My previous community garden plot was adjacent to a prairie restoration field, with a small forest and lake nearby. As you can imagine, humans were not the only creatures to inhabit this space. Here are some fellows I got to know over the years. Some I really miss, and some not so much - I think you'll be able to tell which is which!
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| Sandhill cranes |
A pair of sandhill cranes nested on the lakeshore every summer. They took a stroll in the field every afternoon. I would say hi to them from my plot as I worked in the garden. Once as I was bent over weeding, they flew right over me, so close they almost touched me. I felt a sudden wind rushing over me and stood up, only to be confronted with a crane rear-end in the air in front of my face!
Occasionally they would sneak through the gardens in search of a tasty tidbit. Sandhill cranes are supposed to be rather shy, but this pair seemed quite unconcerned at the close presence of humans.
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| Sandhill cranes with chick |
Sandhill cranes have one chick per year. Here they are showing this year's baby around the neighborhood.
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| Ground squirrel watching me: "Plant some more of those peas, lady! We like 'em!" |
Here are two more friends I met on the plains. Both are small, tailless, and really like to eat. Ground squirrels would pop cheerfully out of their tunnels and stare intently as I surveyed the damage they had done. They would mostly just eat vegetables reachable from the ground, but I've also seen one climb a pea fence to get to the peas on top. They would always come to watch me work - many little heads in a circle around me, thinking: ooh, next we are going to eat THAT!
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| Vole peeping from his hidey-hole |
Voles tunnel underground and are very shy. They eat the roots of plants away to nothing from underground. Usually all I saw of the voles themselves was a gray-brown streak as they scurried away if I disturbed the pile of mulch they had been hiding in. But they left behind plenty of mementos...
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| Rodent damage on 'Tetsukaboto' winter squash |
I'm not sure who was at this feast - perhaps they had a giant rodent party? I can just see them, sucking the juice from some fermented tomatoes and shouting "Gardens RUUUULE!" So that you don't feel too bad for me, I would like to say here that I harvested a bounty of vegetables from this garden. Losses to rodent damage really never exceeded 10 or 15%. I just looked on it as the local rodent tax - not a bad rate, compared to some other tax codes I know!
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| Red-tailed hawk |
Fortunately for gardeners, where there are rodents, there are predators. I find these large hawks somewhat terrifying (they always seemed to be sizing me up - could we eat her? she does look kinda wimpy...), but I know deep in my heart that they are good for my garden so I try to like them. Also, they are strikingly beautiful. But I still don't want to pet them.
My current garden is in more of a suburban-y landscape, and the visitors tend more toward the conventional marauding bunnies, chipmunks, and bird-seed fattened gray squirrels. I see cranes flying far overhead now, but we still receive plenty of visits from these guys:
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| Hawk with bunny fluff on my neighbor's lawn |
Oh, I envy you those cranes! At the nature preserves here one can get reasonably close, but never that close. (And certainly not quite that...personal.) I wonder what the chicks look like straight from the egg--all legs even then, maybe?
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the rodent tax--like a protection racket, only without the baseball bats.
Ooh yes that's perfect - they're like little gangsters. At least they think they are. :-)
DeleteHi Rebecca, I have always thought that cranes were such elegant, regal looking birds. Occasionally, if you are lucky, you will see a grey crane fishing in the nearby river. Two winters ago all the bulbs in my front garden was nearly consumed by voles. This is one pest that gets no sympathy from me, even when a hawk swoops low.
ReplyDeleteYes, go hawks! I've never seen a grey crane - the sandhill ones are not a rare species or anything but they are such magnificent birds.
DeleteAt least your visitors are a lot more interesting than slugs!
ReplyDeleteOh I have plenty of those too, don't worry! I'm not posting any photos though - yech!
DeleteWow! What wonderful photos! Great job. Wildlife is difficult to catch with a shutter.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was so interesting to see the cranes walking around your garden! We have had a pair fly overhead to the neighboring wetland where they seem to roost in the summertime, but never so close! What a thrill. We have had a red-tailed hawk in our yard... once staring out our pet bunnies cage.
Thanks for sharing! Julie
I have a very hard time with wildlife photos because I'm always so slow focusing and getting the camera set up... some of those are pretty blurry I'm afraid.
DeleteWhat magnificent cranes! What a joy it must be to see such beauty walking through the gardens. You must be one lucky person!
ReplyDeleteI did feel very lucky to get so close to them and to feel like they were part of family almost. There is just something magical about a crane family!
DeleteYou have some very interesting friends in and near your garden. I have never seen a vole in the hole. They usually scamper away very, very quickly before I can even get a good glimpse of them. You got a great shot. Those cranes are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's the only vole that ever stood still for long enough for me to get a glimpse of him, much less take a picture. He was attempting to do the "I'm frozen so you can't see me" thing, apparently. :-)
DeleteI love seeing sandhill cranes!... We have them in the fields around us all summer... a group of 20 flew over a couple nights ago and what a racket they made! I do not feel quite as forgiving when it comes to voles however! Larry
ReplyDeleteI've seen large flocks of them in northern Wisconsin, in wilder areas, which was really awesome! Here in urban Madison we pretty much see them only in family pairs. I guess they are the brave few who are willing to risk the more highly populated areas.
DeleteLove the sandhill cranes! But that hawk looks scary! I can't believe he's eating that bunny right on your front lawn! I hope you don't have any little dogs or cats!
ReplyDeleteI did not feel too bad for the bunny because I think he's the one who ate my fothergilla. (Funny how gardening hardens your heart.) But I did wish the hawk would have taken his kill somewhere else to eat it - he just sort of occupied the front yard for a day and made me feel scared to go outside!
DeleteThe cranes are absolutely magnificent! What a joy to be able to see them every day! The hawks are pretty cool, too! Those are some impressive pics. I'm surprised you were able to see the voles! Those are some bold animals!
ReplyDeleteI always do get a special thrill from seeing wild animals - be they friend of foe!
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