What the hell crapped in my yard?

What animal is using my yard for a toilet? I do not have a dog or a cat for many reasons, but one good one is so that I do not have to clean up after them. I have already been fighting a battle of over the years, having to clean up raccoon poop, just like they were my pets instead of the nuisances they are. Yet this new situation is striking in that the pile is in the front of the house, in a newly cleared area. Cleared because we had to get rid of a snow broken holly bush.

This view is from the front porch just outside the front door. No privacy for an animal, that I might imagine would be afraid of people.

We cleaned it up, and then put down a product intended to discourage foraging that I think is just red pepper flakes or an equivalent. The scat reappeared, and the animal continued to pile it on. My wife says fox, and I say raccoon. I hope it is not a dog or a human. Any coprologists out there want to speculate? And also offer advice to stop it.

Salamanders near Shellpot Creek with video

Preparing to move a granite paver that the previous owners had left in the middle of the backyard we encountered many salamanders under it. I grabbed my camera to record them and then we carefully placed the paver back in place, taking care not to crush the salamanders underneath.

This closeup allowed me to identify this as an Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus). This salamander is the most common on the Delmarva peninsula and the description of its habitat, forests floors under rocks and logs and can be observed in every month of the year. I usually don't turn over rocks because I don't want to disturb the animals that use them as shelter. Today was a fluke because we had had enough rain over the last few weeks to clearly demonstrate there was a paver where we had thought there was just dirt, so we were going to move it to a more useful spot when we found wildlife.



There were many salamanders under the paver, this picture shows a red-backed morph and a lead-backed morph (darker one). For identification I used my trusty Amphibians and Reptiles of Delmarva by James F. White, Jr. and Amy Wendt White. (at Amazon also) I highly recommend it if you live in the area (more even for identifying snakes).

Here is a video of the red-backed morph scrambling under the lead-backed morph, who seems non-plussed.


This video shows the just red-backed morph looking for shelter again.



Post your salamander finding stories in the comments.

Is it bad luck when a slug crosses your path?

Yesterday I saw a late season slug cross my path on a sidewalk and then onto a manhole cover. I raced to get a camera to get a good closeup because I am a lover of nature and science, even the slimy kind.



This appears to be a dehydrated leopard slug (also called a Great Grey Slug, Limax maximus). It looks much thinner than this picture of a slug in Maryland on wikipedia. I would imagine that since it is getting to be winter, that they won't look as nice and juicy as in the middle of summer or after a rain. Perhaps a certain Ranger with more expertise on wildlife than I can offer an opinion about dehydrated slugs. I believe these slugs are an introduction from Europe so he should be familiar with them. A closeup view of the slug next to a ruler (click for large view) really shows its spots and stripes and the intricate wrinkles on its mantle.



He/she (they are hermaphrodites) moved into the mulched area, hopefully to survive the winter. I won't hold a grudge against them, though the slugs in my garden love to chew plants down to the nub. We use slug bait pellets with iron phosphate to protect our plants. Since iron phosphate naturally occurs in the soil it is safe, the slugs eat and it and they crawl away to die. I guess garden plants > slugs in my book.

Not my Halloween Costume

Exploding Aardvark points you to the new York Zoos and Aquariums to build your wild self.

I have combined some fuzzy creatures to make this one - the Lio-pol-sha-illa-iger-lemur. Fast with strong arms and sharp pointy teeth, and the prehensile tail I have always wanted.



Try it yourself.

Grackles at the bird feeder.

Today was an especially busy animal day in my backyard on Shellpot Creek. We have a bird feeder in a cage to keep out the squirrels and only let in the smaller birds. One particular common visitor is the Carolina Chickadee as well as a variety of smaller brown birds. It seems that one bird at the feeder will draw others of its own kind and then all different kinds of birds. Today's explosion of birds started with the chickadees and moved on through the brown birds to mourning doves, cardinals and finally Common Grackles. These last several are actually too big to get seed from the feeder and usually make do with the seed the smaller birds spill on the ground.

Today though, several grackles tried to get into the feeder. They were unsuccessful.


This is two different birds. Many more just stuck to the ground area.

During this bird excitement we also witnessed a squirrel flipping over and over again on the ground and jumping off of a bush. We also had a visit from our ground hog. No pictures of those, as they were too far away. It is quite the wildlife extravaganza around the creek.