It appears to have. I mowed the lawn -- front and back -- last evening, shortly before sunset. It was hot work nevertheless. Once it was done, I went inside, relaxed a little and made dinner.
Afterward, I went back outside on an errand and looked around for the Great Gray Slugs -- and found a pair of them on the privacy fence! They are medium-sized as such slugs go, a little more than finger-sized, and didn't like my taking a flash photograph: they froze in place for a minute, then resumed their slug business, whatever it was.
Still later, I was in the kitchen getting a bottle of water before bed, and motion in the back yard caught my eye: a couple of fat but not too large raccoons were sorting through the freshly-mowed yard, catching something, pouncing after more, and generally looking very pleased. I tapped on the window and one of them gave me the fishy eye as only raccoons can -- not especially challenging, but clearly a, "Whaddya want? We're working here!" sort of look.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
6 comments:
Did they eat the slugs?
Merle
I've seen robins roam a lawn after mowing; I can only presume bugs and worms are easier to find. I also used to have a mockingbird that would follow me around when I was digging in the garden; apparently it had figured out I was turning up bugs and grubs. (I was entirely happy to let it have all the grubs it could eat)
The slugs are pretty sly, Merle, and are said to be unappealing to most creatures. So I don't know. The behavior of the raccoons suggested they were hunting something that hopped; I'm thinking either crickets or small toads.
We've got both, though I haven't seen any toads for over thirty years. Back then, I lived in a house that had window wells for the basement windows and one day I was down there doing something, and heard the oddest little repetitive sound, like soft popcorn: there was a batch of tiny toads in the window well, and they were hopping against the window! I went out and relocated them. They do "mass relocations" after emerging from the tadpole stage and leaving the water. There was a pond less than a block away and that group had taken a wrong turn. I like toads: they're stubborn and have a kind of solemn dignity.
Fillyjonk, it's great fun to watch swallows doing "hammerhead" swoops following after a big gang mower. Over the course of mowing a large field, the mower builds up quite an active fan club, gobbling up the insects raised by the mowing.
Summer Slug Fest 2017! Come one come all! Just slimming and making little slugs!
C-90
Mmmm, trash pandas. The pickers of the animal kingdom. If they drove trucks, they'd have 25 year old F150s with bicycle frames and broken lawn mowers in the back.
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