Biodiversity in the Backyard
He's an Eastern American Toad!
Can you see what is peeping out between the bricks in our house!! A snake! It had scared me a few times as I came upon it unexpectedly and it slithered away. It was very non-aggressive so I wasn't too afraid of it after that. We discovered that it was a Northern Ribbon Snake and a very beneficial snake to gardeners as they eat bugs and snails.
However after we found out that it was living in a crack of the house it had to be evicted. Luckily Dominic caught sight of it during the day and taking the opportunity of knowing that the snake was not in the hole we plugged up the hole so it couldn't get back in. I was leery of plugging the hole without knowing for sure if it was still inside or not - I didn't want to kill it afterall. Now I assume it has found another place to live since we have not had any clandestine encounters since.
Mr. Ribbon had developed clouded eyes since our first meeting which, I think, must be a sign it was going to shed his skin soon. I certainly did not want it holed up in our house for any length of time and shedding, I was afraid, might make it want to hole up inside for longer...
Such pretty colors on this Eastern Tent Caterpillar.
Dominic rescued this caterpillar from the road as we were taking a walk as a family. He carried it all the way back to our house and then he let it go in a tree across the street. It had a very pretty blue on it's side and a distinctive white stripe running down it's back.
And finally, a Painted Turtle!
I found this turtle by a some wetlands along the trail. I took a few pictures but otherwise left it to go about it's way. It was for the most part unconcerned with my presence but it still preferred to part company.
It has been rather neat having so much interesting wildlife around. We have lived in lots of different states but so far Michigan has the greatest diversity and abundance of wild critters.
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