Guests to our garden

[tsbccowboy]

Guests to our garden, both invited guests and party crashers. Who or what has been a guest to your garden (friends, family or "other")? I guess friends and "other" may not be mutually exclusive, I hope family and "other" are mutually exclusive, but who knows.

My "other". Doing my 6am walk around the gardens I noticed this huge, prehistoric tail sticking out from under a rock. At that time of day I can function well enough to walk around the gardens but to see something out of the ordinary totally startled me. Turns out it wasn't a rock but a snapping turtle (it had about a 10" long shell). I ran in the house a grabbed my camera.



The turtle was probably more scared of me than I was of him/her.
The turtle tried going through the Hosta plants so I grabbed the turtle and relocated it to the park across the street, where there is a big pond.




The turtle is heading for the pond.



You never know what you may find in the gardens.

Who or what were your garden guests,
Cowboy

[kHT]

Wow, that beats the stray dog and it's owner that run into our yard. Or the balls we have thrown in just because they want to play in the street.
Or the Sheriff deputy sent over to get the ball because we won't go pick up the ball that was thrown into the yard. We have many visitors, last year
we opened up our gardens to over 450 folks that toured, it was a long summer of fun. We are in hopes this year of a peaceful one as the garden won't be open while we do some projects. Starting off with killing the lawn and reseeding.

Love your turtle and glad he was taken across the street.

[tsbccowboy]

Another guest to my gardens was this Katydid.


Green Katydid
9/16/05

This was the first Katydid I had ever seen in my whole life. I called my 5 and 3 year old nephews and told them about it. Within an hour, they had found one at their house.

Cowboy

[tsbccowboy]

Another "other" garden visitor was this Eyed Click Beetle. This was the one and only Eyed Click Beetle I have ever seen.


Eyed Click Beetle
6/13/05

What looks like eyes actually aren't eyes.


Are there any more garden visitors out there?
Cowboy

[McTavish]

I love the turtle. It looks just like a fake one I have in the garden.

I can't resist posting these visitors. They are not in my garden. They came from a friend in Australia. She has also sent me pictures of kangaroos and koala's. These are Tawny Frogmouth's. At first they look like wood. She told me they are nightjars not owls.

Tawny Frogmouth 1 by mctavish6, on Flickr


Tawny Frogmouth 2 by mctavish6, on Flickr

Tawny Frogmouth 3 by mctavish6, on Flickr

Tawny Frogmouth 4 by mctavish6, on Flickr

[kHT]

He is really cool. Beats the herons we have roosting in the neighbor's tree.

[tsbccowboy]

Can we say camouflage? That Tawny Frogmouth could be hard to spot.

[bkay2000]

Some of my favorite visitors over the years.

bk

[tsbccowboy]

Bkay, It is a good thing we can make your photos larger so it is easier to see your little guests.


These guests of mine are Ichneumon Flies, also known as Ichneumon Wasps. They are kind of cool looking but it is a bit unsettling when they fly around you.

[redcrx]

Some garden critters:

And something you want around to take care of bad garden critters:

And a short video of the snake:
Black Rat Snake

[harryshoe]

Our yard is home to many snakes. Mostly Garter Snakes and Brown Snakes. The handsome fellow
below was identified as an immature Black Snake.


And a reply to the Katydid picture above:



For shear beauty, nothing beats an Assassin Bug:

[DelawareDonna]

Wow! Awesome photos. This huge snapper came up from the creek that flows behind my hosta garden. I found these photos dated 1995. I remember I was sitting on my patio, absorbed in a book, heard a slight sound, looked down and he was 1" from my big toe.

Manny the mantis is straddling two Ginsu Knife leaves.

[tsbccowboy]

Way cool garden guests!

With all these cool guests to our gardens it raises a question, are they guests in our gardens or are we caretakers for their gardens?

Cowboy

[newhostalady]

Loving all the guests to your gardens everyone!

Great idea for a thread, Cowboy!

Now my visitor here is not an uncommon one, but the fact that it landed on a hosta flower stalk and allowed me to get close enough to take a picture is unusual. I didn't have a good camera on hand at the time, so picture quality is rather poor. But I still appreciate this photo and the trust this little bird had in me.

[newhostalady]

". . . are they guests in our gardens or are we caretakers for their gardens?" I'd say BOTH, Cowboy!

[tsbccowboy]

Please keep the garden guest photos coming! Love the "guests in our gardens".

Newhostalady, it seems like a Hosta flower stalk couldn't support a bird the size of a cardinal but they do. Cool pic.

A pair of mallards have been visiting every year for a long time. I think they just like to see what changes have been made to the gardens from year to year.


The ducks show up every year
6/1/04


Duck visiting
5/10/07


The Ducks visited the gardens
5/28/13


The Ducks visited the gardens
5/28/13


Mallard pair
5/13/14
The mallards & I have a disagreement. They do laps in the pond. They simply switch places and count it as a lap. I contend it is only a half of a lap.

More garden guest photos please,
Cowboy

[McTavish]

I have really enjoyed looking at these critters. Now I would love to have a turtle in my garden. Meanwhile here are a few pictures of some of my other guests.

4-30-13 (22) by mctavish6, on Flickr

152846~3 by mctavish6, on Flickr

This was posted to ask if this guy was a good guy or a bad guy. I can't remember what it's called but he is good so I welcome more of his kind.

IMG_3413 by mctavish6, on Flickr

Yes. I name my friends

Big Ben and Little Ben 9-12-13 (7) by mctavish6, on Flickr

Frogs are magic. I always love to see them big or small.

4-6-13 (9) by mctavish6, on Flickr

This one is helping a friend.

4-6-13 (2) by mctavish6, on Flickr

A small guy with a big voice

5-30-13 by mctavish6, on Flickr

Cowboy, I think your ducks need a bigger pond!

[harryshoe]

This is either a Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. It spends a lot of time in my yard and gives new meaning to my "bird feeder".



A Pileated Woodpecker visited my suet feeder in February. This big boy can grow to 20". After 40 years feeding birds, this was a first.


A Long-Eared Owl roosted in a mature spruce in my yard.

[redcrx]

As I look at the photos I recall others:

Not really a "guest" more of a "party crasher"

6 Deer

A duck inspecting the new fence we put up to keep the "party crashers" out

Gray Tree Frog - I always thought they were green

[redcrx]

And you can always find a butterfly.