Monarch caterpillar
By Joan Young, Contributing Writer
The other day, I was relating to a friend the joys and woes of finding a number of creatures in and near my house, and she comfortingly reminded me that life is full of little animals. Indeed!
For example, on the day in question, my kitchen counters were overrun with the little black “sugar ants.” I have no particular beef with ants. They do great services as aerators of soil, decomposers, nutrient recyclers. However, in lieu of something dead to break down or nice dirt to tunnel through, they feast in great hordes on anything remotely sugary I may have left unprotected.
Another day, a lovely blue racer snake was caught in my garden fencing. I gently freed it from the entanglement. Blue racers do great service in keeping down the population of another adorable little critter, the white-footed deer mouse. These mostly stay outdoors where they belong in the summer, but come fall, whole families take up residence in MY residence.
13-lined ground squirrel
C.S. Lewis once pointed out that we could be friends with the mouse if it would agree to just eat the leftover crumbs we leave behind. Probably, but I have higher standards. I also want them to stop gnawing on my papers, books, and clothing. Until fall when they move inside out of the cold, we are on good terms. I seldom even see one in the summer.
Along those same rodentia lines, what I do see quite a few of are chipmunks and 13-lined ground squirrels. In fact, I had a chipmunk run into the house twice on the same day last week. He scurried in, stopped cold and looked around in confused fashion. I clapped and yelled. Fortunately, both times he ran back outside instead of diving for cover under a piece of furniture.
The ground squirrels are cousins of the chipmunks, both belonging to the family Scuridae. And yes, the word scurry is related to the family name. They generally have longer bodies and smaller ears. But they will dig holes equally energetically.
The moles are even more interesting, yet problematic. They turn my yard into squishy Swiss cheese and eat plant bulbs like candy.
I’ve just purchased a product that is supposed to repel these kinds of critters without killing them. I hope it works. I have no desire to poison them and have that passed up the food chain to the birds of prey who also need to eat.
Purple finches and robins enjoy my birdbath. A pair of flickers have even appeared on the deck to check it out. Other woodpeckers appear on the deck to peck holes in the posts.
We won’t even discuss the deer. They aren’t little, and the damage an overabundance of them can do is amazing.
Don’t get me wrong. I love all the animals. But I also love my gardens and the people food I keep in my kitchen. I used to want to create a pond and put in plantings to attract even more wildlife. Now, I think I have enough.
I can’t end this without mentioning the joy of finding a monarch butterfly caterpillar munching on some milkweed. There is lots of milkweed around my house. They can munch to their hearts’ content.
Blue racer
___________________
Please Support Local News
Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news.
To sign up, email editor@mediagroup31.com. In the subject line write: Subscription. Please supply your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number (indicate cell phone). We will not share your information with any outside sources. For more than one email address in a household, the cost is $15 per month per email address.
We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).
Payment must be made in advance prior to subscription activation.
We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.
_____
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2025, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.
.png)
