Seeing the young of wild animals is intriguing to me. Early one morning last week as I sat having my breakfast, I noticed a movement outside my south windows. Since I have many plants indoors and outdoors in that area I stood up to be sure of what was moving. It turned out to be the twin fawns and their mother had come back and come closer this time. While the babies nibbled on the Hawthorn plants, the mother stood still and watched. She was not eating as she was on duty to be sure her babies were safe. She must have heard something from the west as she shifted her position and turned her head in that direction. One of the fawns reacted by moving also, but went right back to munching. Eventually they all began to move slowly away. I stood still during all of this and just enjoyed seeing them. Had they all been adults I may have tried to discourage them from dining so close to my house. The urge to observe them made me more lenient this day.
Since the groundhog family seems to still be in my vineyard I am using the trap from the wildlife people to try to trap and relocate them. My neighbor has been a big help in this endeavor. The very day I brought the trap home and set it up and baited it with cantaloupe, he called to tell me he had taken the trap to a park and released this adult gopher. The next day I reset the trap and put in strawberries, but in several days they had rotted and no gophers had appeared. So, I switched to cantaloupe and the next morning he called to say he found a baby gopher in the trap. He took it off to release it but had trouble getting it out of the trap. He said it had long fingers wrapped around the wires at the end of the trap and would not let go when he shook it. He had to resort to using a stick to poke at him before he would release and run off.
The trap has been baited again with cantaloupe so we shall see what the day brings. I feel sure that there were more than one baby in the tunnel. We have had so much rain here in the south, that they may be holed up in their hole !! They must sleep a lot as I only see them at certain times of the day, like mid morning and later in the day. Of course this is a fairly large place and I cannot see everything that goes on here.
In front of my house in a flower bed I saw three yellow, swallow tail butterflies working the Lantana. I think they have only a short time to feed, lay their eggs and disappear. It is nice to see them fluttering about. The Pomeranians who visit here like to try to catch them, but never do. They do exercise their lungs and legs when they see them outside.
I do have a soft heart for the young ones of any species. I recently found a tiny salamander in a sticky trap by my front door. The trap was there to capture scorpions if they got through the door. It was too late to help the salamander. If he had not been caught in the sticky tape he would probably have died of thirst indoors. I have at times found them in some secluded spot where they have died and just dried up. I think there are many more outside around the rock walls to take their place, as I see them when I am out weeding. My daughter saw a family of scorpions on the rock wall around the flower beds. As long as they stay out there I have no objections, but indoors it is a problem. I like to go barefoot indoors, especially at night. Stepping on a scorpion is not a pleasant event. So, baby or not, I really do not want them indoors. It is only intriguing to watch wild animals when they are outdoors and I am indoors.
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