In Your Backyard: Discovering Urban Wildlife

Something remarkable is happening in our cities and towns. Due to a confluence of changes in laws, attitudes, and population distribution over the last several decades, native wildlife has been able to establish itself in some unexpected places. Counterintuitively, many of our more adaptable wild animals actually prefer the urban environment and are living there because of the bountiful amounts of food, water, and shelter that it contains. Where there are people, there is abundance! Of course, these new developments are not without problems. Wild animals can quickly make the transition from intriguing novelty to irritating pest when their interests and ours begin to collide. But overall, this is a fascinating transition which provides readily accessible and often more tolerant and observable wildlife than can be found in most wilderness areas. This book contains just a sampling of what can be discovered in your own backyard!