Creatures in My Garden: The Birds and the Bees... er Deer

On Sunday we decided to have our lunch out on the lanai. This isn't something we do very often this time a year as the temperatures are in the mid to high 90's, but the sun was shining and everything was so green outside - we just couldn't resist.

We don't use a lot of harsh chemicals in our garden, with the exception being fire ant dust, which tends to just relocate them. As a result of that, we've got a nice coexistence of lizards, bees, butterflies, dragon flies, squirrels, birds, rabbits, and various other creatures.
Recently, in the hibiscus on the west side of my lanai (just behind the parasol), right against the screen, I discovered a Mockingbird building a nest. I went to have a peak and discovered three blue eggs. I don't want to frighten off the mother bird, so am trying to stay away. It's been a harder time keeping Harry away, but for the most part he's actually been very well behaved.
Looking out over our roses, rosemary, and sea grape - we saw a first...
... a deer. It was lovely seeing it roam around. I've never seen a deer by our house and while it was sweet to see it, it was also sad as on the other side of those trees is a wall. The wood isn't very deep there, so is not the best place for a deer. Even more worrying is the fact that an alligator has been residing in the area by the water that the deer was walking. This was something I didn't care to witness. Fortunately the alligator was either sleeping, or had hopefully moved on to another lake.
We've had snakes, herons, egrets, pelicans, and roseate spoonbills, however the alligator is the only unwelcome creature we've had in our garden.

Creatures in My Garden: Toad or Frog

Is it a toad or a frog? I'm not really sure but it was on my glass door. It was very tiny and I loved it's little toes...

Creatures in My Garden: Lizards

First I'd like to introduce Harry. Resident feline, lover of sunshine, and all around super star. Harry loves being out on the lanai. He is in his element watching lizards, soaking up the sun, and having a good nosey look at what the neighbors are up to. He loves spending most of his time out there, that is at least until the temperature dips below 70 degrees Fahrenheit or it starts to rain.

Then there are the lizards, or Anolis sagrei sagrei - Cuban Brown Anoles to be precise:

They are everywhere... the first one is on my bathroom window, trying to find a way inside. The second one is on the door going out to my lanai. He wasn't a very lucky lizard, as part of his tail was missing. This isn't critical as a lizard's tail is able to break off to escape an attack, then will slowly regrow. This guy was unfortunate as the breaking point was pretty high up. Many lizards around our house are sporting shorter tails, thanks to Harry. That is another, if not his most favorite past time: catching lizards!

A few weeks ago, we witnessed a first: Harry went in for a lizard, only to have the lizard bite him back! He dropped it and ran towards to house to sit and cower. Their teeth are so small and can't do any damage, so Harry was suffering more from a bruised ego. Who could blame him? They can be very intimidating:

First you see them and the look as if they are smiling... then they start doing push-ups and their dewlaps come out! This was more than enough to scare me off!

Creatures in My Garden: Toads

During the summer, we are inundated with toads. We've had several this summer, but this guy seems to keep coming back. Of course if could be different toads that look the same, but we're convinced this is the same toad. For two weeks straight we have been scooping him from our pool or removing him from the lanai. Despite the chlorine, he seems to like swimming in our pool. I've named him "Hammer Time" as when he's decided that he's had enough and wants to go back outside, he ends up on the track next to the screen. He starts trying the climb the screen for a way out, as seen above, but after a while he gives up and does this little sideways, back and forth dance reminiscent of MC Hammer in the "You Can't Touch This" video. That's when I give in, feeling sorry for the little guy and will put him outside. Or I should say have J do it. I've tried a few times unsuccessfully, but he seems to jump right on the net when J goes to remove him. We have two doors into our lanai, one that has a rubber barrier under the door to stop beasties from coming in, and the other with the barrier missing. The other weekend J put him outside of the door that did have a barrier, and we've not seen him since then. This could be down to the barrier, or the heron that's been stalking around here...

Creatures in My Garden: Wasp Spider

Last Sunday, J was outside doing some gardening and called for me to have a look at this spider. You can imagine my reaction... my heart jumped up into my throat! Of course your initial reaction is that it must go, but I decided to do some research on-line. After searching, we both agreed that we thought it was an Argiope bruennichi, or wasp spider. While it does look like your worst nightmare, it appears that they are non poisonous to humans. This is the side effect of not using harsh chemicals in gardening, we get all the beasties. Which is also a good thing, this fierce looking creature will help keep down the population on some of our unwanted pests.

The following Monday, on my way home from work, there was a story on NPR about Charlotte's Web. When I was little, I loved the film, but only saw it once due to the fact that I was inconsolabe at the end when Charlotte dies. The NPR program got me thinking: why wasn't I afraid of the cartoon Charlotte? Would I have been afraid of her or so upset if she hadn't been so witty, elegant, and loyal? To this day I've yet to read the book or watch the updated live action version, despite knowing one of the animators of Templeton. After listening to this though, it made me curios to read it, and see Charlotte through an adult's eyes.

And thanks to my outside guest, my garden will be without (in the words of Charlotte A. Cavatica) "flies, bugs, grasshoppers, choice beetles, moths, butterflies, tasty cockroaches, gnats, midges, daddy longlegs, centipedes, mosquitoes, crickets — anything that's careless enough to get caught in my web."

Here is the link to that story on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93263496