Chickadees are not very common in my neighborhood because we don't have many mature trees. One of the first things I did after moving into our new house 10 years ago was plant trees and shrubs. I wanted to create wildlife habitat in suburbia. Previously, the land our neighborhood is built on was farmland. While there are some mature trees remaining from the farm, mostly at the edges of our addition, almost all the houses have just two flowering pear trees and a few shrubs installed by the builder.
I have quite a number of various trees and shrubs in the front, side and back yards. Much to my husband and neighbors ire, I don't prune them into uniform, round balls. I let them grow into their natural shape and size, which some consider wild and unkempt looking. But that is how I like it, and so does the wildlife.
After filling the bird feeders, I watered a few plants that looked wilted. Normally, I wouldn't waste precious tap water on plants in the yard, but we haven't had rain in a month and the last two weeks have been in the upper 90s. While watering near the pond I noticed a bit of movement among the plants. At first, I thought it was a preying mantis, but when I looked more closely, I saw the shiny black eye of a garter snake. The funny thing is, I was just wondering about the snake yesterday. I don't know if this was the same one that lived in our yard last year, but I said hello and told it I was glad to see it.
Besides the garter snake and the birds, we have one other critter that has taken up residence in our yard. Actually, I believe it lives under the deck, and has for some time. We just haven't seen it.
I took the lid off our metal compost bin the other day, to add some fresh kitchen scraps, and there, looking just as surprised as me, was a lovely golden brown rat. I was excited, but my husband wasn't. As long as the rat stays outside, it is welcome to live in our wildlife habitat, too.
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