Texas’ Oldest Mammal Species

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Meredith

So I finally got a picture of one of our friendly neighborhood opossums. It likes to visit the sideyard pond for a drink from time to time. I’m thrilled, because in one week’s time, I managed to get three wildlife photos I hadn’t had before — a rattlesnake and scorpion last Saturday, and now an opossum!

Now there’s a face only a mother could love (well, and me — but then again, I’m technically a mother, so I guess it counts).

Since Virginia Opossums are the only opossums living in Texas, there’s no question what species we have in our neighborhood. Virginia Opossums are our one North American marsupial. The young are born about the size of a bean, and they immediately crawl up to mama’s pouch to nurse and continue growing. When full grown, they will be about the size of a housecat. And then they’ll eat all sorts of anything — insects, fruits, berries, and even small mammals, birds, and reptiles. Perhaps that’s one reason why opossums do well in an urban environment (that and the fact that so many people still feed their cats outdoors, and opossums are big fans of cat food).

Opossums are sometimes called “living fossils” because they haven’t changed much in the past 50 million years. Here in Texas, they are our oldest mammal species. What’s nifty is that their lower body temperature makes them highly resistant to rabies and rattlesnake venom.

Aside from that adorable nose, whiskers, and grin, check out the feet. Strong claws and opposable thumbs make opossums great climbers. They’ve even got a prehensile tail.

If frightened, an opossum might hiss at you before running away, quite an alarming sight if you get a good glimpse of its 50 teeth. But when truly scared, an opossum can go catatonic for many minutes to a few hours (hence the term “playing possum”). Its heartrate and breathing slow down dramatically, so it is actually more in shock than just feigning death.

Opossums are some of our most misunderstood urban animals. They are shy and non-destructive, and they are unlikely to carry rabies, but they will visit your patio if you leave cat food out. They might even share the cat food bowl with your pet. Sometime I might tell you the giant-rat story from my youth, but today I’ll just spoil the surprise and tell you that it turned out to be the most adorable juvenile opossum hiding in our curtains and not a giant rat at all. Ever since then, I’ve had quite a fondness for opossums. Just look at that cutie!

Uncommon Commons and Other Things

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Meredith

You know you are with a bunch of naturalists when everyone in your group sighs in amazement at giant oak roots, gets down low to study and photograph tiny blooming flowers, and oohs and aahs over rattlesnakes, fungus, and scorpions. That was our day at the Commons Ford Ranch, a beautiful 215-acre former Hill Country ranch located in the outskirts of Austin. I can’t resist sharing a few pictures.

When our CAMN group arrived at the ranch, we were mesmerized by the massive root system on this stunning live oak tree.

That’s one giant and very old tree, so big that it needed a little bit of support. But if you think you are seeing the full size of this tree, think again.

I backed up as far as I could and still couldn’t get the whole tree in the picture.

Though you can’t see it, I’m standing next to the old Commons Ford ranch house, one of those old-timey houses filled with wooden ceilings and wooden floors. Inside, I rushed off to explore room after room, each of which has nifty little built-in closets and cabinets and bookshelves — even a built-in ironing board that reminded me of my grandmother’s house. I was so delighted that I took not a single picture — shame on me.

Thanks to the work of dedicated staff and volunteers, Commons Ford is undergoing a massive prairie restoration in order to provide habitat for bird species that should be present but have long been missing. And so the field has been cleared of its invasive KR bluestem and Johnsongrass, as well as overabundant mesquite, and is ready to be seeded this week with a carefully selected variety of native seeds appropriate to the area and the soil type.

Down by the creek and elsewhere in the park, some 600 tree saplings have been planted by volunteers.

These little protectors will help people notice and hence avoid damaging the young trees.

In a field up at the house, we got up close and personal with nature, studying assorted winter annuals (which seemed to be mostly non-native Shepherd’s Purse, Henbit, and Pin Clover in that particular area).

Shelf Fungus.

It’s appropriately named.

Of everything we saw, I’m fairly confident that the highlight for everyone that morning was this gorgeous creature:

Yes, it’s a young rattlesnake, specifically a juvenile Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. We were amazed to see it on a chilly February morning, but there it was coiled up on a stone step of all places. Because it was cold, we were able to get a little closer than we would normally have done, and between all of us, I think hundreds of pictures were taken. The little snake was certainly watching us, but the only movement it made was the occasional flicking of its forked black tongue (eventually the snake did retreat to the safety of a crevice, and it was reported that the snake had one cute little rattle).

Look closely, and you’ll see what makes rattlesnakes so easily recognizable. Don’t focus on the pattern — aside from the fact that there are lots of variations among a single species, many other snakes share a somewhat similar coloration and pattern. This has led to perfectly harmless snakes being killed by people who just didn’t care to take a better look. You also can’t go just by the sound of a rattling tail — many species of snakes rattle their tail as a warning sign, whether or not they even have an actual rattle. Your best bet is to study the head.

Remember that a rattlesnake is a pit viper. It has heat-sensing organs between its eyes and nostrils (look for the dark spot to the right of the snake’s nostril above). It also has very cool vertical, elliptical pupils, and its head is spade-shaped. Compare it to corn/rat snakes and you’ll notice a vast difference.

I particularly like the angry look its supraocular scales (effectively eyebrows) give it — the resulting expression is one that says, “Don’t mess with me.”

Inside the house’s kitchen, we discovered another guardian against all things pest-like.

How appropriate that this scorpion sits surrounded by the words “Texas…Wildlife” (it’s sitting on a booklet from Texas Parks and Wildlife). Despite the alarm scorpions bring people, they are actually beneficial little creatures. Yes, they can sting (it’s described as “moderate”). I’ve experienced it, as has my husband, and one of my sons did, too, when he was a toddler. For each of us the sting only lasted a few hours at most — to me, fire-ant bites are far worse. Sensitivity varies with each person, of course, and there’s always the risk of anaphylactic shock. But overall, scorpions are good guys and worth being given a chance. Among their dietary favorites are cockroaches. While I personally feel that’s all I need to say to prove their value, I’ll point out that they also eat crickets, grasshoppers, ants, beetles, spiders, even other scorpions.

Though Texas has 18 to 20 species of scorpions, only two are found are in Central Texas. This little scorpion is a Striped Bark Scorpion (Centruroides vittatus), the most common. It is easily recognizable by its two dark stripes down its back and the dark triangular mark on its head. Our other Central Texas scorpion is the Texas Cave Scorpion (Pseudouroctonis reddelli).

It’s important to be tolerant of nature and recognize the role that different animals have in their natural habitat. That doesn’t mean you have to accept a rattlesnake in your backyard, but rather than rush to kill such a valuable predator, investigate whether a skilled wildlife person or snake expert can remove it for you. Be kind to ordinary garden snakes, too — you don’t have to do a happy snake dance like I do (more like rush to get the camera and take a thousand pictures) — but do be glad if they do come visit to help balance the creatures in your garden. Scorpions, too — let them do their job outside. If you find them inside the house, just scoop them into a cup and take them to the backyard.

So this topic of scorpions led to an online chat I had with my husband. I’ll just post it word-for-word here.

Meredith: I wonder if we can thank our scorpions for being a reason why we have very few cockroaches and crickets.

Michael: I think that’s a reasonable guess.

Meredith: I think we can — scorpions and lizards and snakes, too.

Michael: All our little friends.

Meredith: “Scorpions have tiny mouths, so they do most of their digesting externally by coughing up digestive fluids onto their prey and then sucking up the liquefied remains. If it helps, you can think of it as akin to drinking a nutritious smoothie.” [description by Alex R. at EarthSky].

Michael: Mmmm….

Meredith: If you’re still hungry, you could try that technique. Got a nearby coworker?

Michael: In fact I am still hungry. AFK a moment to try.

Meredith: lol

Michael: I’ll have to come up with an explanation for Lee as to why I’m coming over to throw up on him.

Meredith: Oh wait, you don’t have a tiny mouth. Perhaps the throwing up isn’t necessary.

Michael: Well, it’s kind of tiny compared to the rest of me.

Meredith: True, and since you don’t have a tail stinger full of venom to help you subdue your prey, you might try farting.

Michael: Oh, how I do try that! They never get subdued, though. Quite the opposite.

What does this have to do with the Commons Ford Ranch? Pretty much nothing.

Planting Sticks

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Meredith

Yet more trees and shrubs in the ground — I wanted to take advantage of the fact that it is still winter, a great time to prune woody plants and plant woody ~~prunes~~ others. Of course, it being winter means that I mostly planted sticks.

Sticks are not the easiest to take photographs of — and not the easiest to admire in photographs, for that matter. But there is something remarkably fun in having your neighbors walk by as you dig a big hole in the ground and then put in… a stick.

Here’s my Texas Ash stick. We (and by we I mean my husband) dug a hole among the roots of one of our ancient Arizona Ash trees, the idea being that the Texas Ash will one day take the place of the non-native, way-past-mature Arizona Ash trees that were probably planted the same year the house was built. My job was dealing with the Texas Ash’s encircling roots, which I discovered upon removal of the plastic planter. What a tangled, sad, sad mess. I ended up having to cut quite a few of those roots so they wouldn’t lead to the tree strangling itself. I’m counting on the hardiness of the Texas Ash to recover.

For the birds, I chose a Red Mulberry tree. Plant in hand, I walked around the yard looking for a perfect spot. It turned out that the perfect spot was near our yard’s other Mulberry tree, which I’d apparently forgotten we’d had. Ah well, the more the merrier!

The Red Mulberry already has just a few leaves showing themselves, and a bug nymph stopped by for a visit.

And who wouldn’t want this adorable Mexican Buckeye? The challenge here is not stepping on it. I’ll need to put a cage around it else I manage to do just that.

Aside from budgetary reasons, the reason I plant small trees is that they have a better chance of adapting to Texas’ inconsistent water conditions and extreme temperatures than larger trees do. Their roots will grow where they find nutrients and space, instead of circling around each other because of forced confinement, like the Texas Ash we ~~bought~~ rescued.

Sticking with small plants also allows me to increase native diversity while keeping costs low. And I’m patient, knowing they’ll take a while to grow. I’m mostly patient, that is.

Though I primarily grow natives from Central Texas, of course, I’m experimenting with a couple of species that belong more in southern Texas, mainly because global warming is affecting our hardiness zone. A hard freeze might cause some dieback, but as I said, it’s an experiment. Mexican Olive is one I’m very excited about, if it makes it.

Among other Texas plants new to the yard, we added American Smoke Tree, as well as the shrubs Berlandier’s Wolfberry (it has thorns!), Coralbean, Narrow-Leaf Forestiera, and probably a couple of others I’m forgetting.

I keep saying that I have no more room for trees, and I really do think that if all these trees grow as planned, I’ll likely be at that point almost officially (I have one or two more remaining on my wishlist). Well, there’s always room for more understory trees….

Prepping for Pollinators

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Meredith

Heavy rains this week combined with beautiful weather today made it a perfect time to get out in the garden. I’ve been pulling weeds fairly easily from the moist soil, pruning old plant parts, and playing in the dirt. I’ve also been playing with a new camera, but so far it and I are not seeing eye to eye, as it were. Alas.

Being out in the garden meant I got to see many new buds already emerging, and thoughts of pollinators and early blooming plants were on my mind.

But first I’ve got to show off something I’m super-thrilled about — the Lime Prickly Ash lives! It dropped its leaves for the winter and then the dogs knocked it completely out of the ground (mom was not a happy camper). Fortunately, it was crazy cold that day and I was able to get it back in the ground fairly quickly, hoping desperately that the little guy was fully dormant. Well, thank goodness — the leaves, they be a’coming! We have extra boulders now surrounding the Prickly Ash — hopefully the dogs will heed the barrier.

Last year was the year of minimal gardening for me. The drought made me extra wary of stressing my young natives by pruning and encouraging root growth when no water was to be had. This year, we’ve fortunately had a bit of rain, and it’s time to take care of overdue matters, like the Texas Lantana:

As you can see, it needs it! The Texas Lantana in the butterfly garden had become rather unruly, and little plants were able to grow under the woody branches whether I wanted them to or not. In the case of little Cedar Elm saplings or the unknown type of aggressive bush sage that I’ve been trying to get rid of, it’s not a good thing to have a woody barrier blocking your way to them. You can see lots of henbit below, as well. However, as I pruned back the Lantana and pulled out unwanted other things, I made a happy discovery:

Ten little Goldenrods! These will one day blossom into golden gems that are pollinator paradises. My first Goldenrod was wildlife-planted about two years ago (in the Lantana, of course). Last year one became three. And now I’ve got ten little ones that I will move into more appropriate spots. Here’s what they’ll look like one day (that’s the mama plant):

I’ve also got a few veggies planted — broccoli, snow peas, spinach. The herbs out there right now are for the Black Swallowtails. I didn’t see many of these gorgeous butterflies last year due to the drought, so I want to have plenty to feed the caterpillars in hopes that they (and we) will all have a better year. And so I have several different kinds of dill, parsley, and fennel — if I need a little for cooking, I’ll take it, but otherwise these herbs are all for the caterpillars.

Buds on many trees and little seedlings in the ground are sprouting. We are having a rather warm winter, so I worry that a hard freeze will have an ill effect, but I’ll do what I can to help them.

Here’s a sample of the Gregg’s Mistflower seedlings popping up all over their bed. In other beds, I’m getting to play the “Name That Seedling” game. I did see Standing Cypress and Purple Coneflower, a few Poppies, and maybe even a Gayfeather. There are other plants that will just have to grow bigger and maybe even bloom before I’ll be able to ID them. That’s the fun of spreading an assortment of seeds around — you don’t know what’s going to germinate!

And then there’s the henbit. I have a decent tolerance for this annual, despite it being a non-native that spreads like mad. But it’s a source of nectar for early pollinators when sometimes there’s not much else around, and it is sooooooo easy to pull out from the ground thanks to its shallow roots. So I take out henbit where I want but leave some in the wild areas for the pollinators. Once other plants are blooming, the henbit might be in more trouble.

On this pleasant day, the birds have been busy as always, and out in the garden I was joined by little butterflies, little bees, little flies, and one little caterpillar, a Gulf Fritillary. I’m going to have to tackle its Passionvine soon — the vine climbed into the nearby redbud last year and wants to do so again. The little Mexican Redbud is already about to bloom — I want it to be its own tree again, free from anything trying to strangle it!

And lastly, I’m happy to see that the Pomegranate has its leaves emerging. We had no fruit last year, but it is still a young tree. Last year, its second year since we planted it, was clearly a growth year for the tree — it grew taller than our roof! We’re crossing our fingers (again) that we’ll get fruit this year — I by gosh want to make Pomegranate Guacamole!

I’m glad to be back outside and I’m ever so grateful for the occasional rain we’ve had. It’s so satisfying to be able to prep the beds and get them ready for new growth, new blooms, and maybe even a few new plants to fill the gaps — we’re eager to welcome more emerging pollinators!

Austin’s Great Apes

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Meredith

Austin’s gone bananas, but we’re used to that in our weird city. Bright and early yesterday morning, hundreds of gorillas trampled a 5k distance, chasing down bananas and showing off their unique fashion sense.

The annual 5k Austin Gorilla Run benefits endangered mountain gorillas in Africa. A worthy wildlife cause, a morning of exercise, another chance to keep Austin weird, and gorilla suits for our very own? My son and I, along with family friends, jumped at the chance to participate. I was the sexy one in the cottontail.

In all, more than a 1,000 gorillas (and a few bananas) attempted to take over downtown Austin.

The weather was perfect, cool enough to keep us from getting too hot — and yet walking on the bridge over the river invited a rather brisk draft up our backsides!

I wish I had more photos to show you of great gorilla fashion, but I was busy being a gorilla (and a bunny). So instead I’ll point you to image sets by some wonderful photographers. Check out this and this.

Woe to bananas this day, this great (ape) day.

And Then There Were Reptiles

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Meredith

Meet the two newest members of our family. They are ssssimply worth sssssmiling about! Though we certainly didn’t need more animals in this zoo we call home, the boys were eager for a snake, and I finally said yes because I’d wanted a snake for a teaching companion when I talk to kids about wildlife. Somehow I managed to bring two snakes home. Don’t ask.

And so we have two very young snakes, adorable and loaded with personality.

Morse is the most outgoing and friendly. Just look at that smile!

She is a corn snake, one that is an anerythristic motley (meaning she lacks red pigmentation and has that dotted pattern you see on her dorsal side). She likes to climb and explore, but she is also content to entwine herself through your fingers or to wrap around your wrist until you have a serpentine bracelet.

I say that she’s a she, but I really haven’t confirmed the gender of either snake. She does seem to taper the way female snakes tend to, but as my friend learned with her Baird’s Rat Snake, that is no guarantee (her snake turned out to be a boy despite all indications otherwise).

Morse’s name was inspired by the dot-dash-dot pattern that her motley pattern makes.

She, like other corn snakes, is a constrictor. I love how it looks like Morse tied herself in a knot.

Our smaller snake is a rat snake/corn snake hybrid, and his markings are just beautiful. He looks more like snakes you might find in the wild here in Texas, which is why I was so drawn to him. He is younger and smaller than Morse and quite a bit more shy. Poor thing, it took us forever to name him. For the longest time, we had to call him Little No Name, but now he is Walker. An odd name for a snake, you might think, but let me explain.

When I met this little guy, he seemed very frail in my hand, but the folks at the exotic pet store assured me that it was because he was shedding, and shedding snakes are sensitive to being touched. However, at home and post-shed, the little guy still seemed fragile, and on closer observation, I realized that he couldn’t grip in his middle section — I don’t know whether he’d been injured at the store or whether he has a spine or nerve issue from his incubation period in the egg.

For Walker, this means two things — he can’t climb well, and he needs extra special care when we hold him so that he doesn’t fall.

He’s most content staying on the ground, of course, and he moves quite comfortably on a relatively flat surface. And so we named our legless pet Walker, after MUCH deliberation, discussion, voting, and compromise between members of my family. A little bribing might have happened, too — hey, we know how politics work! For the record, Walker is his last name — now we’re deliberating, discussing, and so forth on the initials that will someday be in front of his name.

Walker is only about 11 inches long right now, compared to Morse’s 16 or so inches.
But he’s a happy eater, and we’re giving him a little extra food to help him grow faster. He
stubbornly refuses to drink any water, however, at least not in front of me. Morse, on the other hand, likes me to hold her while she lowers her head down to the water’s surface and guzzles. The saying “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink” almost earned Walker the name Horse, but good thing for him we didn’t want his name to rhyme with Morse.

Walker is our shy guy. It could be that he’s showing his rat snake side (corn snakes are naturally more docile, whereas rat snakes are known for their much more skittish behavior), or it could be that because he is injured he’s understandably wary of being handled. In any case, two things are happening already — a) he’s getting stronger, and b) he’s getting much more comfortable and trusting. But he’d still prefer to be tucked into a dark little cave (almost earning him the name Tucker or Bear).

Both snakes will peek out of their hiding spots to see what’s going on. Above, Walker had hidden himself under a tissue box but couldn’t resist looking out. Morse, below, was on her way over to taste the camera, flicking her tongue at it.

Sometimes Morse will stick her head out of the Aspen bedding in their habitat and look like a submarine’s periscope, or like the Dianoga in the Star Wars garbage compactor scene.

Now there’s a size comparison for you — these young snakes are itty bitty!

What else can we say about these snakes except that we love them!

The Watcher Is Watched

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Meredith

Sometimes it’s better not to know what lies behind ~~Door~~ Window Number 3.

Clay Family

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Meredith

This winter, the family decided to have fun with clay.

Here are my bat fan pulls. They are Mexican Free-tailed bats, of course, in honor of Austin’s giant colony at the Congress bridge.

I also tried my hand at making a Carolina chickadee. I kept looking out the window at the real birds for models.

It’s hard not to adore Nolan’s bluebirds. They are kind of like blue ducks, but we’re all okay with that.

He also made a great and most vibrant Painted Bunting.

Logan made this Ruby-Throated Hummingbird for his great-grandmother. He also made other birds and even little itty bitty bats.

Michael played with brown clay for a long time, and we made all sorts of jokes about chocolate poo. And then all of a sudden out of his hand appeared a hawk!

We’re not clay experts, but we had a great time. Many of our clay items became holiday gifts for family, and we also made homemade wooden block puzzles this year. We’re just big fans of making gifts from the heart. I’m already thinking about next year’s homemade gifts. What shall they be, what shall they be?

A Bounty of Big, Beautiful Pine Cones

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Meredith

After the squirrels dragged off my last peanut-butter pine cone, I had to come up with alternative peanut-butter feeders for the birds, as there was not a plain pine cone to be found in our area, not even for purchase. Oh, I used our old peanut-butter perch, and my husband made me a new log feeder (seen in images below), but I bemoaned the loss of our pine cones, such fun little feeders, and I scolded those naughty nabbers, the ever-getting-fatter bushy-tailed ~~pigs~~ squirrels.

To my great delight, Marilyn K., who blogs at Adventures of a Vagabond Volunteer, offered to send me some pine cones, as she was surrounded by them at her current location in California. Marilyn is volunteering at different national wildlife refuges around the country while seeing some of most beautiful flora, fauna, and landscapes nature has to offer. Well, send me those pine cones she did, and within a few days about a gazillion pine cones arrived on my doorstep. I’m just giddy! They are the most gorgeous pine cones I have ever seen!

Seriously, this is the mother lode of pine cones. And there are enough pine cones to last me a very long while, especially as I intend to go back to wiring them so those sneaky squirrels can’t sneak them off to their sneaky hiding spots. But the biggest and bestest of them all was this Godzilla pine cone, dropped by a gray or ghost pine. Check out the size difference:

I know there are too many pine cones in this wonderful bounty for one wildlife-loving family to use. I’ll likely share some with the kids I work with and with other wildlife gardeners, so they can make their own feeders. I’ve decided, though, that the giant pine cone shall remain peanut-butter free. It will be too much fun to show it to kids at a nature talk.

I am indebted to Marilyn, who took time from the holiday season and all her adventures to mail me pine cones from across the country. Marilyn, let me speak on behalf of all the wildlife back in Texas who will benefit from your act of kindness — thank you so very much! The birds are already delighted, and they work their way through our peanut butter/corn meal blend incredibly fast. The squirrels aren’t shy about trying again, either — but if they can’t steal away the pine cones, they’re content to at least eat what they can.

This Bewick’s Wren feasted with determination.

And possibly this was the reason — another Bewick’s Wren was squawking from the nearby perch, impatiently waiting his turn. Hey, it’s not my fault all the peanut butter on the perch was gone!

My husband has been enjoying all the wildlife visitors and captured some wonderful images of his own. The Red-Bellied Woodpecker below is one of the birds we’d actually made the log feeder for, and I’m glad it approves.

This little warbler kept playing peek-a-boo.

And if there was any doubt about whether a squirrel would have a problem going up a shepherd’s hook, let us show you:

Such clever little tricksies, them squirrelsies….

A Look Back at 2011, Our Third Year

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Meredith

I’d like to start off the first post of 2012 by looking back at how our wildlife garden progressed in 2011, its third year of existence. Normally this post would actually have taken place as an anniversary post (or birthday post?) in mid-October, but I kept having to put it off. And right before the end of the year, my bad back became inflamed, and there went my last chance to post in 2011, as extended computer time was out of the question. But I ate my black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day (a Southern tradition), so I’m already hopeful that 2012 will be grand. And I’m starting the year off right by getting my update FINALLY done, even if it is way past overdue.

To see the full update, visit the new garden page for 2011 (you can also get to it via the sidebar at right). You can see how far our habitat has come by viewing years 2008-9 and 2009-10.

The year 2011 was very tough for flora and fauna in Texas. Plagued by a severe lack of rain, the state lost millions of trees to drought and fire, and this meant that wildlife struggled to find both food and water. Our own habitat never reached a pretty appearance — our goal was only to use just enough water to keep habitat plants alive. However, we did transplant a few plants around, and those placed in our new garden berm (woefully not yet filled in) did quite well even in the face of drought. In the fall, we added a few more very small trees, so small that I’m not sure they can officially be called trees yet (they look more like short sticks with a bit of green stuck to them).

Although plant progress was slow, we made up for it elsewhere. Several projects around the property reached completion. Our new gate tops the list.

In the back, the flagstone porch transformed the look of our yard.

But we also worked a lot with cedar. This includes ladder-style trellises that I’ll exhibit one of these days if ever a vine below will grow (the drought is to blame), and our new log feeder. But the biggest cedar project was the new pathway winding through our sideyard. It has held up very well, and we see different animals daily walking along it.

Nearby, we created a new shade pond for wildlife near the birdfeeder. Birds enjoy its bubbling stone, toads christened it with tadpoles almost immediately (when it was warmer, of course), and it has become an important watering hole for many nighttime mammals. This probably partially led to the Great Skunk Incident of 2011, but really, the drought is to blame. And frankly, the whole point of the pond is to provide water for wildlife, so skunks might as well feel welcome. They just need to stay out of the dogs’ domain in the backyard, thank you very much.

Aside from the Great Skunk Incident, I’ll have to declare 2011 the year of the birds for our habitat at Great Stems. Partly due to our bird-friendly habitat and partly due to the drought, we saw more species and numbers of birds than ever before. Hummingbirds, screech owls, woodpeckers, wrens, warblers, finches, and all the usual suspects were among the many species that visited (and still visit) our garden.

Whoooo knows what 2012 will bring? It will be exciting, I’m sure!