Two weeks ago, I sold a home to a first time homebuyer in the Santa Teresa area.  The property is close to the Santa Teresa Foothills and she asked me, "Do I have to worry about wildlife coming down from the hills?"  I explained that she needed to be aware of it, but not worry about it per se.  In Los Gatos, as in the Santa Teresa area, when you're by the hills there's an increased chance that you might encounter some of the wildlife.   We discussed rattlesnakes, coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats, racoons, possum, and of course spiders.

A few days later, during the home inspection, we got to see a black widow spider up close. You can see the photo that my home inspector, Duane Serrano, took by visiting my Valley of Hearts Delight blog by clicking on the link above.

This morning, back in Belwood of Los Gatos, I saw a "first" for our home: a hawk landed on our back fence.  We have seen deer, racoons and possum in the Belwood area, and a lot of birds of course, but never seen a hawk in my own backyard!

Jim & I once lived adjacent to Neary's Lagoon in Santa Cruz (a bird sanctuary), so we have the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds.  I had a look and it appears that this visitor is a Sharp-Shinned Hawk.  They like to be in or near forested areas - in our case, that would mean Belgatos Park and the Sierra Azule range in Los Gatos. (Photo taken with my regular Canon camera, but through our living room window and at quite a distance, so the pic is not as clear as I'd have liked. But you get the idea.)

Living near the foothills in Silicon Valley, we do see wildlife come down to residential areas from time to time. Usually it's something like this, or finding a possum in your fruit tree: not scary in the least, just kind of amazing.  Sometimes, though, it's a mountain lion or something more scary.  In all cases, keep your eyes open - and your camera nearby.