These/those little things (wildlife) you find in your garden

Hi all. Hope to goodness that you are not getting tired of seeing my name but as an elderly gardener (ancient in fact) I have so much I would love to discuss with all you like minded folk.
My idea here is to leave aside all the "bigger" things in our gardens, layout, plantings, the over all scheme of things etc and to concentrate on those little perhaps first seen and one off things we just happen to come across during our activities therein - the "wow never saw that before" factor?. This will involve plants i.e sports, double flowers etc but probably mostly all those visitors we have, the insects, reptiles and all things connected.
I will kick off with a little story of the wife rushing indoors saying theres a snake in the garden - it turned out on investigation to be an Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar - quite longish - finding its way across the path. Now heres the surprise - just giving it a gentle prod on its flat rounded face caused it to rear up and sway rather like a snake might. Same thing happened with some large green caterpillars found on a Forsythia bush, these occurred a few years running - these were Privet Hawk Moth and must have been using the Forsythia as a second choice of food since no Privet handy. Speaking of snakes I must tell of the very young harmless Grass Snake I found tucked away under a bucket containing water saved from a water butt. More to say but how about you and anything you have seen - do tell. Syd.

Moderator's note: added a more descriptive title to topic
Moderator's note: moved topic to more appropriate forum

 

Great topic, Syd! We have stumbled (sometimes literally) over so many things in the gardens.


Our resident rabbit ( photo / image / picture from marlingardener's Garden )

And of course, birds of all feathers:

Crested Caracara ( photo / image / picture from marlingardener's Garden )


Redtail Hawk ( photo / image / picture from marlingardener's Garden )

We have snakes of various types also, but they are devilishly hard to photograph!

 

I get everything from butterflies, butterfly moths, rabbits, armadillos and the awful worms that munched on my hibiscuses (or is it hibisci??) Anyhow... they were munching on all of them. And there's a variety of snakes. Luckily my dog keeps most of them out of my garden. But the one thing that turned out to be a nice find, was when we rescued a baby squirrel. He still comes around to "his tree" looking for peanuts.

This was the day he was rescued.

( photo / image / picture from cherylad's Garden )

And this is the last photo I think I took of him.




Knothead - 74 days after being rescued ( photo / image / picture from cherylad's Garden )

 

Hi Syd, Yes, it is fun to discover all that happens in our gardens, from the flowers blooming to all the bugs, and birds, and critters that visit.
One of my favorites has to be the toads!


new friend ( photo / image / picture from Kay's Garden )

 

Ah the photos I could post! It was hard to choose just a few to showcase ;D

Id never seen a Mantis in my yard before, so this lil guy (gal?) was a surprise! heehee

Praying Mantis ( photo / image / picture from TheBip's Garden )

This little dove's parents decided to nest in my front bed year before last. I had hoped they'd come back, but having the kitty around (I took care of a stray kitty until I could find it a home) made it too dangerous for them. Maybe next year?

Baby Mourning Dove ( photo / image / picture from TheBip's Garden )

The parents of these guys decided the top of our porch light made a fine nesting spot *lol* I didnt live here at the time, so I didnt get to see them leave the nest. One day I visited and they were gone, I only hope they left the nest by themselves (its a spot that would be next to impossible for a predator to get to...)

Baby American Robins ( photo / image / picture from TheBip's Garden )

 

Hi all. A jolly good start for which thank you all - great pics, really good comments and immediately shows what we have said before that we gardeners are also sincere wildlife/nature lovers.
Jane. Love the Rabbit, just how tame is it, does it come right up to the house. We see very few here but in last garden they showed up from time to time - there was plenty in the wild there including an occasionally seen black one. Ref the Hawks how many different ones do you get locally

cheryl. Was the Squirrel just abandoned and if so how did it survive apart from with your help - are they capable of "foraging" for themselves from such an early age - looks great now - love to know how it got its name Knothead.
Kay. First time we meet so hallo. Ref the Toads we get them in our garden regularly and also Frogs - great to have them around- first class slug munchers. They are quite tame and seem OK to stay around whereas the Frogs "hop it" (excuse the pun) immediately. I have a special "building" I made for them which I call Toad Hall (Wind in the Willows etc) - it consists of a brick surround covered with paving slabs over a drainage cover leaving a space between - they do use it and possibly a Grass Snake also. It is just over the path from our small pond so convenient for a drink or whatever - cannot say that I have ever seen a Toad in water swimming - do they?. Speaking of the pond we have this last couple of years during summer had Pond Skaters on its surface and take it that it means its quite a healthy set up.

Bip. Doves are great - we have many called Collared Doves here and they are regular visitors to the garden. That Robin was a shrewd bird putting its nest where it did - we have been very lucky and have had a (successful) nest in a Thuya this last two years. We did also have a Wrens nest in a Clematis right next to the sunhouse but sadly it was ransacked by either a Magpie or Squirrels. Have a pic or them coming and going to it before this happened as well as other garden visitors- will send a few.
Syd.

 

Syd, we have Eurasian Collared Doves here, also. I love to watch them walk--they seem to be on roller skates!
And although these aren't in our garden, I can watch them from the garden:


Male merganser on pond ( photo / image / picture from marlingardener's Garden )


Two shovelers and an egret ( photo / image / picture from marlingardener's Garden )

 

Syd... A snake was trying to eat the baby squirrel. Hubby killed the snake. Revived the squirrel. We kept him in a bucket with rags that sat on a heating pad. Fed him a milk/egg mixture with an eye dropper. And then once he was big enough he got moved to a cage. And then was able to eat sunflower seeds and pecan pieces. Then it was time to start adjusting him to the outdoors. So his cage was placed in a tree. Then after a couple of weeks, we opened the cage door. He would get out and play in the tree but return to it whenever he wanted to sleep. Then one day he just started building him a nest in the tree. So the cage was taken away. Since our pecan trees did not produce well this year, I have been putting peanuts in and around his tree. I don't worry about him getting into the bird feeders. I just keep adding more. The kid has to eat, right? :-D Knothead is a name we use regularly around here when referring to someone that does silly or crazy things. And it just fit him perfectly.

 

Hi Jane - cheryl - all.
Jane.
Good pic that of the Merganser and what a dainty pretty bird - we have a Duck here called a Tufted Duck which is similar though a little bigger and has that white patch on its sides. Ref the Egret, a nice bird. At our last address we lived a mile away from a wide tidal river and when the water was out these wide mud banks were exposed - many different types of birds including Redshank, Godwits, Plovers in variety including Lapwings and my favourites the Avocets. The Little Egrets were to be seen there also along with Herons - always amazed me just how long they could stand motionless in one place. Lucky you to be able to see them from your windows. Do you go in for photography really strongly or just like to have a camera and take some pics.
cheryl.
How wonderful of you both to have devoted all that time and care to the little waif - totally admire you for it and what a reward, he is still around. Its amazing just how quickly it progressed from so tiny to full sized. Love that name Knothead - think it could equally well apply to me at times. Top marks.
In my last post I mentioned a Wrens nest which was ransacked, I did have pics of the building process and subsequent comings and goings but sorry they went when I lost my pics from PC. Can say this though that apart from the Goldcrest and Firecrest which are in the woods here the Wren is our smallest bird - love that song, so much noise from so tiny a creature. We have had a Pheasant visiting regularly all this summer but this will surprise you - a really big bird that came and went last year and that before was a full grown Peacock and how beautiful, in the sun the colours on it shone and the tail magnificent. First time I saw it I had walked round the front of the bungalow and it was literally spread out on the top of a brick wall in the garden - not a bit put out it just looked at me and sat tight - it usually had a general wander around on each visit and I got into the habit of throwing it some food. I believe it came from a big house/garden down the road and apparently they do this wandering thing , sometimes for quite a distance. I had known of homing Pigeons but Homing Peacocks was a new on on me. Syd.

 

You mean like these things? (Saturday night I had a fight with an opossum out in the chicken coop...it didn't win, but I won't show any pictures of that. it is the uuuuuggglllliiieest thing ever, too).

( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden )






Moth in the kitchen sink ( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden )






Hello? ( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden )

 

Hi carolyn - all. Good pics those and ref the pupa/chrysalis(?) what is it connected with? - Butterfly, Moth, Beetle?. There's always so many many things to be seen whether in the garden or wherever - surprising that so many people walk about and notice nothing much other than standard mundane things - lack of interests do you think?.
Something else I would like to mention if I may and its a plant thing - ref Evening Primroses Oenothera, in this case biennis. These are quite common here and are a wildie really but also make a great show of yellow flowers - they seed about a lot. The flowers come in two sizes either small, about one inch in diameter or twice that size - its a case of pot luck with a seedling, no telling until they flower - they grow from 3 to 4 feet tall with me. I always allow a few to remain around my plot and I find they are happy in a poor spot - I am letting them grow as they like on that strip next the woods. Ref the larger flowered one - it is possible on a hot sunny early evening to watch the long flower buds slowly unfurl petal by petal, something to see I thought and worth mentioning.
I might be able to rescue a few of my lost pics and if so I will send a few. Syd.

 

A few of my backyard critters.


( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden )

 

Donna, with all those happy creatures dancing in your yard, it must be an adventure just going outside! I envy you the turtle--all of ours are down at the pond and don't come up to visit. Guess it's a long, slow trip for a turtle . . . .