Monday, August 29, 2022

Summer Wildlife

     We have had quite a few different kinds of wildlife around our house this summer. 

   We feed the birds which brings in the chipmunks and squirrels. We have had possums come in some and have to remember to bring in the seeds that we put in pans for the birds that either can't or don't like to eat out of the hanging feeders. We found a way to hang the long feeders from the eves of our front porch so that squirrels and raccoons couldn't get to them. We had tried hanging them in the trees but the squirrels and raccoons quickly learned how to take them down and destroy them getting the seeds out. 

     Since we like the little critters we found that putting a shallow pan on the ground allowed the birds like bluejays, doves, towhees, cardinals, and some others to eat from them. Many birds prefer to eat off of the ground but will eat out of a shallow pan no more than three inches deep. I get some black plastic ones from one of the dollar stores that were meant to be used as drain pans for changing the oil on a car. They work well for water for the birds, and as drip pans under my larger pot plants, also

    The squirrels are fun to watch. We usually only see one or two at a time. But this year first we had three that I think were a mama and her two large babies. Then we had another two which made five. Then one day I started out the door and there were at least seven making a dash to get off the porch and out of the bushes around the porch and up the big oak tree that sits in the middle of the front yard. 

    You will notice the first photo is of a rabbit. We have rabbits in the yard but usually they stay in the back yard, don't ask me why, I don't have an answer except I think the mamas raise their babies under the shed back there. I saw this one had hopped up into a container we were raising turnips in. He or she seemed to like the turnip greens but thankfully didn't bother the roots that we like to eat. 



This squirrel was a bit different. It's tail was brown in color instead of the normal grey like their body color. 



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