Coexistence in the Gardens

 

Insects on flowers series: aphids on calendula; bumblebee on chives; ant on peony; wasp on calendula. Summer began with bumblebees and ants pollinating the chives and peonies. Summer ended with aphids and wasps visiting the calendula.

The blue robbin

I stepped out on the front porch to await my son's arrival and was astonished to see what looked incredibly like a blue robin. It flew from our stair railing to that of our neighbors', as I admired its bright colors and marveled at how much it looked like a robin.

As the school bus growled to a stop on the corner, a half-dozen of the birds flew across our yards and up into the trees. My friend joined them.

I greeted Sam with the news of the "blue robin." Upon consulting the bird book, I read about the sialia sialis or Eastern bluebird. Sharing openly my naiveté at "birding," it was my first sighting.

Latest resident

Ever since we had seven skunks living under our shed four summers ago, I always like to know who moved in during the winter before I start frequenting our backyard. I wasn't ready for this surprise. The fox was sunning himself on the deck before I disrupted his reverie with my photo-taking. He's kind of cute, though I'm glad we don't keep chickens.

One down, two to go

My husband live-trapped one of three raccoon bandits who have been raiding our fish pond at night.

I heard the trap's door snap close around 10 p.m. The night before we had caught a skunk, so we were anxious to see what we had captured.

His buddies tried to help him escape sometime during the night, digging two holes in the yard on either side of the trap. But they couldn't spring him free.

Tom released the varmint early this morning near Island Lake.

In today's mail

A postcard arrived in the mail today from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture issuing notice that an aerial application of a biological insecticide to slow the spread of the gypsy moth will occur in my area the week of June 13.

Seems a tad late, considering yesterday's posting.

Invasion battle begins

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture began its attack against gypsy moth caterpillars in our neighborhood around 5:30 this morning.

I was awakened by the loud drone of this plane that delivered the weapon of choice: Btk, Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki. The soil fungus activates spores in the stomachs of caterpillars that eat vegetation upon which it has been sprayed, causing the caterpillars to die in seven to 10 days.

The official government fact sheet on Btk reports it is relatively harmless to humans and pets, though they recommend staying indoors up to 30 minutes after the spraying, waiting for the dew to dry before going outside, washing your hands after being outside, and washing any skin that comes in contact with wet spray.

Another aerial attack is likely to come later this summer. It would drop synthetic pheromone chips that confuse male moths, making it difficult for them to find female moths and mate.

Requiem for George

Orange-red Beta
My son's nighttime companion
Silently swimming

Whoops!

We captured the wrong villain last night.

My husband checked the trap around 5 this morning. Instead of the fish-killing, lillypad vandal of a raccoon, he found a black critter with distinctive white stripes.

Although the fellow most likely is one of the seven thieves who made off with my butternut squash a couple of weeks ago, we decided it would be best to let him go. We just couldn't settle on whose car to use to transport and relocate him.

As he waddled under our fence and into our neighbor's yard, we determined that the skunks don't live under our shed. They're simply unwanted guests from time to time.

We'll reset the trap tonight in a different location.

The trap is sprung

The varmint who has been raiding our pond visited again last night. But, alas, he eluded capture.

We believe he either pulled the trap down from the bench or knocked it off. In doing so, he sprang the trap. He sampled some spillage of the delectable bait (can of tuna fish) inside, but couldn't get what remained in the trap.

After foiling our trap, he went for a moonlight swim in our pond. This night, however, he didn't feast on any of our remaining goldfish.

We have discovered his point of entry into our yard. Tonight, we will place the trap more strategically and at ground-level.

I can only hope he doesn't follow my blog.

The trap is set

A friend dropped off a live trap last night so we can take care of our raccoon problem. (See "Call in Hercule Poirot" and "More destruction" posts.)

Not wanting to deal with relocating a live raccoon before teaching summer school this morning, my husband waited to set the trap until tonight. Just minutes ago, he was outside baiting the trap.

He laid the trap on the bench of our pergola. Our fear is that if we place it on the ground, we'll trap one of our seven skunks.(See "Stop thieves!" post.) And that could involve a rather stinky relocation, not to mention breaking up a family.

Of course, we could end up with a friendly squirrel or the crow that eats breakfast in our birdbath every morning.

We'll let you know how it goes.

More destruction

Our pond was raided, our fish terrorized again last night.

The varmint finished shredding the lilypad I just re-potted. He didn't get any fish.

But this time he left behind some clues: raccoon footprints -- really big sticky ones -- heading from my neighbor's broken hummingbird feeder up onto her deck.

We're now calling on friends to loan us a large live trap. This one's a big one.

Call in Hercule Poirot

Two nights in a row, our pond has been raided.

The night before last, the miscreants overturned our potted lilypad and bit the head off one of our goldfish. We found the body and head floating in the pond.

Last night, they struck again, shredding all of our lilypads and killing three more fish. It appears one of the casualties -- a 3-year-old coy -- was feasted upon by something with very sharp teeth. Our prize coy -- a hefty 5-year-old -- was swept out of the pond and onto the patio about two feet away. Either overlooked or forgotten, he likely suffocated.

My husband took pictures of the evidence before putting the bodies on a paper plate and serving them to our neighbor's cat.

Our theory is raccoons. But we'll have to call in one of Agatha Christie's famed detectives to be sure.

Stop! Thieves!

My clothesline reverie (see "Hanging out the laundry" post) was disrupted a couple of weeks ago when I stepped out onto the deck, full laundry basket in hand, to witness these guys.

Seven -- count them -- seven interlopers were lolling in my backyard, enjoying the sunshine and checking out the sights. Or so I thought.

A few days later, I was showing my garden to some friends who had stopped over for a surprise birthday party. I was speechless to behold two big holes in the ground right where my butternut squash had been.

I haven't seen the skunks since, though there have been reported sightings of them around the neighborhood. The skunk posse charges $65 to trap the first one then $50 for each skunk after that.

Ode to the bloodsuckers

I struggled for two days to compose an ode to the three wood ticks that accompanied me out of Jay Cooke State Park Thursday afternoon. I always have believed I am a stronger editor than writer. So today, I deleted the entire thing.

My exercise buddy and I hiked the Silver Creek Trail on another sun-drenched (though cold) day. We enjoyed a late lunch at Mexico Lindo, which now has my nod for best Mexican restaurant in the area.

But the restorative sense of wholeness I usually get on such outings was shattered by those hitchhiking bloodsuckers. The very thought of them can still make my skin crawl.