Daily we see these beautiful, vibrant Mountain Bluebirds. It’s quite a delight to have them around. This photo is the male, the females are more brownish with just a little blue.
We also have many of these Pinyon Jays around. They’re larger than the mountain bluebird, and not as vibrant blue. They have quite a loud, distinctive CAW–CAW that we hear over and over.
Last, but not the least, we are over-run with these squirrels. They are called Wyoming or Richardson’s Ground Squirrels, and they are everywhere. They must have extensive tunnels underground; we see holes in the ground all over. KK enjoys chasing them and trying to catch them. She seemed to catch one by the tail or foot one day, but most of it disappeared underground while she chewed on something leftover. My concern about these guys is that when we get around to gardening, we’ll have to line the undersides of our raised beds with something to keep them out: probably chicken wire or hardware cloth.
Other than these, we often see deer, sometimes elk, there is a den of foxes near the road not far from here, and we frequently hear coyotes in the distance. (This afternoon I saw one just outside our RV.) It’s nice to be surrounded by so many critters.