Wildlife in the Garden

One of the delights of gardening, at least for me, is to see the wildlife move in and enjoy my garden with me...We of course have the usual birds, rabbits, squirrels and butterflies...and while these are lovely and I will stop what I am doing to quietly watch them, the one animal we have on our property that thrills me no end is someone a little different and special...We only get to see her during the warmer months of the year, but just knowing she is here reminds me how truly blessed we are to share our property with her...

You might recognize this stand of trees from my post a few weeks ago where hubby was clearing up the branches and chipping them with into mulch...The reason we keep the grass area clear is because our little friend struggles in under growth and we want to make sure "her" part of the property is just how she needs it to be...Later today we will be planting her 2 more berry bushes as these are amongst her favorite food...

This photo was taken from standing on my front porch, which is why it is a little blurry...We are so lucky to be able to watch her come and go from her burrow without leaving the house...It is roughly 120 feet from our front door to hers...

Because she is listed on the Endangered Species List as a Threatened Species, we keep this area not just free of debris but also of foot traffic and when we do bring in livestock they will not have access to this area either...We try to do what we can to keep her on our property and protected so she will not venture out onto the road and get killed...

Here she is a Gopher Tortoise....She is about 12inches long making her fully grown...No idea how old she is but my guess would be no less than 20yrs old because of her size....They are surprisingly fast moving and it took me over a year to get a good up close photograph of her to share...

If you would like to know more about why the Gopher Tortoise is so important to the ecosystem and other interesting facts you can visit this website http://www.gophertortoise.org/tortoise/facts.htm

Blessings Kelsie

Joining the following parties this week:
Wow Us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/
Outdoor Wednesday @ http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/
Farm Friendly Friday @ http://www.verdefarm.com/