Yeah, we have a lot of things here that folks don't know about. Shhh, it's a secret.

The old timers around here will tell you there were lots of jaguars in the southern part of the state a few decades ago. I've never seen one and am pretty excited that they're returning. There's a lot of hubbub here about El jefe.

I have a decent sized lot for town and we get irrigation. About a month or so ago I was waiting for the water, which comes through a series of culverts just before my property, some of them kinda long.

A cat was looking up the culvert with a lot of interest, as the water got closer. Then it ran under the one on my property, where I was standing. About 5 seconds later, a huge skunk came out, scurrying along the canal ahead of the water. It must stay there during the day, coming out at night. I'd never seen one in town before though. It was beautiful, but I didn't let it get too close to me.

We had a roadrunner in the front yard not long ago too. They're still sort of rare, but are protected and seem to have made a nice rebound.

There's a small fox that roams around here too. My wife pointed it out one time, but I thought it was just a scrappy dog. Apparently it's an indigenous species of fox that lives in the desert here, and this one runs around town like a stray.

Bats in the palm tree, eaten by owls that moved in (little bat pellets on the ground), then repopulating when the owls moved on. There's a lot of life in the desert. It's pretty cool how much is out there, and so many people never learn of it. In a 30 minute drive I could see deer, pronghorn, eagles, hawks, quail, roadrunner, coatimundi, coyote, turkey, mountain lion, bear, various fish, etc. Of course, that's an advantage of small town living. But we used to see all these on the outskirts of the Phoenix suburbs too.