Javelinas Come Calling
(click on photo to enlarge)
We were aware that Javelinas (aka Collared Peccary) were fairly common in this part of Arizona but we hadn’t considered the fact that they might be around our house. After living here for about 6 weeks that notion changed. We were really enjoying the flock of Gambel’s Quail that would come to the seed we scattered in a natural area near one of the garage doors. It was right outside the kitchen window and it was fun watching the quail bring their families of tiny young birds to the seed so we decided to make it easier on ourselves and bought one of those large blocks of compressed seeds so the birds could help themselves as they pleased. Bad idea.
We usually opened the side garage door (actually a “golf cart” door) first thing in the morning to let in some fresh air (remember, it gets very hot here in summer!) and had no problems, but the morning after putting out the seed block, we noticed something amiss. A small sack of fertilizer that had been on one of the garage shelves was laying on the floor, broken open. As I approached the door opening, there were two Javelinas gorging themselves on the seed block! Because they have poor vision, they didn’t seem to notice me so I rushed inside to get the camera. About $10 worth of seed had been consumed! Our mistake and not good for any wildlife (except birds) to be consuming a non-natural food. The Javelina will have to go back to foraging for their natural foods of roots, shoots, mesquite beans and (gulp) the pads of Prickly Pear cactus.
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