Loads.

My parents have a couple raccoons that visit them every night (well till winter hit). My dad would sit on the deck giving them bowls of dog food, cookies, and some leftovers. They loved him and would come up to him pretty regularly. One loved sitting on his lap and just chilling after he’d eat.

I have a family of magpies visit nearly everyday. I think it must have started because previous renters were probably feeding them. The mum showed up first, and then a adult male, and then two babies. Very quickly, the babies would show up on their own. One of them even taps on the window and flies up by the door lock to try to come in if it sees me. I don’t let them in - it’d be a nightmare of chaos, feathers, and terror poops.

I give them some sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and on occasion, walnuts, cashews, and some plain cooked chicken breast if I have any. They’re comfortable enough with me to eat out of my hand, and discipline their kids in front of me 😂

Also, I’m now learning their preferences. The older baby bird really likes cashews and will give me the stink eye if I offer anything else. The other day, I offered a sunflower seed, and it came around to give me a nip (gentle) on the finger as if to tell me it wanted something tastier.

I once had a mama deer and her two fawns approach me in the woods while camping and let me pet them.

I already told my Sandhill Crane story, but I also remembered a Robin that used to be a gardening friend.

In a house I owned 30 years ago, I had a huge organic garden behind my garage, and I would spend an hour or two in it most days.

I was turning a bed one day, mixing in compost, and a Robin popped up and started watching me. As I stepped back to take a break, he hopped over to the bed I was turning, and gobbled up a big nightcrawler. My soil was beautiful, and was full of worms, a sure sign of healthy soil.

I got back to work, and he stood off to the side and watched me. Now and then, I’d toss him a worm, and he’d come over and help himself when I took a break. We became friends quickly, and he would show up for a gourmet meal whenever I gardened.

One day he showed up, and started his distinctive chortling warble, and a female popped out from behind the neighbor’s fence. She was clearly with my Robin friend, but she was surprised to see me, and got nervous, even let out a startled chirp. He chortled quietly, calming her down. I knew what I had to do, and tossed a worm his way.

Again, she was startled, but he gobbled the worm as she watched, and I tossed another one towards her, and she ate it. Then she calmed down, and let me toss worms to them. He had brought a date to his favorite restaurant, and introduced her to his friend, the head chef.

What a baller move.

Sure, many times. In college, I carried raw, unshelled peanuts in my coat pocket, and gave them to squirrels. I made friends with one outside my dorm, and he’d sit on my shoulder and eat my peanuts.

Today, we have two four foot tall Sandhill Cranes that fly in every evening about 7:30, and sleep on the bank of the pond across the street. I have often walked up and talked to them, and they don’t view me as a threat at all, mostly because I’ve never tried to touch them. I just stand there and talk to them. They leave every morning about 7:30 am, and spend their day somewhere else. They’re names are George and Martha.

Every spring, they disappear for a couple of months, because they must lay their eggs in their daytime spot. They laid one egg across the street, and it disappeared, probably a coyote. It was a very sad day, and George waited until I was there talking to him, before he let out a loud plaintive wail of grief. I felt so bad for my friends. Now they only lay eggs in their daytime nest, wherever that is.

So when they had their first pair of babies, and they could actually fly, they brought them to their normal sleeping spot by our house. I looked out in the driveway one day, and there they all were, at the end of my driveway, with George halfway up the driveway, waiting for me. He’d never come up my driveway before, he was clearly waiting for me. I came out, saw his family, and gushed over them: “George! Good to see you! Are these your babies? They’re BEAUTIFUL!”

I walked down toward Martha and the babies, who got a bit nervous about this human stranger, but George calmly walked alongside of me, and I stood among them, talking calmly to them, and letting them know I wasn’t a threat, reinforced by George’s confidence.

George and Martha still show up every night, and most nights I say Hello to them.

I live near a big estate that breeds pheasants for game shooting, and for several years my garden was visited by a succession of male pheasants. Eventually they’d be tame enough to eat from my hand, and sometimes they’d bring their lady friends along. One day there were 15 pheasants in my garden.

I don’t see them any more because I stopped feeding birds altogether, after one of my neighbours got a predatory cat and I started finding corpses, mainly small songbirds. These days it’s just wood pigeons and magpies, none of which seem inclined to make friends.

I currently have a little green Anole lizard that lives in my window right here by my desk (I work from home, with my “office” set up in the corner of the den.). I first noticed him about 3 weeks ago, tho he may have been in here longer than that. Usually any time a fly gets in the house, it ends up in my window right here, so I’ve left him alone to do his thing. Besides, even tho we’re in NW Florida, it’s cold af out right now. I’m pretty sure he knows I know he’s in here and doesn’t seem to act afraid, tho I haven’t tried to touch him or anything. My grandkids always want to check in on him when they come over…

There was a crow that hung around the parking lot of my old apartment a lot. I saw him every day and started offering food for him. He used to follow me jumping from tree to tree and would often call out for my attention if I didn’t notice him at first. I won’t claim to have really understood him, but you spend enough time around crows and you can kind of start to tell what they sound like when they talk to each other, when they’re talking about you (or nearby humans in general), or when they’re trying to talk to you.

Eventually I taught him which patio was mine and he’d come up to the balcony railing and eat treats. One day I noticed him there just chilling with his girlfriend, which was kind of weird. You can’t really tell crows apart well unless they’re sitting next to each other but he was big and fat like an American football and she was sleeker like a fighter jet. He eventually left and she hung around for another hour or so, very strange.

Well, next day they show up with their new fledglings. He proceeded to pick up the crackers I had left out for him, dunk them in the nearby bird bath to soften them up, then feed them to his kids. And yes, it was him doing the feeding. I think he was just showing me off to his girlfriend like, “It’s cool, I know this one. It’s safe here.”

https://youtube.com/shorts/ilKrUOOEUwU

Yes I’m replying to my own post.

Meet Darla:

Darla is part of a cluster of deer that live in the neighborhood. They’ve been a part of the neighborhood for as long as I can remember and my house is one of their safe zones. Once in a while I’ll have some spare blueberries I can give them so they don’t go to waste, and that’s what Darla uses me for.

She absolutely hates my cat though. 😔

Every year a Mourning Dove couple returns to lay eggs in one of our planters that hangs off the backyard patio railing. It’s slightly covered by the roof overhang so they are protected from rain, direct sunlight and circling prey overhead.

I usually leave a bowl of water for them nearby the planter and my dad will gently water the soil for the plants with all the birds staying put.

They generally don’t mind when people are outside on the patio as long as there are no sudden movements or loud noises.

I’ve noticed they are even more relaxed if I go outside and eat or play some music at a reasonable volume. Surprisingly they the most calm, curious and active when I play any punk music for them.

They’ve been returning for 5+ years now and I’m looking forward to seeing them again this spring.

When I lived in a bigger city, I occasionally fed the local pigeons (birdseed and nuts, not bread or anything). Sometimes a couple of them would stand in my lap. Does that count?

Little bird feet/presence can be surprisingly warm on a cold morning, and pigeons are quite cute up close, imo.

We had foxes that used to hang out on our deck like playful dogs

Crows on a few occasions. They are remarkably easy to befriend as they are highly intelligent.

I wouldn’t say friends exactly but we have a pair of ravens that live in our yard. They have a symbiotic relationship with the cats. The cats catch mice and voles and then leave them in the front yard for the ravens, who are more than happy to gobble them up. There’s a whole unkindness of ravens that live in our woods but these two hang out around the house. In the spring there is constant squawking and chatter from them, it’s so cool to hear.

We also have a permanent resident hummingbird somewhere near the house. He loves the deck and will hover quite close to you when you’re sitting out.

And I can’t forget the flock of wild turkeys that roam the neighborhood. Every afternoon they stroll through the yard and last summer a mama and her babies were roosting in the trees out front. Around seven years ago there was a pair of albino babies born and now that flock has white feathers throughout. I have a video somewhere I should post.

It’s a veritable bird paradise over here lol.