Urban wildlife

When I worked at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA my
building was right at the edge of the wetlands bordering San Francisco
Bay. A very rare burrowing owl made a nest (a burrow) right by the
entrance to the building, in a mound of dirt left over from the
building's construction. One morning when I came to work early a golden
eagle was on the mound, eating a large hare. He tried too fly away with
it, but the hare was too large for more than some short hops.

Gopher snakes were abundant. I liked to catch them to scare the bejesus
out of the Indian (Asian) guy I shared an office with. The largest one I
caught (named Humongous by my daughter) I took home and kept in a
terrarium for about a year, until the snake/mouse thing became too much
for my wife to take. I released him in very well-fed condition where I
found him.

I don't think Stanley, ID qualifies as "urban" by any stretch of the
imagination, but in the winter we always have a large herd of elk
occupying the hot springs area along the highway. Other common wildlife
in the general area (60 mile radius) are mule deer, antelope, mountain
goats, bighorn sheep, coyotes, wolves, foxes, badgers, mountain lions,
black bears, pine martins, otters, beavers, porcupines, raccoons, bald
eagles, golden eagles, ospreys, several species of hawks and falcons,
etc. Lynx and wolverines are very rare and I've never seen them. The
only kind of snake I've seen at this altitude is a garter snake, and
lizards and turtles seem to be nonexistent.

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