I’m not sure I can really express the astonishment and thrill that overcomes me with every new wildlife species I discover in my garden. But I’ll say this: the little girl in me reappears with every wonder of nature I encounter. And my garden is still only about 2.5 years old. Me, I’m older.
Recently I found the bizarrest looking creature on a seed pod of my Mexican Redbud. I’d never seen anything like it and didn’t even have a clue how to best describe it to make an online search. But miraculously, found it I did. It’s the caterpillar of a Henry’s Elfin butterfly. I haven’t even seen the butterfly yet, but apparently my Mexican Redbud did.
Just a couple of days ago, I reported at Great Stems the new Texas Spiny Lizards in my garden. And this year I’ve seen more bird species visiting my garden than ever. I even have new ones to report, and I will — as soon as I officially ID them!
I completely judge my success as a gardener by the wildlife I attract. Bonus is when I can also correctly ID said wildlife. Today, I’m feeling pretty gosh-darn successful.
What are the newest wildlife visitors in your garden? Loret, I shouldn’t let you answer this — you always come up with things like Bald Eagles and such!
Meredith O’Reilly gardens for wildlife in Austin, Texas, and writes about her garden adventures at Great Stems.
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About Meredith O'Reilly
Hi Meredith!
Thank you for your blog – I totally agree with you about attracting wildlife into your garden being the measure of success. My goal is to have a sustainable habitat that will continue to nourish wildlife for many years.
Marcie, that’s a most excellent goal! Thanks for all you are doing to help wildlife!
Hi Meredith,
I totally agree. Each year brings new visitors. Like you, I can’t wait to find out what’s going to stop by the landscape this year.
Heather
Heather recently posted..Name That Native Plant – Quiz 21
I love that the number increases dramatically each year that my wildlife garden exists. Every year brings such excitement and adventure!
Oh yes… that’s so much ‘like me’…
I’m thrilled by every new species I discover. I’m not an entomologist, no, I now much more about botany, so I only know a very small part of the wildlife in my garden… But those ‘easy to determinate species’…
Yesterday I found a Calvia quatuordecimguttata (Dutch name can be translated to ‘cream spotted lady bug), which is the 7th native ladybug species I found in my garden. Something like that makes my day!
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Seven native ladybug species — that’s fantastic!
I get delighted by every species I’m able to ID–I don’t even know if they’re “new”, but practically everything beyond the absurdly obvious is new to me!
Ursula Vernon recently posted..Carpenter Bee on Blueberries
That’s true — the wildlife could have been visiting for a long time, but new to us when we finally notice it. I do love the challenge of tracking down an ID — and a challenge it often is.
I really love the way the caterpillar’s color matches what it is sitting on. It’s like a beautiful broach made to enhance a lovely gown. The arrival of the bluebirds is the big wildlife excitement in my garden today!
I agree — I was amazed at the color coordination. I’m still amazed I even noticed the tiny little caterpillar at all.
Congratulations on your Henry’s Elfin….what a fantastic find (I’m jealous). It sounds like you have made the best “bed and breakfast” for your new found friends and I commend you for it!
I had a hard time this week putting together a cast of critters for a birthday party we were requested to do (I catch and identify the bugs, my friend is doing the presentation to the kids). My critters are not out in quantity just yet [but things are heating up
] The lizards are too fast, the frogs and toads are somewhere, since I have thousands of tadpoles in the pond, but didn’t chose to go “on the road”. I did find a quartet of leaf-footed bugs on a thistle, mating stink bugs on my cranes bill, standard lady bug, a tiny grasshopper, a bella moth and a new to my buggy life list “red-shouldered bug” which was discovered in my friend’s yard. Twas a deep shade of pink since it is a nymph and I just had to catch it. I hope to hear how the party went (the mother actually called us to inquire if we would bring our bugs for a demo). On the reptile front, he (she?) hasn’t been around, but I finally had the time to figure out what snake was in my yard in November….Turns out it wasn’t a snake at all, but a Glass Lizard. Another new life lister. Nature is wonderful…and now I have to go out and try to catch something of interest to take to another outreach program tonight! Busy season for me and my “bugs”.
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You have captured exactly how I feel! It is so exciting to find a new (to me) species sharing our garden space. I keep wanting to start a yard list of animals, including any insects, spiders or other creatures I can identify, but I haven’t found the right program to use yet. That’s okay, though, because I identify and/or photograph all the ones I can…and just rejoice in the others!
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