Evidence of an invader in the garden. A few birds were picking at the leaves and pods, but this one was a critter who preferred to shell the peas leaving the pods behind. And then further evidence — on some of the almost ripe pumpkins. And in this case, the evidence show clear marks of rodent teeth.
The culprit was a ground squirrel who was able to get high enough for the larger spacing in the fencing.
As we finished lunch I glanced at the garden and saw a brown blur on the far side of the fence. When I managed to get a better view, it was the one of the two fawns we had seen visiting before. While the mother was having a buffet lunch over at the dump pile, the little ones were exploring. This one went along the fence line poking its nose through where it could to trim any vegetation within reach. It turned the corner and continued up the driveway to where the fence turned again.
The fawn continued along the fence to the point where it was only ten feet from the house. I tried to get some additional photos from the deck, but the deer have good hearing. The door squeaked and it decided it was time to go back to its mother and safety down the hill in the brush.
I found a couple of what I identified as swallowtail butterfly caterpillars on one of the herb plants. They are partial to members of the parsley family. In this case, it was on lovage. Again, I had not seen any swallowtail butterflies, so it was another surprise to see them.
I checked on them for a few days, but when I returned after being away for a couple days, they had disappeared.
Just a moth that was flitting around. But it had a pretty pattern on its wings, so a photo was in order.
While I was working outside, I was surprised to see this little guy. When we first built our house, the ground around was very sandy and we seemed to find horned toad lizards frequently. Or maybe it was the same two or three that we kept catching to look at and releasing the next day. But after the weeds stabilized the ground, we did not see these. So possibly the work smoothing out the orchard and garden area turning things sandy again, brought the critter up to visit.
He was quite cooperative about being photographed. Hung around while I went in for the camera and let me take as many pictures as I wanted. This one was about 3-4 inches long. That is quite a lot bigger than the ones we found before.
