Our back yard has suffered terribly while Graham was trucking – there was very little time in our lives to spend working on Graham’s masterpiece.
Suddenly we have all sorts of time for the backyard. However, we have to share the yard with a multitude of creatures.
First, there are the birds – finches, sparrows, mourning doves, chickadees, woodpeckers, evening grosbeaks, grackles, robins, cowbirds, hummingbirds….. They eat the food we put out for them, they drink in our pond and they bathe in the stream. Our most exciting birds are our ducks. We have two pairs of ducks who each think that our pond is theirs. This is the second year that Max and Molly have decided that our pond is a great place to spend time just hanging out. We’re pretty sure that they are a young couple. Dan & Denise o the other hand, appear to be a more established pair and are able to chase Max & Molly away if they happen to arrive at the same time. Amazingly, that is a rare occurrence. It is fun to watch the ducks swimming in the pond – the fish (our next creatures) follow them around nipping at their feet.
Our fish all started out as feeder goldfish. We bought them over a period of three years. We have one that is about 8” long – one of the ones that we bought the first year. The rest are varying sizes and number far more than we have ever purchased. We had babies at the beginning of the year, however, they appear to be gone, now.
Next are the squirrels – the dogs absolutely hate the squirrels – all we have to do is say the word and they are out the door chasing the squirrel up a tree.
The most entertaining creatures are the chipmunks. They chase each other all over the yard – they absolutely will not tolerate another chipmunk within visual range. They also chase mourning doves. Their antics are hilarious. One evening we were watching our menagerie out the window. A chipmunk was picking up seeds under the birdfeeder when Molly came up to get her corn. Apparently Molly did not like having a chipmunk around that evening – she waddled over to the chipmunk and pecked at his rear end. Gone was the chipmunk.
Recently we seem to have acquired a rabbit. This rabbit is very bold. He has learned that if he sits very still, the dogs can’t see him. He actually helps out by cleaning up under the birdfeeders and does a heck of a job with the help of the ducks, the e squirrels and the chipmunks. The chipmunks climb the poles that the birdfeeders are on to get to the sunflowers and the safflower. If the rabbit happens to be there when they come down the pole he rears up on his hind legs at them – just like the rabbit in Monty Python.
Last but not least, we have a skunk. We don’t see him very often, but he is definitely around.
Just call us the Hawksby Zoo.
