Reflections from Crumbly Acres: clearwing

Saturday, 17 August 2024

Saturday's Critters

Autumn approaches, and the seasonal changes as our critters get ready for winter. Hibernation, migration, or just more winter dozing, like Butch raccoon.

I saw three baby snakes Aug. 15th, which bodes well for the species. The first was a garter snake (yellow/green), the next two ribbon snakes (chocolate brown). They are distant cousins, and often confused. Soon they'll be heading for their winter hibernaculum or mice holes, or under rocks and such. This is an Eastern garter and an Eastern ribbon snake (Thamnophis saurita). So wee!

I was delighted to see them, as you can hear on the video. They are adorable, and eat up the bugs on the ground. Lots of reptiles and amphibians are at risk in our province. We have a billion crickets out front beside the sidewalk! They have a lot of predators! Add in habitat loss, human predation, and the like.

hatchling ribbon snake from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

eastern ribbon snake from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The hummingbird moths are out and about! Soon they will disappear. The men who replaced our eavestrough trampled a lot of the phlox down one year. It hasn't really come back. 😔😢

UPDATE: Fred groundhog!

Fred disappeared for a couple of weeks, although he's been around since March 30th. I thought he'd gone to his winter home. Apparently, he came back to visit the shed. He's done quite a bit of renovating here over a couple of years. An entrance and exit, and a tunnel under the cement shed floor.

One post I wrote should have been titled, Burrows By Fred! (He had 5 of them!) Groundhog burrows can be 8 to 66' long, so says National Geographic. Other critters use them. I've had bumble bees, and a skunk use them. But foxes, opossums, weasels and rabbits can take over abandoned burrows, as well. Speaking of skunks, I saw one in the yard as I was heading to bed.

skunk Aug 12 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This was Aug. 15th, and it appears more dirt has been moved. I was thinking of filling it in, but I'm afraid I'd start coughing. Besides, how do you get it back in there?!