
PROOF!
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I'm told there are racoons but I haven't seen any, but I have seen rabbits and evidence of rabbits, who are eating the new shoots on some of our shrubs.
As can be expected, there are plenty of birds -- house finches, house sparrows, song sparrows, grossbeaks (a beautiful bird in spite of his name) orioles, goldfinches, western phoebes, woodpeckers, mourning doves and crows. We also had a of pair beautiful Townsend Warblers, who are bright yellow with a black triangle over their eye. They were only stopping for a while as they were on the move north to their summer haunts.
Now that the birds are fledglings we are also being visited by a red tailed hawk, who finds a baby crow much to his liking. The crows defend their nests with great vigor and noise. When I hear he crows I know the hawk is nearby.
In the creek, there are many mallards with quite large broods of ducklings, a pair of egrets, (beautifully white against the greenery of the bank). It is funny to watch the mallards come flying in at great speed, using the creek like a runway. We also have a blue heron who flaps lazily along the creek and I think is roosting in one of the large pine trees that line the creek.
Now that the birds are fledglings we are also being visited by a red tailed hawk, who finds a baby crow much to his liking. The crows defend their nests with great vigor and noise. When I hear he crows I know the hawk is nearby.
Sorry this is such an awful photo, but it was dusk and he was a good way away and my hand shakes too badly to take a good photo without something to lean on.
Up in the lake by the club house there are a great number of coots. We have been warned about rattle snakes but haven't seen or heard about any so far.
With the hawk and the coyotes we're pretty vigilant about keeping Scruffy inside. I can't remember if I told you about Scruffy's one escapade outside, so here it is again, just in case. We hadn't been in the house very long when it happened. Scruffy is greatly tantalized by the lizards he can see from the windows (ceiling to floor). We are blessed to have great natural ventilation, so when the weather is warm I open the front and back doors. What I didn't realize at the time was that the front screen door does not always latch. So one day I was working away on my lap top, presuming that Scruffy was sleeping in one of his favorite places. I don't know how long he was outside, but I heard the screen door go and Scruffy came running in looking as pleased as punch with a 6 or 7 inch lizard in his mouth, which he then proceeded to drop in the middle of the living room floor. Of course the lizard ran, but Scruffy quickly caught him again. I decided to let Scruffy play with him a bit until the lizard got tired
and then I could catch him. They can move pretty fast.Then I grabbed a bowl, put it over the lizard, slid a piece of cardboard under it and disposed of it back into the yard!
We have now fixed the front screen door much to Scruffy's disgust!
ABC Wednesday tomorrow. See you then.
and then I could catch him. They can move pretty fast.Then I grabbed a bowl, put it over the lizard, slid a piece of cardboard under it and disposed of it back into the yard!
We have now fixed the front screen door much to Scruffy's disgust!
ABC Wednesday tomorrow. See you then.
8 comments:
It looks an ideal place to live to me!
Scruffy reminds me of Oscar, but his wildlife fascination is snakes. We've had to put a bar across the screen door because Oscar manages to open the screen door ...I don't want snakes indoors, or Oscar outside!
Jane x
Mallards are such intereting creatures. We had a pair who came to the pond on our Wyoming property each year to raise their ducklings.
Your retirement home looks to be in an appealing and tidy spot.
You must enjoy living among so many interesting birds and the coyotes sound quite exotic!
Egrets now live and breed along the coasts and rivers of Southern England. They seem to have moved north from mainland Europe over the past twenty years or so.I love to see them on the banks of the River Avon when we drive home over the causeway bridge.
There's a great deal of life in your neighbourhood - lovely.
I'm glad you discovered the screen door latch during daylight hours. Scruffy obviously has his full share of feline curiosity.
Can't wait to see this beautiful place!
This looks heavenly to me.
I know what you mean about taking photos with a shaky hand, why do our hands shake like that? My husband's are as steady as they ever were, it's not fair!
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