It’s amazing how much wildlife one neighborhood can host if the right trees and plants are available.
While watching for migrating birds in the early mornings, I’ve discovered at least 3 active squirrel nests surrounding my backyard—all of them in oaks and hickories.
The squirrel parents try to be very casual about going inside so that predators won’t notice and follow. But since I’m sitting still for so long looking for any bird movement, I often catch them going in or coming out.
As I’ve mentioned previously, it’s also a great year for rabbits. Unfortunately they have already mowed down all of my tulips (even the species tulips!). Now they’ve started on the hostas, lilies and other perennials.
And soon there will an abundance of baby rabbits who like to sample (damage) everything before deciding if they like it or not. <sigh>.
I’ve also found several chipmunk nests in our yard so far, but their numbers seem a little lower than usual. My neighbor told me she’s watched Cooper’s Hawks catch chipmunks, so maybe they are keeping the population lower for now as they feed their nestlings.
And because songbirds populations are struggling, it makes me so happy to see so many bird couples in our neighborhood this spring.
So far I’ve seen obvious nesting pairs of:
- Mourning Doves
- Downy Woodpeckers
- White-breasted Nuthatches
- Blue Jays
- American Robins
- House Finches
- Northern Cardinals
The cardinal male sometimes feeds the female in the cutest little courtship ritual.
The other day I watched a Blue Jay do the same thing. He brought his mate a peanut from our platform feeder.
We also have moles, voles, white-footed mice and shrews eating the grubs and leftover seeds under the feeders. And while I haven’t seen any raccoons lately, I’ve found their scat in the yard.
Finally, the possum I saw in our backyard last December has taken up residence under our neighbor’s shed. She also told me that for the last month she’s seen flying squirrels gliding through the trees above our houses in the late evenings. That’s about the time you may hear the hooting of a Great-horned Owl.
Not a bad showing for just a little strip of land in the middle of a city.