My backyard is a flipping biodiversity zone

I live in a sort of DMZ between suburbia and a -- shall we say, more rural environment? We tend to like trees around here too. No, we don't all hug them but we do keep them around if we can. The critters like this attitude too. Humans are great to visit for their version of junk food, and the larger predators tend to stay away from the two-legs. We have a well-established clan of the biggest damn raccoons I have ever seen. One of the junior members evidently wants to be an astronaut or a paratrooper, because he keeps falling out of trees. Once onto my roof, which, he discovered, has a pitch too steep for a young raccoon to traverse in safety. I found him huddled on the ridge, horribly embarrassed to be Caught in the Open just like Mom had told him never to be. He eventually fell off, and since I didn't find a body I'm assuming he made it intact. Some less adorable rodentia as well. I knew of their theoretical existence, having seen their dental attacks on edible stuff mistakenly stored in the garage, but it was a bit of a shock to actually *see* the rats. I'm sure they are nice as rats go, but I'd prefer they do more skulking in darkness so I can pretend they aren't there. A very hard-nosed mole has been throwing up hills. The ground is full of rocks here, so I'm impressed he's making any headway at all.

Then there's the usual assortment of birds -- flickers, woodpeckers, chickadees, hummingbirds, Stellar's Jays, and so on. This weekend I found a new visitor, a pheasant. She doesn't seem to want to leave, either, and it's understandable since I'm feeding her . Quite tame, and has clearly been fed by humans before. In fact she was running towards me when I went outside today, and followed me while I did yardwork. I hope she doesn't expect to come inside in the winter. Maybe I can make her a little pheasant-door into the crawlspace ...