Night time is Quiet Time...

...except for opossums! Forgive the quality of the picture, but night photography is not my camera's strength (or maybe it's not my strength). I caught this opossum watching me from the fence top as I emptied the trash. I only noticed him because his white face was illuminated by my garage light.

Seeing these creatures around our house makes me happy. Several years ago, I trapped and had a possum relocated who'd been staying in our backyard under the gazebo. Only after the "offending" creature was forcibly evicted did I bother to look up and learn about these interesting animals. Come to find out, these neighbors provide some very beneficial services.

Didelphis virginiana, or the opossum as it's commonly called, is the only marsupial found in the United States. About the size of a large cat, opossums are mostly nocturnal. Their threatening appearance (they have 50 teeth!) is mostly just for show. When an opossum is faced with a more powerful opponent, they usually play dead, hence the phrase, "playing possum".

Opossums are omnivorous and adventitious hunters, eating things like slugs, snails, insects (like cockroaches, blech!), carrion, fruits and grains and supposedly even rats.

Opossums don't have a strong family bond. Males and females do not stay together to raise the young, and the young become independent fairly quickly. Some of this might be due to the fact that opossums don't have a very long life span.

Learn more about the opossum by visiting Animal Diversity Web or googling them on the Web.

As Pretty as a Painting

I've got a pretty one for you today. This is a Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) that came to my garden as I was watering my plants. As you can see, this particular butterfly is very showy. As with a number of brightly colored insects and bugs, the Pipevine is poisonous to eat, so predators learn to stay away.

The Pipevine Swallowtail is in the papilioninae sub-family and inhabits Central America and much of North America.

The adult butterfly can be identified by its metallic blue to blue-green hindwings above and its 7 highly visible orange spots over a blue background on the underside hindwings. The caterpillar is a nasty looking thing; all reddish brown (almost black looking) with rows of red or black tubercles (tubercles look like little spines) on its back.

A female lays eggs on the undersides of leaves. The caterpillars feed on this host plant when young. Eventually they form a protective covering called a chrysalis so they can survive the winter and transform into a butterfly that emerges in the spring.

The adults feed on nectar from a range of flowers, many of which are found in gardens. Find out more about this exquisite butterfly at such Internet sites as www.butterfliesandmoths.org.

I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watchin' Me

Every morning I head out to the backyard and water the potted plants and my bonsai. Well, I fill up the 5L watering can and start on the hosta. POP! Out jump two green anoles (Anolis carolinensis). One ran for cover, the other stopped and grabbed a quick drink and decided that the hosta wasn't too dangerous after all. I reached for my camera and snapped a quick shot or two. I believe this one to be a female as she is a bit smaller and has the characteristics of a female—a slightly shorter nose and a pale grey dorsal stripe. I have to wonder what she was annoyed by because they supposedly turn brown when stressed. The other was a bright green, but was gone before I could get a snapshot. Maybe there's a family in there, because I've seen baby anoles around the hosta. I'll get a picture of them at some point if I can.

Learn more about green anoles at the Wild Texas website.

Who was that masked man?

The other night Amy noticed and took a couple of snapshots of this obviously well-fed raccoon (Procyon lotor) in our backyard. Proof that nature can exist wherever the conditions are right. These creatures are omnivores, quite intelligent, and have adapted well to living in close proximity to humans. Meats (such as small rodents and fish), insects, fruits, nuts and grains are all potential sources of food for this opportunistic feeder. That means that fish ponds, bird feeders, pet food/water, those apples on the tree, your auntie's vegetable garden, and even your garbage can leftovers are all on the menu. And they’re just as at home in an attic as a rotted out log. If you'd like to learn more about raccoons, head on over to National Geographic's website or do a search on the Web.

Now, as much as I like wildlife, the thought of another fish poacher at my pond is enough to make me consider trapping/relocating this little scamp should we see him again. Speaking of wildlife removal, do us and yourself a favor and never use poisons to rid yourself of any pests. A good way to be rid of most unwanted guests (under 2 foot tall, that is), is to contact your city animal shelter and see if they offer live animal traps. If they do, they can educate you on its proper use. They'll even come and haul your catch to the nearest relocation park. Isn't that nice? If you can't or don't want to trap intruders, there are several basic rules to discouraging undesirables from sticking around your yard. They are:

• remove any food supply
• remove any water supply
• remove potential shelter

These might be your best options in the long run because if you don't change the environment, more animals are likely to come around and take up the spot you just created by evicting the last renter. I personally don't mind them most of the time.

Time to go count my fish....

The toads are waiting for Spring

Toads burrow into holes and other spaces during the winter to hibernate. I found these two fellows, a large one and a small one, in this access point to our in-ground sprinkler system.

There is a medium-sized crack in the cover to the access point, so I figure they crawled in earlier this winter and are waiting out the remainer of the cool weather. However, the big one I don't think would be able to hop back out, so I opened the cover one evening and waited for him to hop out. At the same time, I actually extracted the small one and placed him in the grass next to the hole. A week later and the large one is still in there. Obviously he knows more about when it's time to leave than I do, so I'll leave him alone for now. I hope I didn't do the small one a disservice by moving him from his temporary abode. By the way, can you spot the smaller of the two toads? He's pretty well hidden.