Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘wildlife’

Please Do Not Poison the Rats

Posted in bird watching, gardening, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

I read once (a long time ago) that in the event of a nuclear event, three creatures will still be standing: the coyote, the rat, and the cockroach.

Rats. We all hate them. Well, not Willard. Or the owners of cute pet rats purchased from a pet store. Or Michael Jackson, who sang that hit song, “Ben”, back in 1972. If you are unfamiliar with either the song or the names, you need go no further back in time than to 1971 when the movie, “Willard” was released. It’s a cult classic. The rats are not cute, and Ben is certainly not a loveable pet as the song implies. Ben did not come from a pet store. I have never quite understood what pet rat owners see in the buggers, but…”to each his own”.

There are a lot of species of rats in the world, the most notorious of which is the very large Norway rat. The common brown rat. The rat that has long been blamed for the spread of the Black (Bubonic) Plague. The rats that stow away on merchant ships, chew into the stores, poop and pee on all the foods, and then jump ship in the harbor. The first creatures to leave a sinking ship according to the old idiom.

Rats.

I am not a fan of rats. I’ve had them die inside the walls of my home and bloat, host bot flies, and stink to high heaven until their bodies finally deflate and the maggots have nothing else to feed on. I have listened to them rustle inside the walls and I have heard them set off the instant kill traps that rarely work as advertised (the rats flop around awhile before they finally die. It’s disturbing). I have observed them hiding In gutters in NE Portland, sneak across drive-in parking lots, and dash through the aisles in major grocery stores. I have watched them climb trees to get to bird seed.

But here’s the thing: I’m not fond of rattlesnakes, either. Or scorpions. Earwigs. Little deer mice that carry Hanta Virus. Spiders crawling on my face. We all get the “heebie jeebies” over something. That doesn’t mean we’re always right or the thing bothering us is really something to be unreasonably frightened of. They exist, and so do we.

This past week I have discovered a dead squirrel in my yard. A neighbor discovered one in its dying throes. Tonight, someone else posted that the found two dying or dead squirrels. Everyone loves squirrels, right?

They’re cute, they eat peanuts, they pose, they tease our dogs and cats. They’re photogenic. They also carry fleas, raid bird nests, poop on everything, and – in the case of at least two of those squirrel deaths – are not native. The ones in my immediate neighborhood were Eastern grey squirrels that have been pushing out the Eastern Fox squirrels which, in turn, pushed out our native Douglas squirrels. Still, they are adorable, cute, beloved, and generally loved whereas rats are the opposite. And the poison which killed the squirrels in all of the above cases was poison meant to kill rats.

The problem with poison is this: it is non-species-specific. It doesn’t discriminate, it doesn’t break down, and it induces an agonizing death in the creature unfortunate to have eaten it.

And once that creature has died (usually not in the same yard where the poison was administered, but in a neighbor’s yard), the poison remains as potent as before it was administered.

In two of the cases listed above, the property owner discovered the dead/dying squirrels BEFORE the beloved cat or dog did.

Read that last line again. Say it out loud for those in the back of the room. The poison someone sets out to kill the rats they think are living in their yard is the poison that kills the neighbor’s dog or cat. It is the poison that kills the vulture, the mouse, the coyote, the raccoon, or the skunk that feeds on the carrion. Then it kills whatever dines on those carcasses. Birds, rodents, bears, pets.

Sticky traps are not a whole lot better, often trapping songbirds and sentencing them to an agonizing death.

I could go on, but I won’t. You get the picture.

“But…But…My neighbor feeds the birds and the bird seed attracts the rats and…”

In my neighborhood, we are often blamed for the rats that wander through “Just looking for a home”. We feed the birds. We also have a vegetable garden, fruit trees, a grapevine, berry bushes, and a compost heap. Two doors down (to the north and to the south), we have neighbors that raise chickens for the eggs. A quarter mile away as the crow flies, there is a major waterway that flows into a major port. We are surrounded by little wild parks where deer, coyotes, skunks, raccoons, and the occasional mountain lion dwell.

We have rats. Rats live where there is water, shipping lanes, grocery stores, backyard gardens, fruit trees, chicken coops. They live where skunks and raccoons live. Rats feed coyotes and foxes.

I’m not a fan of rats. Willard (the movie) cemented a deep-seated human loathing of the creature. We have mitigated entries into buildings on our property to repel rats (except the garage. There’s always still one building where the buggers might consider building a nest). What we have NOT done is take down our bird feeders, eliminated our wildlife watering spots, planted lawn where the vegetables grow, or lopped down the fruit trees. We have accepted that rats live among us, like it or not.

I read once (a long time ago) that in the event of a nuclear event, three creatures will still be standing: the coyote, the rat, and the cockroach.

Our neighbors still have a long way to go to understand they live in a world where the creature is the undisputed king of survival.

Read Full Post »

Well, I Wanted Wildlife in the Garden

Posted in gardening, tagged , , , , on August 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

I’m slow on the uptake sometimes. I was going to add some water to the upper pond. I keep a watering can full of city water that I allow to sit over night to expel all the bad chemicals (and our city water has a ton of them). Usually I just need to add a little water to each pond every other day.

The first thing I noticed was tiny white specks floating in the muddy water.

“What the…?” I reached for the net and began to scoop the dots out. THEN I noticed that the moss in one of the planters had been dislodged and turned upside down. Mind you, this pond is only about 24″ in circumference and holds 15 gallons of water.

“WHAT?” My voice was getting a little louder now.

THEN, by some miracle of observation, I noted that the blue planter had been thoroughly trashed and the water lily was gone.

“What in holy!? WHAT?!”

My husband hurried over, “What’s wrong?”

“Some critter trashed the planters.”

Yup, the white floaters were vermiculite. The water was muddier than normal. There was even dirt up on the rocks.

Well, isn’t that a fine “how-do-you-do”!

I replaced the moss on the first planter, no real damage done. Dug through the blue planter and found the lily had merely been pulled out and then stuffed back in, upside-down. It was fine and quite salvageable.

The pond is murky brown, I’m not certain any fish still live in it, and the pump was pumping muddy water. I just cleaned that pump yesterday, thank you very much.

If we lived in Seattle, I could hope it was the work of one Jimothy the short-spined raccoon, but I don’t live in Seattle and it was more likely the damage done by a normal sized masked bandit. I don’t think it was the work of a squirrel or a crow: the water lily had been uprooted, turned over, and stuffed back into the planter. I also don’t think it was the work of one muppet named Ruger, although he is one of the primary reasons I have to add water every day: he thinks pond water is better than clean water in his dish. Also, he’s out by nine at night and is only outside long enough to potty sometime in the early morning hours.

I didn’t think to take photos before I rescued plants. I will need to add soil to the blue planter, but it looks like the lily will survive. There’s so much mud in the water that I will have to completely empty the pond and clean it out. If any fish managed to survive, I will relocate them to the lower pond with the other mosquito fish. Then I will refill this pond with clean city water and let it sit a day or two before I call Vector Control to add new gambusia.

Also, I have a trail camera. It wasn’t set up last night, but it is set up now. We may not know what the vandal looks like but we are certain it will return to the scene of the crime!

Read Full Post »

Crows and Bird Baths

Posted in bird watching, gardening, tagged , , , , , on April 7, 2025| 5 Comments »

Yesterday’s post ended in a pile of dog poop. It was a photo of one of our birdbaths where the crows like to rinse off the dog poop in search of undigested nuggets. Crows can be so fun (sarcasm font).

I started with just one bird bath in the yard many years ago, but the crows kept soaking dead baby birds in it. I started feeding the crows to keep them from raiding neighboring nests and depositing the fledglings in the bird bath – and that has worked quite well. But after I added the central one to the back yard last year, dog poop has become the primary crow issue.

I love crows… Until I don’t.

I have added several more bird baths over the years, some of which are no longer: ice and winter have a way of breaking up ceramics. The original bird bath was destroyed in a nasty winter storm. My husband purchased a new one for me the next Christmas.

It’s concrete. The bowl surface is rough, giving small birds and insects a fighting chance if they get stuck in the deeper water. The small birds and wasps love it. I placed it in the backyard where the crows don’t use it. They don’t use it mostly because of its proximity to outdoor seating, an issue that the wee song birds don’t seem to have. And it has worked well. I need to clean it a few times in the summer and I ignore it through the winter.

Last year, I added this plastic monstrosity to the front yard. It is there specifically for crows. They put everything into the water before they eat it: peanuts, bread and hamburger buns that other people toss them, and things I probably do not want to think about. I have yet to find a fledgling bird in there but fried chicken… Oh, yes. I hose it out over the retaining wall and think no more about it: whatever is in it drops behind the wall of orange daylilies, out of sight – out of mind.

I have often perused the aisles of thrift stores for bowls or platters that are the right depth for bird baths. A lot of them don’t make it through the winter: ice is hell on porcelain and glass. And I forget to haul them inside for the season. I have a variety of plant stands (wrought iron) and plant hangers that I use to suspend the make-shift bird baths (and bee watering holes). And we have gone through a variety of cheap dishes.

Last year, we remodeled our bathroom, and I grabbed the porcelain pedestal to our former sink. I spent some time thrifting until I found the “right” bowl to glue onto the porcelain (E6000 – the best crafter’s glue!). It lasted the season before the glue gave out and I hauled the bowl into the house for the season. The only caveat: dog poop, undigested peanuts, and crows. I’ll return to this eyesore in a moment.

A couple years ago, we hit a yard sale with plant hangers and more for sale. I got my Rose of Sharon there and four of these funky home-made plant hangers. The bush is doing quite well, but I discovered the plant handers are much too heavy for shepherd’s hooks when plants are added to the mix. But I had four of them and they are so cool. (Did I just date myself with that phrase? Probably. But they *are* “so cool”.)

Two became bird feeders. I wired a screen onto the first one. It’s easy to clean and the small birds love it. So do the squirrels, but that’s another issue I haven’t quite dealt with (yet). I converted one of those frames for hanging plants into a basket to hold the other bird feeder platform: an inverted aluminum canning lid sainted white and punctured with holes for the rain to soak through. The crows and squirrels occasionally knock this one off the hanger, but it works quite well otherwise.

I have found small platters or bowls to place on the other two that can be used by birds or bees as watering places. I only have one in use right now. The last is languishing in the shed waiting for inspiration or a new cheap porcelain bowl for the birds.

Somewhere in that timeline, we wandered through a town-wide antique fair and I came across a very unique hanger. The seller was offended that I wanted to use it for birds (“It’s a hanger for Aladdin lamps!” he protested). Yes, but it has no lamp, and you want more money than it is worth. We compromised on the price (I paid too much but it was the principle of the argument). $5 got me this hanger that I use for watering bees and wasps. Yes, I do need to clean the lower bowl, and the marbles contained therein, but its not like bees or wasps are thirsty right now. The guy selling it wanted $10 but he didn’t have a corresponding lamp to go with it and I know you probably can’t find one. At least not one you’d want to hang outside in the weather.

Which circles me around to the original subject: the birdbath I had to clean today. I mentioned to my husband that I needed a hose out to clean it, he thought I was whining, muttered something about “the hoses are on hose reels with wheels”, and proceeded to dig the hoses on wheels out of the shed for me. I did not mean he had to do it instantaneously and he forgets that a hose reel with a 100’ farm hose on it weighs more than I can easily move. So, we were both irritated with each other. Isn’t marriage fun?

Yes, yes it is. I’d sooner have a growling contest with someone I know will stay with me regardless than have to haul those heavy hose reels out on my own. In the rain.

Last night before I fell asleep, my brain hashed over the challenge of the crows. I came up with several non-viable ideas before I thought of this one: using one of those wire flowering basket hangers they sell at the supermarket laden with flowers. I was going to use this particular basket for something else (even purchased the coconut fiber liner) but… It looks nice and I’m hoping it goes a long way toward discouraging crows without making enemies of them – and keeping the integrity of the bird bath in place for the smaller birds that would like to use it.

This solution is To Be Determined.

Read Full Post »

Wildlife in the Backyard

Posted in bird watching, tagged , , , , on September 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This is mostly about wildlife in the backyard, but there might be some mechanical devices involved as well.

Today was a good day, mostly pain-free and very lazy. I am considering the comments made on my last post very seriously, but I have other things to do before I go asking a doctor for a dx of fibromyalgia. I do take it seriously: three friends in one week said the same thing after I whined to them about how I was feeling. I just hadn’t seriously considered it before because… well, I never thought my symptoms matched up properly.

But that isn’t what I wanted to write about tonight. We have a backyard full of wild creatures and I would love to share them with you, my small following of friends and family.

Unfortunately, I don’t have photos of everything.

For instance, a couple weeks ago my husband called me at 6:30AM. “Is the opossum still there?”

Um. What opossum would that be?

My husband lets his dog out very early in the morning, like about 4:30AM. And on this particular morning, Murphy proudly carried a dead opossum to the back door. Don chased him down in the yard and made him leave the poor body out in front of the shed. And now, at 6:30AM when it was light out, he wanted me to go out and see if the opossum was truly dead.

I assured him there was no body in the back yard.

Dumb dog! The opossum went into a stupor and “played” dead, and Murphy thought he had a prize. I’m sure it was very relieved to wake up from it’s self-induced coma to find it was still alive, and it made it out of the yard post-haste.

Last Monday, Don let his dog out at 4:30AM. And there was a terrible ruckus in the back corner of the yard, with barking and growling and scuffling. I woke up and held my breath, waiting to hear a cat scream. No cat. Whatever it was, it fought back and held Murphy at bay before it jumped onto the compost bin and over the 6′ bamboo screen, onto the neighbor’s little tin shed.

I moved all the hazelnut mulch bags into the backyard and stacked them onto the back stoop until I can find time to spread the nuts. I did this because something moved the bags around in the driveway and attempted to chew through thee plastic fiber.

Last week, I stepped out the back door in the early morning to discover the bags that were still unopened had been rearranged on the back stoop.

The critter left his mark.

Pretty certain that is the same critter that Murphy tangled with a few mornings earlier. I’d just spread hazelnuts over the flower beds in the back corner. Apparently we have a neighboring raccoon who is fond of filberts.

Darn thing also dug up my freshly planted mums and killed them. Guess it was also hunting grubs??

Today, I lazed around. I pulled out the lawn chair, set my camera on the bench beside me with a glass of ice water for refreshment, and opened the last book in the Cornelia Funke series I have been reading (Inkheart, Inkspell & Inkdeath). I kept one eye on the new birdbath.

I purchased the salad bowl at Goodwill and filled it with water. The stand is one I bought at a yard sale not too long ago. I also added a “bubbler” to make the water move and I have since moved the entire set-up to a different location. It has taken the small birds about a month to discover it, but now that they have – they love it.

But before I spotted any birds in the birdbath, there was a chattering and commotion in the hazelnut tree that my husband has allowed to grow wild along the back fence. It’s in a part of the yard where we have done no landscaping. Neglected, wild, and overgrown. And now there was a squirrel chattering back there, presumably at Harvey as he wandered the perimeter of the yard.

Harvey is hunting cats and doesn’t care about squirrels.

Harvey is not especially bright and he’s on a mission to get out of our yard to hunt cats.

I grabbed my camera and headed to the wild side of the yard.

The squirrel was upset with this large blue bird, not Harvey. The Steller’s Jay was working the hazelnut tree over.

Steller’s Jays are harder to capture than scrubjays. They aren’t as gregarious. But they are one of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen. I think they are prettier than the Eastern Bluejay.

The squirrel is a young Eastern Fox squirrel that only recently started coming over to our bird feeder. It seems he (or she) has also discovered the wild hazelnut in back.

The birdbath didn’t disappoint me. You can see the bubbler in the middle of the bowl there: it’s powered by two “D” batteries and just spins, making the water move. I was worried that it would put off the little birds, but this red-breasted nuthatch doesn’t seem to be bothered by it.

The Black-capped Chickadee was more worried about me and I was sitting 20 feet away.

We live along the Pacific Flyway, the major north-south migration route for thousands of birds annually. Our back yard is also on the flight path for airliners coming from the south, headed for PDX. We are also relatively close to several small airports and since we sit on the bluff over the Willamette River, we have some great thermals overhead. Small aircraft often buzz the house in the summer months.

Today, we were buzzed by three Vintage WWII airplanes. They’re noisy, but they don’t leave large bird droppings like the occasional Turkey Vultures that gets lost on the thermals overhead do.

The chickadee started to warm up to my presence. Or maybe this is a different bird.

The sun was dropping low and the shadows were getting long when I decided it was time to come in and fix dinner for my husband. But I couldn’t resist the squash bug. Pestilence.

 

Read Full Post »