# What is your favorite critters in the garden?



## capthunterdude (Nov 15, 2006)

I saw the post with the big ol' caterpillars. I got to thinking about all the insects and things I have seen in the garden. 

My favorite by far are the bees. They are great entertainment. I will never forget the bees I see in the squash flowers. They go in squeaky clean and come out a giant ball of yellow. I once saw a bee work for quite some time and when he finally came out of the flower the only black that be seen on him was on his wings. A huge pile of pollen sat upon his head.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

Gotta love the bees and butterflies. I also have green anole lizards and tree frogs in mine from time to time.


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## Muddskipper (Dec 29, 2004)

I have a bunch of citrus in containers so I get a bees ...

Last year I had *4 different species* of bees on one citrus .....

I used to use something for leaf miners but stopped as it was affecting the bees .....

I decided to just deal with the curly leaves and let the bees have their way


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

I love the bees and the butterflies...and even the occasional mocking bird show is entertaining within limits...but my favorite has to be the hummingbirds. 

They are simply fascinating to watch and after years of observing them, it still is thrilling to watch them in flight. They defy gravity...and do it with such skill. They fly forward, backward, sideways, and can stop dead in mid-air in an instant....can reach 60 mph in flight. They are the true athletes of the world. The smallest bird, but the most interesting to me.


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## capthunterdude (Nov 15, 2006)

I forgot about the hummers also. I haven't had any in my garden yet, but I have spent quite a bit of time watching them in the late summer. The thing that amazes me about hummers and what most folks don't realize is that those little birds are extremely aggressive and territorial. I have watched one bird spend the better part of 3 hours chasing the other hummers away from "his" feeder.


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## chumy (Jul 13, 2012)

ladybugs, they are killers!! Any bird that eats worms, espeically before my tomators ripen.


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## histprof (Oct 30, 2011)

Bees, butterflies, hummers are all wonderful. Some years ago, while running the community garden at the college, we had a momma bird build her nest and lay three eggs among our onions. She patiently tolerated all of our poor taste cracks about eggs+onions=omelet. After the hatching, we had three mini birds running and peeping for a few days. Pretty cool.


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## chumy (Jul 13, 2012)

capthunterdude said:


> I forgot about the hummers also. I haven't had any in my garden yet, but I have spent quite a bit of time watching them in the late summer. The thing that amazes me about hummers and what most folks don't realize is that those little birds are extremely aggressive and territorial. I have watched one bird spend the better part of 3 hours chasing the other hummers away from "his" feeder.


Yes, fun to watch them dive bomb others at THEIR feeder.


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

I have lots of bluebirds in my garden.They're bug eaten boogers.


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## jm423 (Sep 18, 2011)

Right on about the bluebirds-we have a pair nesting little way from my shop, they do work on the bugs. Love to sit and watch the hummers squabble about feeders. Mockingbirds great also if they leave the maters and figs alone. And always the purple martins.


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## fishjunky (Jun 4, 2009)

Gotta love the tree frogs at my Ghouse (oops don't know why the pic loaded upside down)


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## Johnny9 (Sep 7, 2005)

Favorite is Bluebird and have 2-3 houses nearby. Least favorite is MOCKINGBIRD cause they eat tomatoes.


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## Mikeyhunts (Jun 4, 2007)

Man I hate a mockingbird........I have about 75 strawberry plants, and cant hardly get one to ripen because of the birds eating them.

Same thing last summer, I finally had to net the whole garden.


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## jm423 (Sep 18, 2011)

The red Christmas tree ornament trick has worked for me with mockingbirds. Dono about strawberries, other than net.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

I don't have mockingbird issues. Maybe my cherry 100 trick works or at my old house it could have been the 10 or so Mulberry trees on the property. The tree frogs have been singing a lot since we got some rain.


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## capthunterdude (Nov 15, 2006)

I don't have many problems with birds in my garden. My German Shorthaired Pointer pretty much watches the garden for any large intruders, ie birds, possums, etc. My biggest problem has been my security task force, my GSP. When I pull a boneheaded move, like forgetting to lock the gate to the garden, he always fully prepared to take full advantage of it. He is never slow to reward himself with a belly full of freshly rippened tomatos from the vine. I am sure he justifies it as payment for all his hard work. 

My son has named him "Guardian of the Gate of the Garden".


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

X4 on the Bluebirds. Pictures from last year (We still have snow this year).

The nest box in the picture is on a top of a 7 ft high fence post. The post is part of the deer fencing that goes around my fruit garden. I was able to get several nice pictures of the female coming and going, but the male was really shy. Only feeding the chicks when I was too far away for pictures. I normally don't paint the bird houses, just leave them natural. The one in the picture was built and painted by the grandson. Colored to match the male bluebird.

As mentioned, these birds are bug eating machines. I've watched them for hours and it doesn't seem like they take very many of the good bees. Catapillars and moths get eaten by the hundreds. Especially when there is a nest box full of young ones to feed.


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## Rubberback (Sep 9, 2008)

I like to find earth worms in my dirt. I hate tomatoe hornworm they can really do some damage to a plant. I noticed my bluebirds have already hatched. They normally hatch a second brood.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Mikeyhunts said:


> Man I hate a mockingbird.........


LOL Mikeyhunts....you gotta love a bird that has the moxie to take on hawks, crows, or whatever birds many times their size and win the fight with them. They will even whip most cats which I love to see not being a cat lover.

Just kidding you however, cause I do understand and agree with the frustrations of them eating your best produce.

All things considered, I still like to have them around.

Haven't see nearly as many bluebirds this spring as normal around here...not sure what's up with that?


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## scwine (Sep 7, 2006)

I have 2 Texas Brown snakes that live in a confederate jasmine bed with rocks and leaves. Maybe more than 2, since they seem to be everywhere here. Earlier today they were curled up together.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

scwine said:


> I have 2 Texas Brown snakes that live in a confederate jasmine bed with rocks and leaves. Maybe more than 2, since they seem to be everywhere here. Earlier today they were curled up together.


Curled up together.... either they are cold or else "love is in the air"

More on birds: We don't have mockingbirds this far north. We do have catbirds, brown thrashers, and robins that like raspberries that have fallen on the ground (which is OK), but they love blueberries anywhere. I've had to spend a lot of money on netting to keep them out of the blueberries.

I get some peck marks in tomatoes occasionally, but not much. I don't know who the culprit is.


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## Muddskipper (Dec 29, 2004)

*Praying Mantis ....*

It's not just in cartoons ... the praying mantis is native to Texas ....

It looks like a stick ..... I had to get real close for the pic ... and this one has flown away 3 times but keeps coming back


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

We have a lot of praying mantis in Nada. I went years in Houston without seeing one. Had a hognose snake in the yard Saturday. I haven't seen one of those since I was a kid.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

Are you sure that is a praying mantis? It looks more like what we call a "walking stick". Maybe it's just a young one.


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## Muddskipper (Dec 29, 2004)

Thats what I intially thought!

But look in the last pic .... you can make out his claws in fron of his eys ....


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