Animals in your garden

[Sheal]

Sorry everyone I haven't been around for a while. Thank you for the identification on the bird in my son's garden. I agree it very much looks like a Chipping Sparrow.

 

[MaryMary]

Look what I found!! Technically not an "animal," but I am just so happy, I wanted to share it with you!!

Three itty-bitty baby mantises marching up my porch post! They must have just hatched today, I found a total of 25 of them all along the post! I love them.

 

[sillylucy]

That is the cutest monkey I have ever seen! Thanks so much for sharing the photo! I am sure you didn't think he was so cute while he was plucking out all of the petals! How frustrating! It sounds like he was trying to annoy you and play with you!

 

[kgord]

Wow, well we do have some predators around here. I think the ones that would be most likely to get into the garden here would be raccoons and deer though. I would think they would be the most likely culprits. One time I had a pumpkin on the porch and I cam eout one morning and there was smashed pumpkin and seeds all over the place and what looked like coon tracks in the snow.

 

[sillylucy]

In the locality I grew up and lived for 40 yrs, monkey menace was nearly an everyday event. No cameras in those times at home to catch images or videos. I have spent a lot of time watching their antics from inside the kitchen window. And also those were times when other distractions [TV, cell phones, et al] did not affect peaceful life! So we had ample time to watch nature in our own yard. Sometimes the youngsters would jump from branch to branch and on the ones that curved closer to the ground they missed intentionally and landed on the ground. They climbed effortlessly the tall coconut trees, bite open the nuts, drink the best natural glucose water and drop them thud! Sometimes they left the nut on the frond and climbed down. Oh, this caused us a lot of tension as there was also a tiled roof of the neighbour on which the tree had grown at an angle! Every waft of breeze at night would cause tension, what if the nut falls on their roof? Luckily nothing happened and soon the tree-climber came and on priority it was removed!! There are many stories these nasty fellows have made, many worth recalling now, with fun! Here is a monkey - a veteran - I caught near the base of Chamundi Hill which is a backdrop of Mysuru. View attachment 13261

That is so cute! Where do you live? I wish I had some monkey menaces! All I have is coyotes (they are scary and the eat pets) and raccoons in my area. Do they carry diseases in town?

 

[sillylucy]

What a beautiful bird! Just look at that red chest! So puffy and cute! When I first saw him I thought he was a fake ceramic bird! Oh, my! To learn that he is real! So cute! Thanks for posting this picture!

A Rose-breasted Grosbeak looking at me through the window. Brave little guy! Only stayed about 2 weeks, then moved on to Canada for mating, I guess!



View attachment 13221

 

[Beth_B]

Wow, well we do have some predators around here. I think the ones that would be most likely to get into the garden here would be raccoons and deer though. I would think they would be the most likely culprits. One time I had a pumpkin on the porch and I cam eout one morning and there was smashed pumpkin and seeds all over the place and what looked like coon tracks in the snow.

Coons will eat about anything. They are smart critters. This photo is of a hungry nursing mama coon eating cat food at a friend's house about a month ago.

Edit...yes. They are disease vectors for rabies and I think also parvovirus and distemper. Good reason to get your pets vaccinated! Also I don't actually think it is a good idea to feed wild animals (except for birds.) They have a hard enough life as it is. Getting them habituated to being fed does them no favours really.

 

[Dinu]

@sillylucy, the monkeys did not spread any diseases. People never thought of growing veggies in their available yard space... even the garden plants would be trodden upon... they even entered houses into the kitchen looking for food, coming through open doors or mesh-less open windows and in older houses they knew how to lift up a tile in the roof and enter the house!!

 

[redpanda]

I love the idea of this thread! I've enjoyed looking through all of the pictures. My garden is spread between containers on my balcony so I didn't get many visitors. My only contribution is this ladybug chilling on one of my cucumber plants.

 

[DHB]

Here is the baby monkey though looked cute was quite destructive. It teased me the whole day staring at me while plucking petals and dropping them down and doing other nasty things. It was not easy to chase it away. If not for those nasty habits I would have loved to keep it as a pet.

LOL! I don't think I need to worry about monkeys here in central Pennsylvania, but if I did I'd probably tolerate them if they were just destroying ornamentals (you only mentioned petals, so it's not clear if the critter was going after edibles). If they started damaging any edibles, it would be game on! Could be kind of fun against an intelligent critter like a monkey, but it might get old pretty fast, too, at which point, woe unto the monkey.

 

[turnb43]

Craziest thing we've found in our garden was a blue tongue lizard (Look it up if you're not Australian) and a wild turtle, to this day we still have not the slightest clue how the turtle got there but pretty cool find regardless!

 

[kgord]

Lately, I have had something eating grass seed that is on the porch. I am thinking it is a mouse. I think I am going to have to move it somewhere. I have a feeling even if I put it in a plastic bag, it would not keep them out of it, if they really wanted it. I will see if the bags might help though. I wouldn't think grass seeds would be too appetizing, but obviously some critter likes them!

 

[Fernsdaddy]

Bunnies Jack and Diane
Jack doesn't like his picture taken

Diane could care less all she wants to do is eat clover

 

[DHB]

Jack and Diane...Two American rabbits growin' up in the heartland?

 

[Fernsdaddy]

The heart land of New England