Fauna

When we lived on Lake Norman, we enjoyed the numerous and varied wildlife.  We had feeders for the birds, enjoyed the antics of the chipmunks and battled the woodchucks and squirrels.  The week after we left, a bear surprised the new owner by exploring his garbage can in the garage.

When we moved to Carolina Preserve, we didn’t expect much wildlife.  After all, the houses are ten-feet apart, and we have about 15-feet of lawn behind our home that ends at a slope rising about 30 feet, filled with love grass.  We got permission (for us and three neighbors) to plow the love grass under for about 15-feet up the slope and mulch and plant flowers and shrubs.  We love the plants and spend hours on our deck watching them grow.

And the birds and animals now love our backyard.  Mockingbirds, bluebirds, cardinals, an occasional goldfinch, robins and a brown thrush come to eat suet that we have put out for them.  These birds then drink and bath in water that Aloma changes daily.  We also have house wrens, hummingbirds, doves and a pair of mallards that have taken up next door and grace us with their presence every day.  The only birds we don’t like are the starlings.  They come in flocks and empty our suet feeder in minutes, if we let them.  All of our birds bring their babies by after they have fledged.  We love the silly kids.

Not to be outdone by the birds, animals have come to see us, too; they include a few squirrels, rabbits, deer, and a fox.  We spray stinky stuff on our plants to keep the deer from eating them and have rabbit spray that sometimes works.  A feral cat had kittens under one of our shrubs but moved them after I started checking on them every day.

Butterflies and bees enjoy our pollinator garden.  Chameleons race along our deck and then stop and blow out a pink thing under their neck.

To our surprise, we have more wildlife here than we had at the lake.  As we watch our plants grow, we enjoy the abundant wildlife.

Seasoned Man

stevelem117@gmail.com