Wildlife In Our Garden

September 1, 2017 ~ If You Want My Opinion ~ 2 Comments

One of the great benefits of a home garden is the diversity of life that it supports, which includes fauna as well as flora. Depending upon the plants growing in the space and its overall size, the garden may have both temporary and permanent residents. With the right mix of food, clean water, and cover, the gardener may play host to a wide variety of species. Of course, gardeners may not roll out the welcome mat to all wildlife, especially the kind that feast on our plants. Some we can deter; others we may choose to eliminate altogether. Slugs and Japanese beetles come to mind in our own garden.

I am fascinated by the members of the animal kingdom that have frequented our yard over many seasons. Our current home is bordered by a national forest, which means there are plenty of nesting spaces and protection from predators. Our garden serves as a small oasis and a source of food for many of the animals that venture out into the open. Each spring, our ornamental cherry tree is covered in butterflies that appear to dance around the branches as they feed on the nectar from the blossoms. As the season progresses, they are joined by moths and bees, making their way through the bloom cycles of the chaste tree, lantana, and the butterfly bushes. Everywhere we have lived we included bright-colored annuals in the summer landscape, which attract hummingbirds. I am continually mesmerized by their aerial acrobatics. For other avian species, both permanent residents and migrants, we offer a gurgling bird bath, a waterfall, and a seed feeder. At our previous residence on a lake, a pair of male and female ducks would occasionally come ashore, cross our lawn, and splash in our garden pond.

Watching animals in the garden has provided me with countless hours of entertainment for most of my life. Photographing them has almost become an avocation. I plan and develop sections of the garden specifically with animals in mind, considering what they need, what will draw them, and how I can best observe them. I set up trail cameras to catch a glimpse of them in action.

Our garden is home to insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. The frogs are in a class all to themselves, at least when it comes to their most noticeable contribution to the garden — sound. During the warm months of the year, they gather in and around our pool and fill the air with responsive croaking that is at times almost deafening. By contrast, the reptiles are so quiet and subtle. I came very close to stepping on a turtle before seeing it and walked past a snake resting on top of a shrub three times before noticing it all.

Black rat snake resting on our holly shrub

Admittedly, I don’t give all animals free access to the entire garden. Unfortunately, the deer and rabbits will take far more than their fair share. They will eat the plants they like all the way to the ground. I use Liquid Fence to deter them from my annuals, perennials, and flowering shrubs, but they have plenty of grass and border foliage to sustain them. It wouldn’t be polite to completely bar them from the yard. After all, the name of our street is Running Deer Road. This is their home too.

Right of Way

November 11, 2015November 11, 2015 ~ If You Want My Opinion ~ Leave a comment

Before my wife, younger son, and I made our trip to Yellowstone this summer, we did like so many other families do before major trips and spent some time reading about the park, its unique features and characteristics, places of particular interest, and potential hazards to avoid. I even watched a few videos about Yellowstone, both professionally-produced and amateur. Of course, one of the major elements that brings millions to this park every year is the wildlife, and for most visitors, the principle of “the bigger the better” holds true. Most of us want to see a bear, at least from a safe distance, but they tend to stay away from the roadways — we were lucky enough to see a mother and her cub the last day we were there. The elk and moose are quite impressive in the size category too. We saw several elk but not a moose.

The largest creature in the park, at least by weight, is one that is not very shy at all. According to the National Park Service website about Yellowstone, this park “is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times. Yellowstone bison are exceptional because they comprise the nation’s largest bison population on public land and are among the few bison herds that have not been hybridized through interbreeding with cattle. Unlike most other herds, this population has thousands of individuals that are allowed to roam relatively freely over the expansive landscape of Yellowstone National Park and some nearby areas of Montana. They also exhibit wild behavior like their ancient ancestors, congregating during the breeding season to compete for mates, as well as migration and exploration that result in the use of new habitat areas. These behaviors have enabled the successful restoration of a population that was on the brink of extinction just over a century ago.”

We knew that bison often made their way to the major roadways in the park and that traffic could be stopped for significant periods of time for herds of the animals to pass. What we didn’t expect was that sometimes the bison actually use the roads as a path, slowly ambling their way along the pavement, almost as if they are curious about the visitors and have arrived for an inspection. There are close to 5,000 bison in the park, so sightings of large herds are frequent. Professional and amateur photographers come out before daybreak to claim their favorite spots on small hills in the bison hotspots, such as Hayden Valley, to get the best shots of the beasts in their natural environment. However, as we discovered on our first day at Yellowstone, you can get a pretty good close-up photograph of a bison from the window of your car, as so many visitors have been doing for years. I took this one from my window as we waited for a group of the animals to clear the road.

Notice that these hooved creatures are following the center yellow line, almost as if it were a trail marker. They were walking along slowly, seemingly with no fear or even regard for the nearby vehicles and their occupants. The dangerous assumption by some park visitors is that these are harmless animals, but as calm as they seem to be, they can become extremely aggressive and dangerous if approached or if they feel threatened. Park literature and signs are abundant warning people to stay a very safe distance from all wild animals in the park , especially bears and bison. Several visitors are seriously injured each year from foolish encounters with bison.

As these massive animals passed our car, I was taken with how they brought everything to a standstill, commanding the right of way. They marched through like royalty participating in a parade — the trooping of the colors as it were. In many ways, the park is theirs, along with the other multitude of species that call Yellowstone home, as it should be. I wish people would always keep in mind that we are only visitors, and as such, we should be on our best behavior to ensure that places like Yellowstone are preserved and treasured.

Wide Open Spaces

July 6, 2015August 12, 2015 ~ If You Want My Opinion ~ Leave a comment

Recently, I took another one of those “trips of a lifetime” with my wife and one of my sons — this time to Yellowstone National Park. Although my wife had briefly visited some years back, my son and I had never been. We stayed for three full days in a cabin just a few miles from the south entrance of the park, which afforded us great access not only to Yellowstone but also to the Grand Tetons National Park as well as Jackson, Wyoming. Like my other experiences traveling to the west, I was most taken by the enormity of space in this portion of the country. The sky goes on forever. The landscape melts into the distance in a blue haze. The vistas are simply overwhelming.

Of course, like many visitors to this National Park, my son and I were hoping to see plenty of wildlife, which is practically unavoidable. In fact, there have been several recent incidents of people/wildlife encounters that have ended up not too pleasant for the humans involved, especially with bison. At a safe distance, and in the protection of an automobile, it is so rewarding to see animals in their own habitat, protected as they are from most human threats. We were fortunate enough to see bison, elk, prong horns, and an otter. We desperately wanted to see a grizzly bear but were not willing to hike in the back country where one would typically find them. However, on the last day, we were lucky enough to see a mother brown bear and her playful cub resting in the shade of some trees, just a hundred or so yards from the roadway.

I will write more posts about this trip in the weeks ahead, so we will consider this short piece an introduction. For those who haven’t been but have contemplated a trip to Yellowstone, I would strongly encourage placing it near the top of your bucket list, especially if you have an appreciation for the great outdoors.

For the Birds

April 22, 2015November 8, 2015 ~ If You Want My Opinion ~ Leave a comment

One of my favorite pastimes is feeding birds. I have had bird feeders close to my windows since I was a young boy, and I never tire of watching them gather around a feeder, flitting about to get the best position or to carry a seed to a nearby tree to eat in a more secure location. I am no bird specialist and can only identify the most common species that inhabit or pass through my part of the world. I don’t know their calls or that much about their habitats or characteristics. I am not a birder as such and have never gone out of my way to search for particular species. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve used a set of field glasses or binoculars to look at them. I simply enjoy watching them around my house and feel good about providing them food, water, and shelter, especially during the colder months. Their colors, designs, sounds, and antics fascinate me.

One of my favorite species that graced our feeders about this time last year are the Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. They have that stark contrast of red, white, and black that you often find in some woodpeckers, but these are more like finches and frequent the feeders in the spring on their way to or from their nesting areas. I was able to peer at them through one of the doors that leads out to our deck where the feeder is hanging.

In the open feeders, I use safflower seed exclusively because the squirrels don’t like it and won’t take over the feeders as they do with sunflower seed. I also have a suet-cake feeder attached to a tree in front of the house. It is one of those feeders that is caged to allow only small birds in and keeps out larger birds, squirrels, possums, and raccoons. I don’t have anything particularly against the furry critters, but I am partial to the birds, and I have a soft spot for the small ones too. There’s something so magical to me about these little creatures, graced with the exceptional gift of flight, and clothed in so much beauty.