One thing that amazes me is the amount of garden birds our little suburban corner attracts. Including what is becoming my favorite visitor, a woodpecker. I've noticed him before pecking his way into our maple tree. But looking up from my weeding the other day, there he was on this years dying flower branch. It's part of a huge grassy plant that seperates the main garden to what's going to become our vegetable patch. Admittedly, the plant was actually on a death list. It's in a prime sunny spot which, prior to this was being ear marked for adding to the butterfly garden. I guess we're working around it now.
If I see a plant, a shrub, anything being used and enjoyed by any creature - a bird, a bee then it's staying. As much as I want a garden that's pretty and colourful, I'd prefer a garden that's a haven and helpful to the animals that need it more. He was was there a far while, barely bothered about me being about 10 feet away weeding. Even long enough to wander inside and grab my camera. But he seemed a little camera shy and took off to pecking at the telegraph tole.
What wildlife have you spotted in your garden?
Ooh that's so cool! I've never seen a woodpecker out and about, it's so nice that your garden attracts lots of wildlife ^_^ I hope that when I finally get my little bit of outside space it brings lots of lovely visitors.
ReplyDeleteYeah he has to be one of my favorite visitors. We don't get lots of birds but we get a far few species for sure. Hopefully when we get more colour into the garden, it'll encourage them in even more!
DeleteUnfortunately we don't have a garden - we do have a courtyard that is often frequented by cats and foxes though.
ReplyDeleteLizzie's Daily Blog
Oh i'm always a fan of ktities wandering through!
DeleteThese are beautiful photographs! I don't have a garden... but I see a lot of lizards and frogs outside my door...Creepy little things, I'm always afraid the frog is going to jump on me whenever I am unlocking the door! ugh... >_<
ReplyDeleteJessica
the.pyreflies.org
Oh the lizards would freak me out, all the sounds of the insects at night here are so different from the UK (where you don't really hear anything bar the odd grass hopper) still takes a while getting use to! And knowing there's snakes (even rattle snakes here in Michigan) freaks me out a bit too!
DeleteThat's so neat! I love when you get an unexpected visit from wildlife of some sort :) Back at my house in Michigan, we had deer all the time in our backyard. We have a woods about 200 feet behind our house, and sometimes the deer hang back, sometimes they come up closer to the house, and once they even managed to find their way INTO our garden!
ReplyDelete~ Samantha
samsamcherie.blogspot.com
It always surprises me how many deer you spot here in the metro area. In our old apartment which was right along i-75 right in the burbs, we use to spot deer in the grass verges. It was funny the other month we were up at an estate sale in Rochester and two deer just come out walking over some front lawns. Although I can hear they can be a right pest when it comes to digging up gardens!
DeleteWhat a sweet little guy! I worked at a wildlife rescue center as an intern a number of years ago. It was a year we were having a lot of fires in California and a little baby woodpecker came in, basically featherless and singed except for a few little puffs sticking off the top of his head, haha. He was actually kind of an annoying little thing and had an appetite like you wouldn't believe! I much prefer sparrows. They were the sweetest, most gentle of all the song birds I worked with.
ReplyDeleteCat
http://oddlylovely.com
Aww what a poor little woodpecker! We use to get loads, like 30 sparrows en mass on our front porch eating all the bird seed but they seem to have been avoiding us lately. Love just watching them through the window though, as did the cats!
DeleteThat is SO cool - what a menagerie. It's great that you keep the plants they love, the world & wildlife needs more people like you in the world!
ReplyDeleteI'm all for wild life and wild flowers in my garden, bumble bees and butterflies are having a hard time so, if there's something I can do to help, them hopefully it might be of some benefit. And actually being a bit of a lazy gardener - leaving in some of the weeds, not always cutting the grass helps wildlife out. So we all win haha.
Deleteaw so cute! I'm reluctant to get rid of things when I see birds using them too, we have a really out of control bush but the birds play in it and hide from the neighbourhood cats so I don't have the heart to cut it back!
ReplyDeleteOh I'm sure they love that bush, people always think about trees for birds, but I know the sparrows that pop around ours love the shrubs just as much, even if it's just to annoy the squirrels.
DeleteWhat a cute guy! I love it when wildlife come to visit my garden also. My most frequent visitors are rabbits! Which is probably due to the fact that our lawn is 90 percent clover. Haha
ReplyDeleteHaha, i'm sure there's more "weed" than grass in our own!
DeleteHe's cute. I like gardens that really are gardens, my aunt has a great garden for the birds and other wildlife. It's such a nice place to be in the summer. Yet the neighbours they have this perfect patio garden, everything in pots and it just doesn't feel like a garden. Where's the fun in a garden and a little bit of nature if it doesn't attract a little bit of nature.
ReplyDeleteUrgh that sounds dull. Probably more hard work keeping the patio clean and tidy too. We have houses on the street that everything - the grass, the bushes, everything is manicured to an inch of it's life. A company cuts it every week and sicks god knows what chemicals on it monthly. I'm all for keeping it tidy, but some go super ott. And for it all, you barely see any wildlife there.
DeleteWe have one of these lovely woodpeckers too! I think he's so pretty. Our nuisance is squirrels burying things in the lawn, I feel guilty digging up his nuts but my dad is never too impressed with the state of his grass.
ReplyDeleteOh we have so many squirrels, squirrels are like the pigeons of america. they are every where, all over my beds and lawn. I just leave them to it to be honest, our lawn isn't the best so they are welcome to dig it up haha! Kinda funny just watching them burying and trying to then find their acorns mind.
DeleteHow awesome is that! We have some squirrels here in our little patch of the city and lots of birds-- I wish I knew what they were!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely, woodpeckers are so cool. Unfortunately my dog scares most wildlife out of our garden!
ReplyDeleteAww, he's lovely! Well done for getting such fabulous photos of him! We always have little birds flying around outside our window, but they're too fast for me to get a photo of.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a lovely post! Makes me miss my parents' garden back in Toronto. They live in the middle of the city but my dad is an ornithologist and knows all the tricks, so the backyard is always full of chirping and colours dashing by. Here in NL we live in a flat in the city centre, so no garden and no wildlife unfortunately!
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