Squirrel making unhealthy choices

On October 19, 2021October 14, 2021 By CarynIn Wildlife

Last spring I put out netting over my sky chair to keep the flies and mosquitoes off as I sat. This fall I noticed it was all in a tangle, then I saw the squirrel bunching the fabric up and trying to haul it off. It might feel nice and soft, but I don’t think nylon netting is a good nesting material!

Mosquito netting in a tangle from squirrel activity

I gathered up all the artificial netting and put out tuffs of alpaca fleece as a natural substitute. This seems to meet the inspector’s approval, because I saw a squirrel pulling apart the fibers and gathering bits. That critter is going to have a soft cozy winter bed!

Day of the mantis

On October 6, 2021October 1, 2021 By CarynIn Wildlife

Talking ebbs and flows again. We saw two praying mantises in one day about 17 miles apart. One on the outside of the doctor’s office, and one on the wall on our front porch. We don’t see many of these a year, and two in one day is remarkable.

The mantis on the house was missing the lower half of both middle legs, which didn’t stop it from easily scaling the wall.

Weaving help

On September 26, 2021September 21, 2021 By CarynIn Wildlife

I am working on the weaving, really. Bits here and bits there, but apparently this little spider thought I needed more assistance, or maybe a model of an efficient productive weaver, as she set up shop right behind my loom. Saucy.

Ant farm

On September 24, 2021September 21, 2021 By CarynIn Garden, Wildlife

No, we didn’t add one of those clear boxes full of ants to our household menagerie, but I did find the ants themselves farming aphids on my melon vines! I have heard of this symbiotic relationship between ants and aphids but have never knowingly witnessed it. The aphids produce honeydew, which the ants eat. The ants protect and herd or move the aphids to the juiciest parts of the plant, then stroke the aphids to “milk” them to produce honeydew. This is information from searching the net. Most of the articles were enthusiastic but not very scientific, and give the same information I just gave you. The end point of all the articles was how to treat the garden plants to make them not good for ant farming. The result is probably from my chosen search terms “ants and aphids”. Ah, add “symbiotic” and you at least get to a Brittanica article eventually.

They found them

On September 14, 2021September 10, 2021 By CarynIn chickens, Garden, Wildlife

The bugs found the ripe melon. I’m not sure if the earwig dug the hole, or the caterpillars dug it and the earwig was hiding out, but the chickens really enjoyed both the insect and the fruit. I sprayed the remaining melons with diluted Neem oil and Castille soap. Maybe we will get another melon before the bugs do; there are currently two melon candidates for bug roulette.

Critters and Craft

Category: Wildlife