Critters in My Garden

As spring comes into its own, the birds are in abundance.  As I walk by, the beds begin to flutter.  I imagine they're beginning to think about mating.  I put out a cage of nesting material.  I use raffia, excelsior, dryer lint and even a little yarn for color.  They say you can use pet hair, but I haven't tried that.  I'm thrilled that the bluebirds have moved into my stone birdhouses.  My gardener is good at spotting active nests and careful not to disturb them.  

Frogs are really the first harbingers of spring at my house.  My neighbors have a pond that's inhabited by thousands of frogs.  The sound in early spring can be deafening.  They hibernate in the earth or pond mud for the worst of winter.  Then they awake and start serenading.  The frogs at my house are tree frogs--some as tiny as your fingertip, but mostly about an inch long.  All through summer the grass and beds are hopping with them.  I find them in every damp recess--around pots, hoses and in leaves.  And they come in colors that camouflage in their settings.  

And then there are bugs--all kinds of course.  I find lots of black millipedes and stink bugs that try to come inside in the fall.  Both are only harmful to vegetation.  But the most unique insect I've spotted is the praying mantis.  They're predators, carnivores and even cannibals.  They mostly eat any insect, frogs and each other, but they've been know to kill hummingbirds, snakes and any other small animal they can ambush.  They almost look like cartoon characters.

When I was a child we would sometimes capture garter snakes.  The foot long black snakes were the only ones we saw--and they were harmless.  When I began seeing other colored snakes here in Portland, I got curious.  I found out garter snakes come in a variety of colors and patterns and can grow more than three feet long.  I've now seen a couple that were at least that long.  And although I still know they're harmless, at that size they're a little intimidating.  

We have plenty of rodents, but I don't even see many squirrels.  Some probably roam at night, but Sadie keeps them at bay during the day.  I only see these Meadow Voles in person if we unearth something, but I often see where they burrow right below the ground surface.  In their defense--they mate for life.  To my offense--they're rapid reproducers!  Kinda cute--but a bit too close to rats for me! 

The most beautiful and annoying of my fauna are the white-tailed deer.  As much as I love to see them, they wreak havoc on my shrubs and flowers.  I hardly saw a single rose bloom last summer.  They stroll through the garden every night and clean off every bit of fresh new growth and every bud they can find.  They'll even nibble on things they aren't supposed to like!  We spray constantly.  Eight foot fences will keep them out, but mine are 7 feet!  Up until now, they've been able to just walk in my driveway--like an invitation.  Soon my gate will go in and we'll see if they have enough incentive to jump it or the fence.  I'm hoping they won't remember how tasty my garden was last summer!     

I don't spot many small mammals, like raccoons and rabbits, but I'm sure they're plentiful.  Again, Sadie to the rescue.  We'll see when I get my veggie garden planted if the rabbits make their presence known.

What we have lots of, and everyone keeps an eye out for, are coyotes.  They get lots of chickens.  And I put Sadie on a leash at night.  My neighbors spot them on nighttime camera, but I even followed one down the driveway in my car at dusk one evening.  They're lean with bushy tails and can look mangy.  Mostly I hear them in the open space around me.  When they make a kill, they call one another and a whole pack will take up howling and yipping.  It's a terrifying sound--and you just hope it's a rabbit or even a deer--just not someone's dog or cat.