The Rest of 2022, Part II: Mammals, Amphibians, and Reptiles

Let's keep going with 2022 sights on our property, continuing from my previous post about breeding birds! Here, I'll share some assorted highlights featuring mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. We'll still need some more posts after this. Here we go!

 

Mammals

On June 11 in the woods, I came across a female and male White-tailed Deer who, strangely, didn't run away when they saw me, but instead watched me carefully from not too far away for a few minutes. The female, in particular, was intent on watching me:

The male was a little further back, and I was very impressed with the sizeable antlers he was growing:

I wondered whether there might have been a fawn hidden somewhere nearby, but I didn't see anything, and I stuck to the path so I wouldn't accidentally disturb anyone. The deer and I watched each other for a while, and then I moved on.

Eastern Chipmunks are a common feature in our yard throughout the non-freezing months, and I couldn't resist a picture of this chipmunk on our old hollow apple tree on June 20:

Our vegetable garden is generally well-protected with tall netting to keep out deer and short metal fencing with small holes to keep out rabbits and rodents who would love to nibble on veggies. Every once in a while, though, some industrious creature finds a way through these defences, and in July this year, I returned from a trip to find whole bean plants and eggplant branches snipped off by a mysterious muncher, and only some of the leaves on those branches eaten. After a few days (and some more damage), I figured out that the culprit was a mother Meadow Vole who had found enough of a gap in my fencing and had moved her family of babies into a rock pile in the corner of my garden. On July 17, I removed the rocks and uncovered a handful of furry toddlers -- here's one of these cute and hungry creatures:

Meadow Voles are numerous in our yard and meadow, but I don't often get to see them up close like this. I moved the babies outside of the garden, saw the mother make her exit, and re-secured the gap in the fencing where she was probably getting through. Unfortunately, either I didn't successfully fix the gap or the mother vole was able to climb over the ~2-foot fence -- and I read some sources that suggest that voles can indeed climb if they have enough motivation -- because she kept removing bits of the beans and eggplants over the next few days. And then when I put out a live trap in the bean row, hoping to relocate her, she got caught in the trap and died; I suspect now that the trap might have gotten too hot in the sun. I was really sad to have caused the death of this inventive and persistent creature, but it is also true that we have tons of voles here (including her new batch of babies), vole mortality is high in general, and the purpose of my little vegetable garden is to make food for people, not voles. Here's hoping the fence keeps little furry creatures out of the garden in the future; it's really better for everyone if they stay outside.

 

Reptiles and Amphibians

Our first amphibian sightings this year were on March 19, when night-time temperatures were in the 50s and the ground was damp, and our first really big salamander night was on the rainy night of March 24, when we helped at least 20 Spotted Salamanders across the road near our house in a span of around 10 minutes. Amphibians were waking up and on the move! On March 26, I re-learned that it's best not to tidy up flower beds too early in the year, when I accidentally uncovered a Spring Peeper that was hunkered down in the dirt beneath some dead leaves on this freezing cold day; after taking this picture, I quickly covered the little frog back up:

The night of March 31 was another great time for amphibian movement. Here's a big Spotted Salamander who we helped across the road that night:

And here's a much more awake Spring Peeper on the damp pavement that night:

Although my garden fencing is (usually) pretty good at keeping out unwanted mammals, somehow amphibians and reptiles still find their way inside fairly regularly. I'm not sure how this large American Toad ended up submerged in the garden dirt on May 13, but I was very happy to have it there, and I encouraged it to please enjoy the slug buffet on offer:

This Brown Snake was living in the same rock pile in my garden as the Meadow Vole family, which I uncovered on July 17; I was surprised at this neighboring arrangement at first, but Brown Snakes are too small to pose a threat to voles, and instead this creature is also primarily a slug eater (yes, please, have all the slugs you want):

Sometimes amphibians show up in other unexpected places as well. This small Spotted Salamander spent some time in October in a little cave-like corner of our basement, and this is actually the second year we've found a salamander in that same spot; we weren't able to reach the creature well enough to relocate it, so we just enjoyed looking at its friendly face, pictured here on October 24:

I hope this little salamander was able to find its way back out the way it came, because I'm not sure we have enough food for it down here; and in any case, it should probably be sleeping. Good luck, little creature!

 

In the next post, look for more bird sightings from 2022, followed by insects and flowers!