My Yard, the Wildlife Nursery

My Yard, the Wildlife Nursery

Goldfinch on thistle seed, Downy Woodpecker on suet, Rose-breasted
Grosbeak on the safflower seed.

My home was raw, sandy, pastureland when I came thirteen years ago. There was grass, but much of it the weedy and non-native Bromus and Kentucky Bluegrass, and here and there growths of the native and beautiful Big Blue Stem, Little Blue Stem, Switch Grass, and Needle & Thread Grass (I’ve always called it Hay Needles.)

There also was Bottlebrush, Sumac, Sage Brush, and lots and lots of Poison Ivy. (Sorry, native and natural or not, I had to dispatch the Poison Ivy with careful application of Roundup on just the individual leaves.) I hate supporting Monsanto even that much, but I couldn’t have poison Ivy growing everywhere—and I mean it was everywhere, three and four feet high sometimes!

A few trees too: Burr Oaks and Cottonwoods (I have planted hundreds [dozens of species] since.) There were maybe two hundred sixty-foot Cottonwoods growing just over the hill to the east, but after three years of standing in three feet of water (water that came from somewhere else thanks to rampant agricultural drainage!) most of those beautiful trees have died. The Oaks, thank goodness, are on higher ground. There also are plenty of Juneberry and Chokecherry trees but they are much smaller.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak on the sunflower seed feeder and female Baltimore Oriole on the orange.

Wildlife, yes, there were some. Ground-nesting Mourning Doves and at least one Meadowlark (Meadowlarks, unfortunately, are getting rare, and, believe me, there is no other harbinger of spring like the song of the Meadowlark!) The Red-winged Blackbird’s “Gurgle-lee!” is good, but I think the Meadowlark is best. Of course there were mammals too but I rarely saw them.

Two Red-winged Blackbirds. They are pretty big to cling to the hanging feeders but can get up there too, unfortunately.

Then I started building a house and hung up feeders. The house attracted Barn Swallows. Every year there are at least six nests on the house, and a Robin has found a spot too, and a Flycatcher. Birdhouses have attracted Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, and House Wrens. Black oil sunflower seed in the feeders have attracted Goldfinches, Blue Jays, Piine Siskins, and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and suet has attracted Downy, Hairy, and Red-breasted Woodpeckers. During spring and fall migration Slate-colored Juncos, White-breasted, White-crowned, Harris’s, and Fox Sparrows, partake from the ground beneath the feeders. (This year, for the first time, a Scarlet Tanager! It fed only on the suet.) Then the permanent residents Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, Chipping and Song Sparrows.

Male and female Baltimore Oriole. To the right, I think, is a male Orchard Oriole. They are smaller and darker.

And, alas, orange halves have attracted the beautiful Baltimore and Orchard Orioles. I say ‘alas’ because the first years I got by with just a few oranges. This year I think both species brought their families from last year and they have gotten quite demanding, even knocking on the window if I don’t feed them enough. (Sorry, I’m not going to admit how much they have eaten.) I did find out, though, that the orioles will also eat suet and the orange-fruited muskmelons. The melons were a good discovery because next year I will ply the supermarkets for overripe fruits.

Male and female Baltimore Oriole

About that knocking on the window: I’ve read about other people claiming certain birds will knock on windows, and other ways, to let them know about empty feeders and bird bathes. I’ve never been sure if I should believe such stories until this troop of orioles arrived, and they definitely let me know when the orange halves are empty! They won’t exactly knock on the window, but there is a narrow ledge where they can almost land, and the ‘bump’ lets me know. Seems it’s always either the female or a juvenile who does the ‘knocking’ as the beautiful males just eat and drink and bully the others!

Still haven’t gotten to the mammal nursery part. Cottontail Rabbits are having a population explosion. I didn’t realize it until seeing the widespread damage this spring of gnawed bark on my Chokecherries, Lilacs, and even Sumac, which surprised me. Much as I enjoy seeing (and talking to) those tiny little bunnies running around underfoot, next fall I may have to begin a dispatch campaign with them too.

Three of the bunnies. I wonder what is so interesting by my pickup?

If a coyote would visit once-in-awhile and do the job for me I would appreciate it. Unfortunately, most of my neighbors abhor coyotes and kill them with relish to protect their calves and lambs. They even know that a guard dog or burros would take care of the coyotes but they choose to not live with coyotes, which causes way overabundance of rabbits and gophers…oh, but of course rabbits and gophers can be poisoned. Right, no living with Mother Nature in these parts.

Besides the Cottontails there are Red and Fox Squirrels, an occasional Weasel, Mink, Badger, Skunk, Raccoon, Jackrabbit, White-tailed Deer, Ring-necked Pheasants, Turkeys, and untold numbers and species of waterfowl and shorebirds when Lake Gila (a marsh) to the south, is full.

Here are all four of the little darlings. The one in the middle is investigating a hole, and there is a hole right there. Has it found a source of nutritional minerals?

Tonight was one of the times I live for. There are four little bunnies living somewhere very, very, close to my house, in fact under the step. Quite often they are almost underfoot. (If you have ever seen the Disney movie Bambi [and who hasn’t?] remember Thumper, the rabbit, how he would take off so fast that his head would actually lay back on his body? Well, that’s what the live bunnies do too, the young ones, anyway. Are they purposely trying to be cute? I don’t know, but they are.) I’ve never seen all four at once, didn’t even know there were four, and what they saw so interesting about my pickup I will never know. Mom, of course, wasn’t far away.

And, finally, not far away, is Mom.

I love it here in the sandhills outback of eastern North Dakota. I will NEVER live in a town or city again, thank you very much!

Thanks for reading

Author’s notes

(Digital downloads $0.99-$4.99; paperbacks $10.00-$29.95)

 In my fiction I do not try to create super-heroes, but rather bring alive common and regular people who try to find love, survive, and react to circumstances as best they can, and, usually, try to do the right thing. The books are more than one genre, from war to sex and violence to romance to humor to horror to fantasy to science fiction to adventure, I write in third-person with viewpoints by men, women, and children. 

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