Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

Our backyard in Metairie is all about birds, butterflies, and other creatures. We have a pond, lots of flowering bushes, a huge live oak, a few wax myrtles, and more. We don’t have much lawn, and I’m not sure I would call what is there “lawn.”

All this diversity and the combination of habitats we have are valued by wildlife and are a source of enjoyment for us. We receive visits from common egrets, yellow-crown night herons, a variety of singing frogs, an occasional snake slithering through, a turtle here, and an opossum there. Keeping an eye out is lots of fun, especially at this time of the year when the bird migration is gearing up. We will soon see splendidly colored feathered friends like indigo buntings, rose-breasted grosbeaks, ruby-throated hummingbirds, and the like.

We had a great winter with hordes of “little’s” (goldfinches), many house finches, pine warblers, orange crowned warblers, ruby crowned kinglets, to name a few.

The aforementioned species visit my feeders and pond and are mostly active by day. When making my morning rounds filling feeders, I often encounter places where something has been digging in the soil. I’m not 100 percent sure who or what is the culprit. I’ve watched at dawn and dusk, I peek out every time I pass a window, I’ve asked many of my naturalist friends, and I still only have a guess.

There are a couple of patterns in the diggings. One I’m pretty sure about. A few months ago I saw a small group of raccoons at one of our feeders. For a number of days thereafter I found evidence of widespread “scratching” under the pole feeders. I also noticed that all the leaves and associated debris that collects between the wooden deck and the edge of the bricks were scattered about as though “something” discovered an abundant earthworm population. The same evening, there was digging in a couple of nearby potted plants.

All of this searching activity I ascribe to the raccoons. They covered a lot of ground quickly, and did not dig deeply. They seemed to be broadly searching, not looking for something specific. I never saw the digging when I didn’t find evidence (including footprints) of a raccoon visit. I’m feeling comfortable about this one, yet there could be an unobserved opossum.

The other excavations look like a cone was forced into the soil. They are wide at the surface and pointed at the bottom. They appear to be very focused, like the digging animal knew something was buried there; there was no evidence of a search, it was just an exhumation. Since it is happening only in winter, I suspect gray squirrels that previously cached acorns for cold weather snacks make these holes.

There is always the possibility that rats are in the game. They are abundant all over Greater New Orleans, and they will eat a lot of the same food items as squirrels. But I would be surprised if they can hone in on an acorn buried by another animal. That said, I never underestimate the activities and abilities of rats.

For sure its not blue jays or other birds. I’ve watched them retrieve their cached acorns, and they simply pierce the ground and remove the acorn, leaving a small scar on the surface.

Although it is frustrating to have unexplained observations, it is fun knowing that nocturnal activity occurs while the diurnal critters rest.

Now, do I or do I not have flying squirrels in my yard? I’ll just have to keep watching and listening.

Whoever dug this hole had a well-defined                                  Similar excavations pop up all over the
target. Presumably, a gray squirrel                                            yard.
exhumed a hidden acorn.                                                         Photo by Bob Thomas.
Photo by Bob Thomas.

This shallow tilling suggests an animal simply                           It is probable that raccoons discovered the
looking around for a convenient meal. It may                           presence of numerous earthworms and other
be a sign that nightly visits by raccoons go                               munchies in the leaf mold that collects
beyond simply eating from the bird feeders.                             between the deck and bricks.
Photo by Bob Thomas.                                                          Photo by Bob Thomas.

The same night the leaf mold was mined,
something dug around in this pot.
Photo by Bob Thomas.