Post your yard and pond visitors

[Burd]

The young birds had a very hard time too. Wack em.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Snakes would be gone. No time for them eating baby birds. Ain’t no body got time for that.

I protect the birds that nest on my porch to the best of my ability (via the colorful & "creative" saucer baffles) but I will not cause harm to a native predator for eating its natural prey. I moved the rat snakes off the porch posts (which, in all honesty, probably stressed them out a bit) and placed them away from the nest by about 15 - 20' or so. The baby birds are still alive. The snakes are still crawling around the area. I will support, but not totally disrupt the circle of life ecosystem that exists here (and did so long before we built our house in the area 10 years ago)

 

[rubyduby]

I protect the birds that nest on my porch to the best of my ability (via the colorful & "creative" saucer baffles) but I will not cause harm to a native predator for eating its natural prey. I moved the rat snakes off the porch posts (which, in all honesty, probably stressed them out a bit) and placed them away from the nest by about 15 - 20' or so. The baby birds are still alive. The snakes are still crawling around the area. I will support, but not totally disrupt the circle of life ecosystem that exists here (and did so long before we built our house in the area 10 years ago)

I like the way you think BKHpondcritters!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

I like the way you think BKHpondcritters!

It would probably be different if I wasn't in such a rural area where the wildlife had to struggle more just to survive. My house is in the middle of ten heavily wooded acres, and the neighboring houses (which are few) are also sitting on multiple acres. Mostly, there's just a whole lotta nothing around us, so I figure the critters who live near here can pretty much take care of themselves (as they've always done, long before we showed up & disrupted their world!)
Here's the little cutie that had to go for a ride yesterday -

My dogs have dog-door access to a small area right around the house, and she was hanging out inside the fence about 18" off the ground (so, right at nosy nose level!) I really love snakes, but I can't risk one of the dogs getting bitten.

 

[rubyduby]

Oh do I miss a dog door. I installed one at my cabin and I didn’t have to let them in and out all day long BUT we had a lot of porcupines so I still had to patrol the large fenced in area.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Ooh! Porcupines - yikes! I'm very glad that's one critter we don't have to worry about here!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Had a Ruby-throated hummingbird in the garden this morning.

 

[j.w]

@JBtheExplorer so the male only has the ruby throat then?

 

[JBtheExplorer]

@JBtheExplorer so the male only has the ruby throat then?

Yes, only adult males have the bright red throats. Females don't and juveniles don't immediately. I tend to see them more than the adult males.

 

[addy1]

I protect our snakes, ie don't kill them. Like the mouse and other critters control, they give us.

 

[Burd]

I would want snakes around my place. No way. I’ll bet my shop Vac would do the job.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I protect our snakes, ie don't kill them. Like the mouse and other critters control, they give us.

I always think, one of these days my pond/gardens will finally attract some snakes to my yard. Seven years later, still no luck.

 

[mrsclem]

I always think, one of these days my pond/gardens will finally attract some snakes to my yard. Seven years later, still no luck.

I will send you some of mine! I posted that we hadn't seen any this year. Low and behold within 2 days, 2 large black rat snakes in my front yard and we found a nest of babies and another adult!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

It's the final day of National Pollinator Week. The perfect day to share just a few photos of the pollinators that have visited my yard since I added the native garden. I originally stared the garden for Monarchs. I grew butterflyweed and thought maybe I'd find a few caterpillars if I was lucky, and I knew some bees would appear, too. The first year, I quickly found caterpillars and it motivated me to do more. I've added more garden habitat every single year. From 64 sq. ft. in 2014 to 2,000+ sq. ft. this year, and I already have ideas for an additional ~100 next year.

I get a lot of great wildlife visitors in my yard, but seeing the pollinator life increase really makes me think about how great it would be if everyone had a native garden. It's impossible to ever get everyone on board in an instant, but I hope someday we can at least get 25% of people to plant native gardens.

 

[Burd]

Relaxing at the pond.