How Shelter-in-Place Has Opened My Eyes to the Wildlife Show in My Backyard
By: Jim Farina
Tags: Birds, Lifestyle, Outdoors, Nature, Wildlife

The Hungry Heron

Our kitchen faces a private, beautifully landscaped backyard. We have a small koi pond that can be seen from the window over the kitchen sink. We had about five-thousand pounds of boulders brought in to create the water feature. There’s an easement at the back of the property. It provides a slope that’s ideal for planting in tiers and a natural incline for a three-level waterfall.

I place feeders out for the hummingbirds every April and we plant strategically to attract them. They buzz our garden till around mid-October. This is about the latest we’ve seen ruby-throats in the area as they make their long journey back to Central and South America to winter over during the cold months. I customarily put out grape jelly and mount half-oranges on spikes for the orioles that pass through.

Photo by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash

We’ve had a couple episodes where heron stop by our pond. It’s a good stop on their flight to some nearby marsh, bog, or dedicated nature preserve. These wetland areas abound in the surrounding Chicago suburbs.

We witnessed a white egret eat one of our prized koi. The fish was about a foot long and we’d had this one for many years. The stork swallowed him in one horrifying gulp as we watched helplessly. Our dog was barking at something. We looked out and saw the magnificent creature standing on the edge of the pond. We were mesmerized — it didn’t immediately occur to my wife or me that this bird posed any immediate threat.

That’s one lesson we won’t soon forget. In early spring, before the Lilly pads provide any surface cover, a hungry heron or egret can decimate a pond’s livestock. “Like shooting fish in a barrel”. It’s smart to provide some hiding areas for cover.

There was another time when my wife happened to be looking out back and she spotted something odd on the side of the pond. She described it as a wet grayish blob. It moved suddenly. On closer observation, she realized it was one of our koi. We named him/or her, Quicksilver about four years prior, when it was barely thumb-sized.

Looking closer at the scene, she noticed a blue heron was nearby. It plucked Quicksilver from the water and dropped him on the side. She was able to intervene and chase off the predator. It took off clumsily over the neighbor’s rooftop, presumably toward a much more challenging fishing area in some nearby wetlands.

Photo by James Bowen on Unsplash

The Skulking Skunk

The same evening when our beloved koi was molested by the heron, we had a visit from another unwanted woodland menace. Many of these animals have adapted to urban life. We live less than a mile from a large forest preserve area.

It’s not uncommon, particularly in the early morning or evening hours to see raccoons, red foxes, possums, skunks, deer, or even coyotes strutting down the sidewalk with an attitude that exudes a bold entitlement.

We’re not sure if it was the skunk that originally excavated the tunnel beneath our front, concrete stoop. It might’ve been a red fox we’ve seen around the neighborhood recently. We suspect the skunk just took full advantage of the opportunity to shack up there. But whatever it was, they moved an impressive load of gravel. We filled it in as best we could. The following day there was another hole freshly dug.

This is when it occurred to us to set up surveillance using a motion-activated security camera. It’s wireless and mounted with a clip, so I can easily aim its direction or relocate it to another spot. We clamped it to a tree, aiming it towards the burrow.

Later that evening my phone alerted me of activity. Sure enough, when I viewed the series of captured video clips, there was a large skunk with bright glowing eyes, gathering debris and pushing it down into the burrow.

It’s an interesting little glimpse of nature in action, but I could not let this go on for too long. The last thing we need right now is to get anointed by a disgruntled skunk preparing to nest. Besides that, we have 2 young Corgis and it’s their mission to chase trespassing critters off the property. It would seem only a matter of time for them to learn their lesson the hard and stinky way.

The next morning I did some research on methods for evicting skunks. I found a DIY repellent that is humane and I had all of the elements on hand. It’s a simple solution requiring a yellow onion, jalapeno pepper, and a tablespoon of ground cayenne.

I chopped up all the produce and boiled it for twenty-minutes in water and let it cool. I strained it and funneled the liquid into a spray bottle. I generously spritzed around the area and into the hole. I knew the skunk was not inside the burrow because the last video record showed her waddle off sometime before dawn.

The repellent solution seemed effective, at least for a time. There was an alert that night, and upon reviewing the video, I could see the skunk did not enter the hole. All I could see was a brief glimpse of its bushy back-end as she high-tailed it down the street.