ENHS Nature Trails September 2001 Article 3

by Reida Kimmel

Often when we encourage wildlife to make its home close to our homes, we think of the birds and small mammals as pets of a sort. The joy we get from watching their "antics" amply repays any expenditures for food and such labors as repeatedly squirrel proofing bird feeders. (Ask Chuck about his brilliant chain and pulley arrangement, which has defied the best efforts of our Douglas squirrels for months. Of course we hear endlessly about that injustice!)

Sometimes having a backyard wildlife sanctuary gets just a little too real, however. This summer the water in our pond is the lowest it has ever been, but the springs which feed it are still functioning, and the pond is teeming with water beetles, tadpoles and larval salamanders. As there are no fish in the pond, these young tree frogs, red legged frogs, Northwest salamanders and rough skinned newts have a pleasant time of it, except for the great blue heron. Every summer early morning sees the arrival of one or two of these big beautiful birds, which often fly quite close to the house. The herons fish for amphibians at the edge of the pond for a few hours and then fly off about the time that we put the horses out to pasture and the sheep start demanding their breakfast grain. Herons do like peace and quiet after all! This year, in August we had a permanent resident heron for over a week. She (or he) fished all day at the western end of the pond, moving slowly around this shady shallow end, catching many newts, seeming to be very prosperous and calm. One day I saw her in the field, and from the way she moved along, hopping and bouncing instead of flying off, it was very apparent that something was very wrong with the bird. She couldn't fly. The next day she was gone. As I had to pick pears anyway, I went down to the pond with a couple of buckets. Under the pear tree there was a huge fresh coyote scat, and there were downy breast feathers floating on the water's surface. Worse yet, there was a trail of bigger feathers, bruised and torn, leading from the pond to the woods. I know that in nature, the injured and unfit rarely survive and coyotes have to eat too, but still I miss "my" heron.

If life at the pond has been rather sad lately, life at the house has been a zoo. The back of our house consists of two very unimproved sheds, which are currently being remodeled and made really habitable. No longer will the chipmonks be able to store sunflower seeds in our shoes or the Douglas squirrel enjoy perching on the peg board watching carpentry projects. Too bad! One day in June I walked into the back room which houses the washer and dryer to see a small alligator lizard hurry under the clothes dryer. Not wanting it to be cold or suffer, I left all doors to the outside open, and forgot about the lizard. The lizard had other ideas about where it would like to be, however. One or two days later I did a laundry, and as I shook out a sheet to hang it on the clothes line, out jumped the lizard, alive and well except that it had lost its tail. Further investigation revealed the little tail, and a spot of blood. The lizard, now very clean indeed, walked away into the wildflower garden. Lucky for him, I wash in cold and don't use the dryer in summer!

Reida Kimmel

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