Critters in the yard.

One of my favorite things, one of the things that distracts me most often, is the critters in my yard. There is something about living among wildlife that is good for the spirit I think. Maybe not so much the spiders and giant biting water bugs… or the carpenter ants… or mosquitoes… OK so I am somewhat prejudiced to the wildlife with fur and feathers. I’m adult, I can admit that. We do make an effort to make our property critter friendly though. We leave the fallen and hollow trees for critter housing and the underbrush and the tall weeds for cover…

Habitat for wildlife is continually shrinking – I can at least provide a way station. -Peter Coyote

We have squirrels. Lots of squirrels. Red squirrels, black, grey, fox… we’ve got em all. We have chipmunks too of course which are actually a squirrel. I’m a pretty nice guy I think. When I feed the birds I always throw a few handfuls of seeds around on the ground for the birds that like to eat off the ground and for the squirrels. And how do they repay me? They dig up the flower pots. Aw, cute little buggers.

“The smaller the creature, the bolder its spirit.” 
― Suzy Kassem

There’s Mr. Woodchuck who lives in a big hole under a big stump. He’s more than happy to eat the pretty much anything we put in the planters. He does it with amazing symmetry though. Gotta give him props for having something of an aesthetic sense.

The raccoons are fond of the birdfeeder too. I have seen one youngster that has figured out that if he climbs up the pole a short way then jumps off with a mighty push, it will rain sunflower seeds like mana from heaven. He will do it over and over and it works every time.

The opossums and skunks thankfully just seem to be passing through when I see them. Don’t know where they’re coming from and I don’t know where they’re going and I don’t much care, as long as they keep going. I have had the up close pleasure of both of these lovelies when I found them in my live trap in the garage … intended for the relocation of chipmunks. I think opossum pee is just about as bad as what the skunk can do. Ergh.

There are Fox in the neighborhood as well. This is one of our favorite critters in the yard. These guys seem to have little fear and when they make an appearance they wander around like they own the place. Hey, Mr. Fox, can I introduce you to some of our local chipmunks, all you can eat special today!

Coyote… yup, they took the neighbor’s emus… (yes, we had neighbors who had two emus, chickens and great big tortoise…) keep your cats and little dogs close. ‘Nuf said.

Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. ~Albert Einstein

Rabbits. We don’t see the rabbits very often, but it’s easy to know they’re around. They are especially fond of the daylilies in the spring. I know it’s Peter and his McGregor Garden gang because they munch all the way down to the ground.

The deer seem to have a fondness for the lilies too and the irises and the weeping cherry and the hostas and the holly (!) and… but they are kind enough to leave about 8 inches. They do bring by their babies in the spring to brighten our days and probably to try to soften our hearts a little so we won’t think so much about how we really like venison chili.

From a human point of view, the difference between the mind of a human and that of a mountain goat is wonderful; from the point of view of the infinite ignorance that surrounds us, the difference is not impressive. Indeed, from that point of view, the goat may have the better mind, for he is more congenially adapted to his place, and he would not endanger his species or his planet for the sake of an idea. Wendell Berry, “A Question a Day: A Written Conversation with Wendell Berry”

The birds though are our most frequent visitors. (3-5 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds per day frequent!) From the tiny ruby throated hummers to the mighty wild turkey and all the flying flowers in between, we do enjoy our feathered visitors. The heated bird bath in winter is always popular and I think we’re the most popular house in the neighborhood.

“Wildlife is and should be useless in the same way art, music, poetry and even sports are useless. They are useless in the sense that they do nothing more than raise our spirits, make us laugh or cry, frighten, disturb and delight us. They connect us not just to what’s weird, different, other, but to a world where we humans do not matter nearly as much as we like to think.
And that should be enough.” 
― Richard Conniff