Flora & Fauna

Flora & Fauna

A collection of stories in pictures and words of the non-human life in WoodCreek

Dear Deer

Fawns photographed in Diane & Ara Ekizian’s backyard.

Not so Dear Deer!

 It’s a Jungle Out There!

My wife is a keen gardener and is often startled by toads that she comes across in our back yard. This one, however, made her jump a little more than usual, at first appearing to be a very unusual specimen with a very long tail. Once she composed herself, she soon realized that this rather fat toad was about to become dinner for a rather skinny garter snake.

We normally find garter snakes to rather timid but this one was very reluctant to give up its meal and, once we had persuaded it to do so, the toad didn’t seem in any particular hurry to get away. Checking later on, we learned that snakes cannot move backwards and, with nowhere to go, that perhaps is why it was slow to release its prey. We also believed that garter snakes have no venom but it turns out that their saliva contains a neurotoxin that slows down the movement of the prey animal while it is consumed. That would explain why the toad was so slow to get away once released, although it did eventually hop off, apparently unharmed.

Rick Astley

Not for sautéing!

Richard Thompson sent us this picture, saying, “Typically found in deciduous forests, this Morel mushroom was found in WoodCreek in my backyard on Westbrook Ct.”

However, this one is not going in a cooking pan. Richard wants to see how large it will grow and to give the spores a chance to propagate. Maybe if he gets enough of them, next year we can all look forward to a Morel Mushroom Social event to follow that for Ice Cream!