We Found a Bunny

Just a short post today to tell you that we found a bunny in our yard this week! Now in Washington, this would not have been news. We had entire bunny families in our yard at any given time. Here though, I have yet to see a rabbit or a squirrel. I don’t know if it’s because we are just rural enough that the predators keep them in check, or what. I do know there is an eagle’s nest in the trees along the river just up the road, and a mink farm at the other end of the road, and plenty of dogs that are not fenced. So… you know. Predators.

Anyway, when my kids came in and told me that there was a bunny in our front flowerbeds, my first thought was—really? How did this ONE escape? The Bunny Who Lived. Then I saw it. Oh. Yeah, not a wild bunny. Take a look at this guy!

So we didn’t have any kind of a cage for it or anything and put it in the back of my husband’s truck with some food and water overnight, while I posted on Facebook to see if anyone was missing their pet bunny. Crickets. No answer. Well, okay then. Apparently this was a pet that someone got tired of, maybe, and just decided to “set it free” on our street. Lucky, lucky us.

Also, it managed to jump out of the truck and escape overnight, so it turned out we wouldn’t have had the bunny to give back anyway. Except, dear friends, it has adopted our yard—or so it would appear.

We have since seen it nearly every day, and it seems to hang out either under our trailer, or under the deck, or sometimes under the car that’s parked back there. Yesterday I let the chickens out, not really thinking about chicken-bunny relations at all, and boy were those chickens upset! It was funny! I heard them making all kinds of noise and the bunny had the audacity to snack right next to one of their favorite snacking places. They were letting it know, in no uncertain terms, that this was THEIRS, and he better just get out!

Then the plot thickened even more last Sunday. I was talking to our neighbor across the street and he said they had seen TWO bunnies in their yard! And folks, we all know what that means—there will no doubt be a colony before we know it.

My kids are begging to keep it as a pet. So far we have held them off by saying—it’s like a pet already, except one we don’t have to clean up after and buy food for! You get to see it regularly and in the meantime, it just takes care of itself. I don’t know what we’ll do as winter sets in. I mean, wild bunnies survive the winter, but would a tame one? I really don’t want a pet bunny—or 2, or 10. My husband says they’re pretty good eating. Ha! We have not come to that point quite yet.

So…does anyone want a bunny of their very own? I would even help you catch it! 

Gardening with Kids, Part 3: Celebrating Backyard Wildlife

Today I want to talk about a surefire way to get your kids interested in the garden: finding all the neat wildlife out there!

By the way, this post is part of a series I’m doing, on gardening with kids. In case you missed the first 2, here are some handy links:

Gardening with Kids, Part 1

Gardening with Kids, Part 2: The 5 Senses

Ok, back to the topic at hand: the wildlife in your backyard. It is delightful to find small creatures in your yard. Less delightful if they’re eating up your plants or otherwise causing damage, but your kids will probably still like them!

Unless you are already good at identifying them, I would buy or check out some books from the library to help. It’s especially fun to notice an animal, bird, or bug, then find it in the guide book. After that you can remind each other what it is whenever you see it, until you just know.

Of course, the baby animals are absolutely the cutest.

Here’s a list of the wildlife we saw in our Eastern Washington backyard:

Birds: sparrows, crows, magpies, owls, pheasant, quail; many other common birds

I haven’t seen any bunnies here in Utah. Then again, we’re more rural and there are plenty of hawks, eagles, and other predators around.

Bunnies

Mice

Squirrels

Insects: praying mantis, shield bugs, carpenter ants, bees & wasps, roly-polies

Garter Snakes

Frogs

Baby quail.

Raise a Caterpillar in a Jar

I have fond memories of finding monarch caterpillars, as a kid, and putting them in a jar with leaves to eat. We would watch them form a chrysalis, which eventually turned black, then almost clear, and a beautiful butterfly emerged. We would carry them on our fingers outside and gently flap them up and down. We thought we were teaching them how to fly. :) Of course, after the butterfly was ready it would fly off on its own. We always thought the ones we saw in the garden were “our” butterflies, too. It was magical!

You can re-create this experience with your kiddos—whether or not you have milkweed and monarchs around. In fact, one year in Washington the kids and I raised some cabbage white butterflies in a jar. Normally I don’t recommend raising pest caterpillars, but against my better judgement, we did. One survived of the two. I was done with the broccoli that year anyway.

Okay, so here’s what you need to do:

Prepare a clean mason jar by punching holes in the metal lid. Make sure the holes are smaller than your caterpillar can crawl through!

Find a caterpillar, and pick it up, along with some of the leaves it was eating when you found it. It would probably be good to identify it first. You know—make sure it isn’t toxic or a really bad pest.

Put the caterpillar and leaves in the jar.

You can clean out frass (caterpillar poop) as frequently as you like. Replace the leaves with fresh ones every day or two. Watch and be amazed as it forms a chrysalis and later emerges! Release it outside.

Some other fun things to do:

Put up a birdfeeder or a bird bath.

Make a toad house. For instructions, get a copy of “Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars” by Sharon Lovejoy.

Do a scavenger hunt to see how many animals or different types of bugs you can find.

Go on a sound scavenger hunt. Record as many different bird calls as you can from your backyard.

Take pictures and identify what you find.

Start a Wildlife Journal. Draw pictures of the species in your yard, or take photos. Observe their habitat and behaviors and make notes.

Make a bug hotel, or put up a set of nesting tubes for bees.

Sandhill Cranes in the Back Fields

Over the summer, we kept hearing a bird call that I had never heard before.

It was loud, especially in the evening.

Then we walked down to very end of the gravel road close by.

Here's what we saw in the field:

This picture is terrible, I know.

My camera does not do well with distances and this was as close as I could get, due to electric fences.

Very large birds, long skinny necks, long skinny legs.

I've been looking them up.

At first I thought they were herons.

Then I found this awesome website, from the Cornell Lab of Orinthology:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/

They have their calls recorded!

Listening to the herons vs. the cranes, it was immediately obvious that we had the cranes.

The heron's call is more like a croak--not what we had been hearing all summer.

The crane's call is described as a bugle call.

That's more like it!

Check it out!

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sandhill_Crane/sounds

They have migrated south now, but when they return, now I'll know what they are.

Mini Theme: Wildlife Smugglers

What makes stories of true crime so fascinating?
I suppose for me it's a glimpse into a world that I had no idea existed, in my sheltered life growing up. Even as an adult, I prefer to look at the happier side of life, and believe that the world is full of good things happening, even if the news is irrevocably skewed toward reporting the bad stuff. (Sometimes I have to take a break from reading the news for my own sanity.)

I think part of the fascination for me is also just trying to figure out what makes these people tick. Why are they spending so much time and effort to do something illegal and damaging to others? Also, I like to find out if they've been caught. (Just a sidenote: I can not and will not read true crime related to serial killers or the like. I already know they would freak me out. I need to be able to sleep at night.)

Anyway, one niche of true crime that I keep coming back to is stories of wildlife smugglers. Did you know that millions of dollars worth of plants and animals are illegally smuggled into our country every year? It's hard for me to fathom. Truly. It's hard to stop, too--when murders and drug dealers are walking the street, it's hard to even get a sentence passed down for a suitcase full of baby turtles--but there are some good people out there working tirelessly to shut it down.

So, if you want to learn more, here are a few that I've read to get you started:

The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers, by Bryan Christy 

4 stars: Well-written, with many different aspects woven in to create a fascinating true story.

Christy investigates the multi-billion dollar industry of selling reptiles in the United States. In particular, the dealings of Michael van Nostrand and his company Strictly Reptiles, which supplies most of America's pet shops and dealers. It's a company that does a lot of legitimate business, but it is also up to its neck in the illegal wildlife trade and black market.

It's not just the story of an industry. It's also the story of Chip Bepler, the FBI agent determined to shut down the constant flow of smuggled animals, and van Nostrand himself, who rather reluctantly (at first) joined the family business, only to take it to new depths.

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As with other books in this genre, I was angered and saddened by the way greed has powered the destruction of animal species and habitats around the world. Christy talks about reptile people almost as if they were a different sort than the normal human race. The way he describes it:
    
   

"Reptile people are on a trajectory from the time they are children: bigger, meaner, rarer, hot. . . Most reptile enthusiasts give up their hobby long before the hot phase, and some never feel it at all. Still, few who get into the reptile world as children do not long, at some point, for something exotic, something imported." (p. 6)

He explains that "hot" is slang for "venomous" but also can mean illegal. Perhaps that attitude lends itself to the high rate of crossover Christy describes between smuggling poisonous snakes to dealing in other illegal substances--like drugs. Apparently, of all the wildlife smugglers, pretty much everyone agrees the reptile guys are the worst. Most, if not all, are also involved in drugs to some extent, and have other connections to the underworld.

This makes me never want to buy a reptile for my child as a pet! Not that I had a strong desire to do so before reading this book.

Content: Some language--mostly from interviews.

(Finished reading March 17.)

Orchid Fever: A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust, and Lunacy, by Eric Hansen

5 stars

Hansen delves into the world of orchids and those who love them, and finds it to be a rabbit hole of some depth, where things just keep getting curiouser and curiouser. He hears stories that seem unbelievable: armed men with dogs raiding an orchid nursery; orchid ice cream that you eat with a fork and can use as a jump rope; and sets out to get to the bottom of it all. He finds out all sorts of things, but the Truth, in most cases, remains a bit slippery.

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I have one orchid on my windowsill, that continues to live and bloom despite lack of any special care whatsoever. After reading this book, that's probably where I'll stay in relation to orchids. A healthy distance seems wise.

Content: There's a chapter or so that compares orchid flowers to sexual organs and talks about the "lust" side of things. Um...just skip it--you won't miss much.

(Originally reviewed March 2013.)

Stolen World: A Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers, and Skulduggery, by Jennie Erin Smith

3 stars

Delves into the history of the reptile trade and those who have made and lost fortunes importing wild animals from other countries; particularly snakes, but also all kinds of others. Primarily follows the rise and fall of two main smugglers/importers: Henry Molt and Tom Crutchfield.

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I find it fascinating and a bit mind-boggling that the American appetite for reptiles supports this type of subterfuge.

(Originally reviewed March 2014.)

Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World's Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler, by Jessica Speart

3 stars

A new FBI agent takes on the kingpin of butterfly smuggling. Takes a disturbing turn towards the end when Kojima (smuggler) takes a sexual interest in Newcomer (agent) and becomes super needy/borderline stalker. Yikes.

I was a bit disappointed--though not too surprised--with the outcome.

(Originally reviewed July 2013.)







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Are you a fan of true crime? Any recommendations for me?

Little Pipsqueak

We have some quail that have decided to raise a family in our backyard.

The kids and I are thrilled!

The Papa Quail sits up on a high perch--usually the fence--and watches over his brood carefully. If any of us get too close, he sounds the alarm.

Mama Quail is constantly hussling babies along--or hiding with them.

Can you see her? They blend in so well.

She's got one baby next to her in this picture, and there's one more at the bottom middle of the picture.

They seem to prefer the back flowerbed and the back slope: both places with excellent cover, so that makes sense.

Those babies are so darn cute!

Here's one that was exploring the garden.

There are at least 9 of them, but there may be more.

We want to gather them all up and pet their soft little heads, but have to content ourselves with watching from afar.

Except for this little one, whom my daughter named Pipsqueak.

He got separated from the rest of the family.

They were all up to the top of the slope and even in the top neighbor's yard, and he was stuck down by our shed, awkwardly hop-running along, peeping.

Papa Quail was on the fence, calling and calling.

After some discussion, we decided to help him out.

My daughter put on a gardening glove--in hopes of not getting as much human scent on him--and gently scooped him up and put him into a 4-inch pot.

Then she carried him up to the top of the slope and slowly tipped the pot on its side.

After a few minutes, little Pipsqueak hopped out, and ducked under the fence to join his brothers and sisters. As soon as they were reunited, Papa Quail hopped down off the fence.

It is just about the best thing ever to see this little family scurrying around our yard!

Spring Visitors

Yesterday my youngest looked out the window and said,

"Mom! What is that bird with the really long tail?"

Yes, it's a pheasant.

He didn't do much; just walked along the slope for awhile, then went up into the neighbor's yard.

We are not all that far from the open fields, and every so often we get a stray. :)

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Mom Harper, stop reading now!

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I guess these little garter snakes just woke up from hibernation.

As far as we could tell, it was a mom and 2 babies.

The mom was very sluggish at first, in fact, my kids petted her, but the babies were more lively and soon slithered away.

(I didn't let them pick up any of them.)

Exciting times at the garden wall!

I don't mind garter snakes, as long as I'm not surprised by them.

Spiders on the other hand....(shudder).

Have you had any visitors to your yard lately?