5.31.2011

Denizens of the Yard

A quick turn about the yard this weekend revealed some critters that call our property home, too.


Under the stoop on the shady side of the yard we discovered a very well fed toad...


An eastern kingbird was sitting atop a pine, keeping an eye on the garden.  He eats an amazing number of insects!


Number 33 was on patrol along the path we keep mowed.  She is a beauty of a young box turtle.  We hope she spends many happy years with us here.


Out on the carport we spied a young praying mantis on the prowl.  We have had a bumper crop of mantids this year.


Cruising the edge of the yard, in a section of the property we maintain in an old field succession state, we noticed several spangled skimmers keeping an eye on things.  This one is a male.

I love the variety of life just outside my door.

3 comments:

JSK said...

I was going to ask you how you tag your turtles to keep track of them and then I looked more closely at the shell. No need for tagging; it tagged itself :-)

swamp4me said...

JSK,
This one certainly tagged itself! When I need to keep track of a turtle I take several pictures of it. The good thing about box turtles is they tend to have very distinctive shells. I just can't seem to do the whole marking marginals with a file thing.

Sybil said...

What a fascinating yard you must have.