Our Wildlife

 

Our Wildlife


We enjoy country living, especially our pond and the creatures that it attracts. Fish, frogs and turtles add interest to the pond; they also attract other visitors. Certain times of the year we have groups of Canada geese that stop by for a part of the day. Once, for example, 48 geese came early and stayed until noon. Several years ago I took some pictures of the pond. Click here to view them. 

We also have attracted wood ducks by erecting nest boxes. Several years ago I put up the first one in late December, and by late January a pair of "woodies" had adopted it. We now have seven boxes that house successive nesting pairs from January through May each year.

A daily visitor is the great blue heron, which normally appears by itself. However we have seen two or even three here at the same time. These magnificent birds are excellent at fishing. Another, less frequent fishing bird is the kingfisher.

A rare sight but frequent guest is the white-tailed deer. I have often heard a buck in the woods behind the pond snort nervously when I walk by. These animals present quite a sight when they bound through the adjoining soybean field and into the woods. Once during the summer of 2008 as we walked around the pond a doe ran away through the woods. Just a few feet away from us lay her fawn, spots and all, barely visible as it was nestled into vegetation.

This area sports a number of bird feeders that attract hummingbirds, goldfinches, house finches, cardinals, dove, nuthatches, titmice, chickadees, sparrows, juncos, and other seed- feeding birds. We always have  bluebirds that nest in the orchard, where I placed a house for them.

On rare occasions we have seen a fox, woodchuck or a beaver, and shortly after we had the pond built we had a muskrat. Because the muskrat can tunnel into the dam and weaken it, we had to use chicken wire along the dam to keep them away.

About the year 2000 we began to convert areas of our yard into beds for flowers and shrubs that produce seeds and berries for birds. This ongoing effort has resulted in an abundance of birds and other creatures visiting us. Another result is receiving certification by the National Wildlife Federation as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat

Last Updated Saturday, December 20, 2008 03:06 PM