We live on a beautiful two acre piece of property in Melbourne. When we found this property in 1998, all we could see from the road were tall pine trees, huge moss-covered oaks and lots of palmettos. When we began building our home in 1999 we did our best to preserve as much of that natural habitat as possible. Because of our efforts, every day of our lives seems to be filled with a new natural wonder.

Although we have tried our best to not disrupt the local inhabitants, we did have to "relocate" a few native residents. A huge hive of underground yellow jackets made their presence known early on and had to be removed. (Click bag of yellow jackets for more info)

Daily visitors include such things as gopher tortoises, box turtles, black snakes, various birds and butterflies and of course, squirrels. Although common in many back yards, being able to view the entire life cycle of some of these creatures up close adds much to our appreciation of them.

The most unique creatures that have visited us so far are a ruby-throated hummingbird, a gray fox and a bobcat, all of which were either just passing through, or else they stay very well hidden.

Some of the earliest visitors to our property were a pair of huge and beautiful barred owls. They would sit silently in the oaks, the mottled brown of their feathers creating an effective camouflage amid the branches. We would only be alerted to their presence by the loud cries of the blue jays. These raucous jays are the self-appointed sentinels of the woods, alerting the other creatures to anything they see as a danger.

We also were able to watch as a family of hawks received their training in early foraging skills. We could sit on our back porch with our morning coffee and watch as juvenile hawks would relentlessly chase after squirrels that were as big as they were, trying to get their morning meal. The squirrels somehow knew that these young birds were not a danger to them, and would sometimes turn and scare the embarrassed fledglings back to their siblings.

At one time, we foolishy tried to raise an abandoned baby squirrel. From this experience, we now suggest that anyone who finds injured or infant wildlife should contact a local wildlife rehabilitator instead of attempting the task themselves. (Click squirrel picture for full story)

Our lives are immeasurably better because we are able to start and end each day on this beautiful piece of property. We hope that we can help encourage many other Brevard County residents to help do their part to preserve and restore this luscious habitat that makes Brevard County so unique and beautiful.

To learn more about backyard wildlife, visit The Project Backyard Brevardl Website