The area we live in has a plethora of animals, both flying and crawling. I have never really considered myself a "bird person", but I have seen birds of the most AMAZING colors! A lot of times we will see them on our walk each morning, but often we have seen them in our backyard trees. I will attach a picture of this blue-colored bird we have in our yard--the picture doesn't do it justice, but they fly away when I try to open the back door and get a photo of them! It was also raining at the time--as usual. There is also a yellow breed of birds over here that is the most striking yellow and black combination I have ever seen. We also have a group of very small yellow and black birds that look about the same size as a hummingbird and fly about just as quickly. First thing in the morning you will hear a REALLY loud, obnoxious noise from these larger black birds (they look kind of like crows) and they just shriek and shriek. Jeff has been known to sling a rock in the tree when they start that:) I was using Skype with my sister back in Houston one day when that particular bird decided to start shrieking. I'm so used to hearing it I hadn't noticed, but with the windows of the house open she could hear it and asked what was being that noisy. Someday I will slow down and look all these bird breeds up on the Internet, but for now I just like looking at them!
We also have lizards--all sizes. I will attach a picture of one of the bigger variety, but they are jumpy and don't let you get close to them at all. There is a hole at the edge of our property and we have seen the bigger one crawl down into it, so I guess this is "home". There are quite a few smaller than this one, but still bigger than your "household" lizard you get on the outside walls at night. The little ones hang around to eat the bugs that the outside lights attract. In and of itself that would be a good thing, but they make a really loud sound and when they do that in the middle of the night right at your window, it can wake you right up!
Thankfully we have not seen a snake on our property (or more importantly, in my house). I went to "tea" at a fellow expats house a few weeks ago, and she pointed to the pool and said they found a black cobra in it one morning. Needless to say, I check my pool VERY carefully each day before I get in to swim.
I have already shared my love of monkeys. All the pictures I have taken have been on the Leisure Farm Resort, but never in our backyard. Saturday we had just returned from our walk and were standing under the backyard trees to cool off when we saw two large monkeys swinging in the trees above us. It was interesting because these monkeys were a lot darker brown than the gray ones we have seen over here. I wished I would have had my camera, but they were gone in about 30 seconds so I couldn't have photographed them anyway. But this did renew my hunt for the perfect monkey picture, and I had Jeff take me on another one of my "monkey runs" yesterday about 5:30 p.m. This is the time they are mostly out, going back to the jungle after eating in the resort orchards during the day. I got a few more good shots I'll attach.
Although I have no pictures, we DO have bats. Quite a few, as a matter of fact! Right about dusk they start making rounds through the trees and around the pool. I do NOT like bats--always had a weird fear of them, so I am not really happy about this "creature of God" being at my house. There are also several roosters (yes, you read it correctly) that you hear and see each morning. They mostly stay across the street at the golf course, but we have seen them in the creek behind our house.
We have been told that within an hour's drive of our house they have to put up electric fences along the highway to keep the elephants off the highway and interfering with traffic. This person also said that there is the occasional tiger, bear and crocodile in this same area. This is all hearsay; we have never witnessed any of these animals, and we don't CARE to ever see them. I'm just happy with my own little zoo in my backyard!
