Our suburban lawn in New Holland, Pennsylvania is typical of those in the Middle Atlantic States, with short grass and planted trees and shrubbery. Lawns are not wildlife refuges, but they harbor many wild plants and animals, making those human-made habitats interesting. It's amazing to me the diversity and abundance of life on a typical suburban lawn.
I sat in our yard for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon, June 8, to experience what was happening there. The grass was lush and the foliage on planted trees and bushes was dripping with sunlight. And I went out again in the evening until almost dark. There was a lot going on!
I noticed several kinds of naturally short, or mowed-off, plants growing among the regularly cut grass leaves in our back yard. I saw the abundant white flowers and green leaves of white clovers, the lovely yellow blooms of yellow wood sorrel and Indian strawberry plants, plus the pretty red berries of the latter species. And I noticed the leaves of dandelions, blue violets and common plantain poking out of the grass.
I heard young, but fledged, purple grackles and American robins begging their parents for food in the trees. And I saw a couple of young grackles following their iridescently-hued parent around the yard and pestering it relentlessly for food.
While sitting quietly on our lawn, I saw a young cottontail rabbit slip out from under a bush in a flower garden. The youngster nibbled grass and other lawn plants for a while, then hopped casually across the yard and under a utility shed to rest and digest in seclusion. There it would not be seen by local house cats and Cooper's and red-tailed hawks that regularly patrol our neighborhood for gray squirrels and other prey.
I could see a couple of house wren nesting boxes from where I was sitting in the cooling shade and breezes. I looked at those boxes occasionally to see if any small birds were using one, or both, of them. Suddenly, a Carolina chickadee squeezed out of one bird house and flew off to eat and drink. I moved away from that house so as to not frighten the bird away from its nest of eggs in the box.
A few kinds of birds were singing off and on in our neighborhood while I was out on the lawn that afternoon, and at dusk. Two or three male mourning doves were the most persistent singers. But I also heard snatches of song from a northern cardinal, Carolina wren and gray catbird. These, and other kinds of birds, are nesting species in our neighborhood.
I find it interesting that a few types of birds regularly perch on the railings of our back deck, giving us good views of them from inside our house. That afternoon, and evening, I saw a pair of mourning doves, a robin, a pair of house finches, a chickadee, a Carolina wren and a catbird on one or another railing. I know the robins were raising young in a pussy willow bush just off the deck, the house finch pair were checking out the awning over the door to the deck for a nesting spot and the wrens have reared offspring under the deck and might be looking to do so again.
During that warm afternoon I saw a few kinds of insects on our lawn. A few honey bees were visiting the white clover flowers to sip nectar. When their stomachs are full of nectar, the bees go home. On the way, the bees' stomachs change that nectar to honey which the bees regurgitate into waxy cells to feed to the queen, drones and larvae, or store for winter food. I also saw a couple of eastern tailed blue butterflies flitting from clover blossom to clover blossom to sip their nectar. This kind of butterfly has a one-inch wing-span and appears to be light gray.
I also saw a pile of dog droppings that was covered by green bottle flies. Those flies are iridescent-green and get some of their food from manure. And those same flies are caught and eaten by a variety of creatures, including swallows, chimney swifts, frogs and dragonflies.
Dusk presented a few more natural delights that evening, as every summer evening at home. A half-dozen house finches perched a bit on the very top of a Norway spruce tree in our yard, as they do during most summer evenings. Robins and grackles were still feeding their recently fledged youngsters. Meanwhile, I saw four or five chimney swifts sweeping back and forth across the sky on swept-back wings as they caught flying insects to ingest. And as dusk deepened, at least one of those swifts dove down a neighbor's chimney where it roosted for the night. It might, also, have a mate on three or four eggs in a twig nest glued to the inside wall of the chimney. Swifts use their saliva as the glue to fasten their twig cradles to brick or concrete block chimneys.
Right after sunset, I saw a dozen or more male fireflies rise from the short grass, take flight and flash their cold abdominal lights as they hovered in the air like tiny helicopters. Those fireflies, which are beetles, were the vanguard of the millions to come by early July, creating the small, natural fireworks that make summer evenings enchanting.
The male fireflies' flashes signal female fireflies to glow so the males can find them for mating. But children and adults alike get pleasure in seeing the flashes of these soft-bodied, charming beetles. Meanwhile, soon after sunset, close to a dozen little brown bats drop from local trees and flutter erratically over our neighborhood to catch flying insects to consume. These tiny, airborne mammals are even more entertaining than the fireflies as they swoop and dive after their flying insect prey.
Some people say bats sweep down too close for the peoples' comfort and they are afraid of those flying mammals. But I think insects sense the perfume or shampoo on a person, and, mistaking it for the scent of flowers, come close to the smell to ingest their nectar. Bats, sensing the insects, sweep close to people to snare the insects.
Readers probably have nearby, built habitats where they, too, can experience lots of wild plants and animals. Get out to quietly enjoy some of the beauties and intrigues of nature.
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