Animals in your garden

[DeborahJane]

We have new visitors to the window feeder!! YAY!!

A male American goldfinch.

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On the bottom of the same sunflower, a female American goldfinch!

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So I've hung two thistle feeders. One at my window, one in the back yard! Hopefully, next year there'll be more of them!

I love his/her head nuzzled in the flower, having a lovely time

 

[AntonioCalcano]

Most animals are just harmless, I wouldn't worry about them, I would only worry if I found out my plants are being harmed which I haven't. I think having animals is an important part of gardening and should be taken seriously only when we find out our plants are being damaged.

 

[MaryMary]

I love his/her head nuzzled in the flower, having a lovely time

Those sunflower seeds are the only thing I've found to get them to come in my yard. I've managed to keep them with thistle seed!

 

[Aulia Sarah]

Great pictures everyone! here in my place (in village) we just have bird, come and go.

 

[thevegetarian]

Few days ago i was walking around and i was able to see this sweet rabbit in my yard:

not the best image, however i wasn't carrying my professional camera and used my old phone to take the picture and he started running away as soon as he saw me, hopefully he will visit me again.

 

[AntonioCalcano]

Few days ago i was walking around and i was able to see this sweet rabbit in my yard:
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not the best image, however i wasn't carrying my professional camera and used my old phone to take the picture and he started running away as soon as he saw me, hopefully he will visit me again.

That's a very beautiful animal and don't you worry about the quality of your phone what matters is the intention. I hope you upload more pictures!

 

[thevegetarian]

That's a very beautiful animal and don't you worry about the quality of your phone what matters is the intention. I hope you upload more pictures!

if that sweety visits me again then it will be my pleasure to take and upload some more photos!

 

[DeborahJane]

Sitting here in the study on the computer at 7am not realizing it's actually breakfast time. Luckily i have a little dickie bird to keep me on the ball!

 

[LIcenter]

I need one of those! Maybe I'd get more stuff done around the house if I did.

 

[DeborahJane]

I don't know about that Licenter. I tend to sit on my verandah and watch my "dickie birds".

 

[Dinu]

I work in a 150-acre campus having a heritage royal mansion [donated by royal family to govt. 1949, now has many buildings added]. The campus with its greenery and some foresty areas are also house to many creatures including snakes. Sometimes they sneak in to the offices and labs. Recently a 20-inch rat snake had found its way into the neighbouring room of our dept. So the staff panicked and the security people called in a 'snake catcher' - there are 2-3 doing this service - to find and rescue the snake. It was hiding under a cabinet. He effortlessly pulled it out an put it into a bottle and made breathing holes before carrying it away. This snake I show here is of a Cobra he had caught before he came here attending a call from another place a few miles away. Call them and they come. You have to pay a nominal fee. He collects the caught snakes and releases them in the nearby forest where they can survive.

 

[Beverly]

Wee tiny Giant Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars just out of the egg on the Murraya p. (Orange Jasmine)...too small to photograph properly but i can see them with magnification. Such a happy surprise...well, not such a surprise because i saw a couple of butterflies a few days ago and have been watching for eggs since. Also i see 4 Queen Monarch butterfly caterpillars just out today on the tropical milkweed, also very tiny (survivors of some lacewings that like to eat the eggs). Photos coming soon. The Queen eggs are white and laid singly on the underside of the leaves, flower buds, seed pods on whatever Milkweed they can find within their range. Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias c. is native to Mexico). The Giant Swallowtails lay single (as opposed to a cluster) yellow eggs in plain view on just about any Rutaceae they can find, very boldly on the tops of leaves, etc. Right now, the wee ones are eating what is left of their respective eggs and then they will sleep until dusk or a little earlier and maybe take some nibbles from the leaves, leave tiny poohs (frass), and back to sleep. The Giant Swallowtails willl range along the eastern part of the US as far north as Canada and are the largest butterflies in the US. Queens can be found in Texas, Florida, Georgia, and sometimes as far north as the Carolinas in the US.

 

[Beverly]

Here is the little Giant Swallowtail caterpillar next morning exploring its surroundings. There are not any "he" or "she" caterpillars, no sex organs until metamorphosis. When they come out as adult butterflies often the sex can be determined by looking at the wing patterns. It is about 5 mms (.02 inch) here and will grow to about 2 inches more or less before it starts to pupate. The second photo shows a pre-flight adult about 15 or 20 more minutes of hanging around before the wings are rigid enough to fly.

 

[DeborahJane]

How absolutely beautiful Beverly and fascinating to hear about the hanging around period. Makes sense but I hadn't thought about it.

 

[Beverly]

Thank you @DeborahJane. When the butterflies first exit the chrysalis, the thorax (abdomen) is enormous and the wings are small, all crumpled up, and limp. The reason the thorax is so huge is that it is full of fluid part meconium from their stay in the chrysalis which they pee out (in a magnificent arch for these butterflies because of their size). The first time i saw that, i said "well hello". The remaining fluid is flowing into veins in the wings (hence the "hanging"), expanding the wings and making them flight ready. The time this takes depends on the air temperature and the size of the butterfly. It could be an hour before they are ready to fly. The butterflies are so vulnerable during this time. If they should loose their grasp and fall down while the wings are still limp, they will die unless they have a friend passing by to offer them a finger to grasp or unless there is something to climb on that they can drag themselves to. The larger bflies like this one rarely fall but sometimes the smaller to mid sized ones do. Gosh i hope this is coherent. I am so stunned by what has just happened in the country of my birth that i am both sick to my stomach and light headed, and in a state of disbelief. The person who will not be the president received the majority of the popular vote, but the candidate who becomes president is the one who receives the most electoral votes.