Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Wildlife Wednesday: September 2014

This month's Wildlife Wednesday brings updates on wildlife sightings in the garden.  I'm joining Tina at My Gardener Says.. for a Wildlife Wednesday look at the activity in my garden.

Can you spot the wildlife in this photo?




How about in this one?


There he is!


For my first Wildlife Wednesday I showed one of the many tiny toads which were hopping all over the garden after our spring rains.  This week I spotted an adult toad near the front door.  They are not pond animals but we do water this new tree often which makes this cool, damp corner a nice place to hang out.

The American Black Vultures I featured in July's Wildlife Wednesday post continue to visit the water bowl we keep out for wildlife.  This one performed an impressive happy dance by the cactus garden.


In August of 2012 I posted about a Texas Walking Stick living on the porch.  It seems at least two adult walking sticks have made their home here because we spotted several tiny baby walking sticks on the screen in the last few weeks.  This one is just over an inch long and they are this very pale color.


A sure sign that "antlering" season is upon us this young buck seems to have gotten himself in a bit of a fix.  At least it's not Christmas lights and this green milkweed vine will fall off as soon as it dries up.  The lights usually stay stuck until their antlers fall off in the spring.


Why no, I wasn't trying to rub that persimmon tree with the vines on it.  What makes you ask?

For more on wildlife in the garden join Tina at My Gardener Says...

18 comments:

  1. Nice seeing your wildlife. Here at the lake it is like a zoo! Deer, ground hogs, rabbits, gofers, eagles, etc. etc Love it. Jack

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It does sound like you have quite a zoo going. I need to check in and see what's growing in your gorgeous garden.

      Delete
  2. Great pictures! The toad blended in well and the deer looks very innocent. May I ask what you use to create your motion active photos? I created a video of bees covering a plant last week but, when I posted it into my blog, the published image was so distorted I took it down.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The app is Awesome Motion and it uses a series of still photos. The resulting animation works great for blog posting. I posted a how-to last year.

      http://rockoakdeer.blogspot.com/2013/08/howd-she-do-that-hummingbird-in-motion.html

      Delete
  3. Love the look of that deer--you know he was thinking that. Those walking sticks are so cool. I was just thinking the other day that I haven't seen any in the last year or so--lucky you and your walking stick family. The vultures continue to be a great addition for celebrating wildlife as they're so important for the ecosystem and I figured you were showing a toad, but couldn't find him until it was obvious. Thanks for joining in with Wildlife Wednesday, Shirley!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great pictures. I had to SEARCH for the toad in the first two pictures. Amazing. =)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, that deer is a beauty, but it would be even prettier when further from the garden!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are many times I wish they would stay in the country.

      Delete
  6. Talk about your perfect camouflage - the toad just disappears into the ground cover. That deer shot is great - it looks just like our dog used to when she'd gotten caught misbehaving. And a special word of thanks for the link to the motion tutorial - what a great addition to the boring old still photos I'm used to including on my site. I can't wait to try it out!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They do take on personalities when you get to know them.

      Have fun with the Awesome Motion.

      Delete
  7. Took me a while to finally spot that toad. They are good at camo. At my house they like to burrow into my potted plants and jump out at me at inopportune moments. Always good for a little heart check.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know that's always a surprise when they move around.

      Delete
  8. I saw the toad right away! He's cute. I've had some toads in my potager garden this year--I was happy to see them because they eat the bad bugs. I loved the vulture happy dance and the walking stick! Cute shot of the deer, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are fun to keep around and I like the bug eating part.

      Delete
  9. Hi Shirley! Always enjoy your posts, and glad to see it in my email again. I haven't been getting a lot of my blogs, yours included. We have a few soggy spots where the toads like to hang out. I love having them around. They hang out on the patio at night catching bugs attracted to the security light above it. We found a ginormous walking stick on the house a few weeks ago, so I hope to see babies soon. I've also been finding checkered snakes around lately. They are welcome also. But the biggest wildlife we have, unfortunately, are opossums. They dig up the flower beds at night and help themselves to the cat food if they don't find enough grubs. Would love to see you at the next plant swap. We had no issues at the last one. Ragna and I will be going to the plant sale at SABOT the 13th. Maybe we'll see you there?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice collection of wildlife. I'm glad to hear the email problem is fixed now since several others mentioned it too. I have a conflict for the SABOT plant sale.

      Delete
  10. That toad is adorable ...fascinating array of critters visiting.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by. To comment simply open the Name/URL option, put in your name or initials and skip the URL.