Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Saturday, July 19, 2008
A Crittery Day
I was tempted to title this post All Creatures Great and Small, but resisted.
There seemed to be an unusual amount of wildlife activity yesterday. Early in the morning I walked up to the vegetable garden to find that something had tasted my first semi-ripe tomato. Time to get out the plastic netting, darn it. And Japanese Beetles were everywhere, including on the basil. While I was in the garden, the Pileated Woodpeckers were making a fuss in the woods - calling and drumming and chasing each other.
I came back to the house for a second cup of tea, and found a young buck deer wandering through the woods in back - munching as he went. This was the best picture I got.
I count 3 points on each antler, so that makes him a 6-point buck? I obviously don't know enough about deer and need to do some opposition research. For instance, territoriality - does seeing one buck of that size mean there aren't any others nearby? Does he have a lady friend? Relatives? Does anybody know of a good resource for learning about deer?
The birds were very active yesterday and not just the woodpeckers. While I had the camera out I noticed a small grayish bird foraging, warbler-like, in the trees. It turned out to be a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
Later in the afternoon I gave a recently-planted Viburnum a deep soaking with the hose. While I was moving the hose around, some tiny critter jumped out of the way. I first thought it was an insect, but looking closer I found the tiniest frog I've ever seen.
I left a bit of a plant label in the photo when I cropped it, so you can get an idea of just how small it is. My best guess is either a Leopard Frog or a Pickerel Frog. Any frog experts out there reading this?
We ended the day sitting on the front porch listening to the late summer sounds. The Cicadas have been singing for a couple weeks, but last night the Katydids joined the chorus. The fireflies provided the light show.
2 Comments:
The frog has such beautiful regular markings, they are like jewels when they are tiny, aren't they? So glad to have found your blog!
Bird: Thanks for stopping by! It was a pretty little frog and all but invisible until it moved. Very well camouflaged.
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