Wildlife Wednesday - Fawning Over June Surprises

My dogs tend to enjoy the wildlife in my garden just as much, or maybe even more than I do.  It is not uncommon for me to find them sniffing out a rodent, or "playing" with a toad out in our backyard.  However, I was VERY surprised to find them licking a baby deer in my backyard a couple weeks ago.

Besides the fact that I was surprised (and very relieved) that they limited themselves to just licking the deer while fervently wagging their tails, I was more surprised to find the little guy (or gal) in my FENCED IN backyard at all.  How did he get in?  Well, considering he is an itty bitty, teeny weeny little thing and probably not more than a day old, he must have squeezed through the fence bars, which are probably only 4-5 inches apart.

Look at those long, skinny legs!  Momma deer must have given birth to the little fawn in my front yard the day before, and thought that it seemed like a safe enough place to leave her babe while she went out foraging for food (I'm not so sure she still thinks that after this little guy's excitement with my puppies).  It is not uncommon for momma deer to leave their young for a full day, returning at night when they feel it is safe to do so.

Apparently in the first week or so of a fawn's life, their danger instinct is less of the normal "flight" and more so "hide and stay very very still."  This little one thought that my flower beds made a nice hiding place.

But something still gave him away...;-)

With the lack of the flight instinct yet, I was able to get very very close to the fawn.  I guess this is why my dogs were even able to get close enough to lick him.  

The fawn moved around into different garden beds throughout the day, and one or two times, I let my dogs out in the backyard to see if they could find him (since I didn't know if he was still out there, or if he had wandered back out through the fence).  Atticus - the true hunter of my two standard poodles, was always able to find him for us.  The fawn's extreme stillness defense worked for him in both cases because, after Atticus sniffed him out, he didn't ever actually find the baby deer, meaning, he didn't realize he found the deer because the fawn was so still that he wasn't noticed by my dog.

After getting a decent photo session in and enjoying the baby wildlife, my husband and I went about our Saturday social plans.  When we returned later in the evening (after yet another downpour...do I really live in Texas?  Feels more like Florida), we found the fawn moved to another garden bed again, this time enjoying a nice nap in the lavender (maybe he thought the pungent scent may throw off any predators?).

As it turns out, our little deer wasn't an only child.  He had a little twin hanging out in my next door neighbor's yard!  Double the cuteness!! I wondered why the babies weren't huddled together and later found out that momma deer will usually separate their young so that they have a greater chance of survival.  Makes sense, but I don't like thinking that anything bad will happen to either of these little cuties.

I knew it was likely that the momma deer would come around late in the evening to collect her young, so I left my back gate open to make sure she could find her little twin that was hanging out in my back garden beds.  Before heading to bed, I looked outside and saw momma deer nursing her baby in my backyard - what an awesome sight!  I was so relieved that momma came back and found her little ones, as well as safely made their way out of my backyard...but not before nibbling on some of my strawberries and phlox!

This is my absolute favorite garden wildlife experience this year.  Thanks to Tina over at My Gardener Says for hosting the Wildlife Wednesday meme on the first Wednesday of every month!

May Wildlife

Life was pretty hectic in May between work and visits from family, which is why my post for Tina's Wildlife Wednesday is a few days late.  With the busy month, I also felt like I didn't get much quality time in the garden, and even less time to photograph my May garden visitors.  But looking back on my photographs tells a much different story.  Even with limited time in garden, I got pictures of so many different types of wildlife.  It makes me wonder how many more critters visited my garden this month that I didn't get a chance to notice.  Here are the ones that I did spot:

Bees, Butterflies, & Other Insects

One of my favorite visitors this month were the Black Swallowtail butterflies.  I need to give photo credit to my hubby for the cool pics of the swallowtails.

This female is laying her eggs on some of the flowering dill in my container herb garden on my back patio.  My fennel, dill, and parsley are constant hosts for the swallowtail caterpillars, which can be found in various instar stages at any time on my plants.

And while clipping some lemon balm for a floral arrangement, I found this empty swallowtail chrysalis.  Maybe it even belonged to the momma swallowtail who is now laying her eggs on my plants for the next generation of swallowtails.

 Next in the insects are the the skippers that visited my garden last month.

Perfect camouflage to blend in with the sunflowers.  I have to say, these are my favorite pictures of wildlife this month, and while my husband is pretty good at catching some cool pictures, I get to take credit for these.

Another skipper sun bathing on a zinnia leaf.

The bees were also loving the sunflowers this month.

And when they weren't feasting on the sunflowers, they could be found on the shasta daisies.

Or even on the Graham Thomas roses (yellow must be their favorite color).

This katydid nymph was hanging out on a gladiola of one of my garden bouquets last month.

Reptiles

There have been plenty of green anoles scurrying around the yard lately.  I found this one sun bathing on the oleander leaves.

The Texas Spiney Lizards have been more numerous than ever.  I see several of them every day out in the courtyard or scampering across the garden.  Today my dogs were going crazy over one that kept playing hide-and-seek with them.

There have been so many spiney lizards, that I was even able to get two in one shot when they were playing around in the courtyard - one is on the rocker cushion, and one is on the bottom rung of the table.  Do you see them?

Mammals

We always have white-tailed deer around the neighborhood, but I usually see them only at dawn and dusk, and they scurry away too fast, so I usually can't catch them on camera.

However, after some strong storms in the area last month which knocked down a lot of branches in the neighborhood, the deer came out of hiding in the morning and feasted on the fallen branches and stuck around long enough for some photos.

They didn't like too many pictures being taken, so were quickly off to find their next fallen branch for breakfast.

Birds

I've spotted plenty of mockingbirds this month, including this guy, who looks to be an adolescent.

The black-chinned hummingbirds (female and male below) continue to feast at the feeder at dawn and dusk daily.  When I'm outside, I generally hear them before I see them - the buzzing they make with their incredibly fast wings is an unmistakable sound.

And while I can spot blue-jays year-round in my garden, I find them to be one of the trickiest backyard birds to capture on camera.  They don't stay at any one place very long, but can be viewed flying from limb to limb or fence post to fence post throughout the day.

Amphibians

Last but not least is a toad that I found on the back porch one evening in May after some heavy rains. My dogs LOVE chasing toads and frogs, and while I tried to deter my dogs from "playing" with this little guy, I eventually had to let them outside and they eventually caught the little fella.  Such is life I s'pose.

Thanks for visiting my blog and reading about the May wildlife in my garden!

Wildlife - August 2014

I'm a few days late, but wanted to make sure I got my August Wildlife post in.  Tina over at My Gardener Says... hosts Wildlife Wednesday on the first Wednesday of every month, and I've been collecting pictures over the past month of all the wildlife in my Central Texas garden (and from my travels) that I want to share with you.

Feathered Friends

Carolina Wren

Titmouse

Cardinal and Titmouse

Furry Friends and Foes

Normally I say the deer down here in Texas are pretty puny.  I grew up with monstrous bucks in the northern woods of Wisconsin that would completely total your car if you hit them.  So, I was pretty impressed with the size of a buck I saw out the back about a week ago - he was much larger than most of the guys I see around here.  I wonder if the extra rain this season has contributed to their larger size.



Awww, RATS! It is annoying enough when the squirrels get to your bird feeders, but rats?  That's just a low blow.  We've had some rat problems since last fall.  The last mischief of rats made themselves right at home in our garage and started to stink up the place quick.  We tried to go poison-free... using traps and peanut butter, but the rats soon wised up to that tactic, so we eventually opted for the poison.  It did the job quick, and thankfully the dogs didn't get into any poison in the process.  This summer they've shown up again, hanging out in the wood piles and munching on the bird food I put out.  I've been limiting the food I put out for the birds, mainly to discourage the rats, but it doesn't seem to be working.  Killer Atticus hasn't killed any rats recently either, so he isn't helping our problem (though he has caught some before).  Looks like it may be time to put out an owl box.

Creepy Critters

The other day, while I was clearing out the veggie beds, I stumbled across this little guy.  Actually, he wasn't very little.  He was a pretty big toad.  At first, I was afraid that I accidentally stepped on him and squished him.

Thankfully, he was just playing dead.  I was afraid the dogs might get to him, but I think he hopped away before they made him their next toy.

I couldn't find what this bug is.  It kind of looks like a wasp, fly, dragonfly and moth all rolled into one.  He's been hanging around the garden for a bit this summer, staying very close to this place by the deck, so he must have a nest of some kind close by.

And the grossest of all the wildlife this month - maggots.  I opened the composter a couple weeks ago and saw thousands of maggots.  I haven't been turning the compost very frequently recently, so I think this is part of the reason why these creepy critters appeared.  I should probably turn my composter more often, and add some dryer products to the mix.  On the bright side, they helped the compost decompose that much faster!

Exotic Creatures

Last month, I had a business trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a week.  I wasn't there long, but one afternoon, my colleagues and I headed out to the Batu Caves (Hindu Shrine).  The stairs up to the caves were filled with macaque monkeys who patiently waited to steel an ice cream cone or bottle of water from an unsuspecting tourist.

Cocks hanging outside the caves.

A venture deep into the cave lead to some very creepy critters... like spiders.

Cave cricket

And another critter that rivals the maggots for grossest creature this month - centipede.  Yuck.