The yard as an ongoing nature documentary

THE WILD SIDE

By Maria de Bruyn
Columnist

Many people enjoy watching nature documentaries on TV or YouTube, both for the beauty they see and the facts they learn about landscapes and wildlife. However, opportunities exist for people fortunate enough to have access to a yard, to watch animals up close and personally. All you need is sufficient time and patience. The drought and recent, copious rains brought a variety of creatures to my urban yard this past month. I enjoyed seeing them all (except for mosquitoes and ticks).

Several years ago, I installed a small pond in my yard, which became a popular spot for bullfrogs and green frogs. My first fish was eaten by a great blue heron, who came over from a natural pond down the road (since removed).

Top left: green frog croaking. Top right: surviving goldfish. Bottom left: mating green frogs. Bottom right: one of the newer pet store fish, which has grown quickly. All photos by ©Maria de Bruyn.

I assumed my last goldfish had been eaten by frogs or red-shouldered hawks, who occasionally dine on frogs and fish. So last August, I stopped putting out fish food. Also, duckweed, a fast-reproducing floating water plant, had gotten into the pond and I thought it was terrible for the critters. Eradicating this plant is problematic because if only one small piece remains, it reproduces quickly.

During the winter and early spring, I didn’t watch the pond too much until one day, when I was removing duckweed, I saw a flash of orange. To my great surprise, one goldfish had survived and had achieved quite a considerable size!

My online reading informed me that fish and frogs both eat duckweed, so it has a good side — it kept one fish alive in autumn, winter and early spring! At a pet store, I obtained five companions for “pond survivor” and they all appear to get along fine. It seems that the frogs are leaving them alone. So, the pond is now populated with fish, frogs and dragonflies.

Top left: Eastern cottontail rabbit eating common milkweed. Top right: raccoons investigating what there is around a brush pile. Bottom: Eastern chipmunks who reside in the back yard (left and middle photos) and front yard (left). All photos by ©Maria de Bruyn.

One plant that initially survived the drought was common milkweed, making me hopeful that it would be a good food source for monarch butterfly caterpillars this summer. Unfortunately, much of the milkweed began drying up despite some watering. Then I discovered that the yard rabbits were also eating it. This plant is poisonous for many mammals, but Eastern cottontails can tolerate it if they don’t eat an excessive amount.

I am uncertain what a pair of raccoons has found to eat in my gardens, but they don’t seem to have caused any damage. The Eastern chipmunks are finding plenty of food, some of it among the vegetables on my front porch. Fortunately, they have not overeaten!

Because I count birds for citizen science projects, like Project Feeder Watch and Project Nestwatch, I keep bird feeders filled and watch the visitors daily.  The birds rely on more than feeders, of course. However, climactic conditions can influence the availability of their natural food. The drought earlier this year meant that my gardens and yard had fewer flowering plants than usual. Consequently, there were fewer pollinators and bugs so one food source for many birds was scarce.

Top left: summer tanager being fed. Top right: male cardinal feeding offspring. Bottom left and right: European starlings arguing about access to seed and dried mealworms. All photos by ©Maria de Bruyn.

Parental birds are happy to feed themselves and their fledglings with seed from my feeders. Even young birds that are perfectly capable of feeding themselves beg for parental feeding. Many birds feed peacefully near one another, although occasionally a tiff over access will break out.

What is annoying for many birds (and me as well, I admit) is the arrival of flocks of European starlings and brown-headed cowbirds. Due to their numbers and size, they usually come to feed in sizeable groups that take up all the feeder space.

The members of these two bird species not only displace the nuthatches, cardinals, titmice and other smaller birds. They also scream at one another and drive food rivals away. And it is not only the adults who do this — the immature birds can be equally fierce!

Top left: brown-headed cowbird begging for food from a hooded warbler foster parent. Top right: immature cowbirds at a feeder; the one on the left is a male acquiring its black adult plumage. Bottom left and right: cowbird murmurations. All photos by ©Maria de Bruyn.

The brown-headed cowbirds are unfortunately despised by many birders because they are “nest parasites.” The females lay their eggs in other birds’ nests to be raised by them. This reproductive strategy is thought to have arisen when the cowbirds evolved to follow buffalo herds across the midwestern and western plains before bison were nearly eradicated at the end of the 1800s.

Nowadays, the female cowbird stays in the vicinity of the nests where she laid eggs and calls to her offspring with a special warbling sound. When the baby cowbirds fledge and are no longer fed by their foster parents, they join the adults, eventually forming ever-growing flocks. A murmuration of cowbirds is quite impressive as they join with other blackbird species to form groups of thousands swooping through the sky. It can be a mesmerizing sight!

When the cowbirds and starlings leave my yard, it will be quieter. But I will miss the call of the male cowbird as it is a delightful sound that sounds like drops of water plopping into a puddle!

Maria de Bruyn participates in nature-oriented citizen science projects and volunteers for the Orange County Senior Center and non-profit groups removing invasive vegetation and planting native plants. See more of her photos on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bruynmariade/) and in blogs at https://mybeautifulworldblog.com.

This reporter can be reached at Info@TheLocalReporter.press