Lions, tigers, and bears oh my – Wizard of Oz, by Harold Arlen-American composer (1905-1986)
Anyone can love the mountains, but it takes a soul to love the Prairie – Willa Cather, American novelist (1873-1947)
If you’re a nature person living in the Prairie, it’s a wonderful place to live. Every morning you can wake up to the sounds of birds singing. Looking out the windows or sitting on the porch you can watch birds flit from tree to tree. Wilhelmina the cat and I sit on the porch chairs and watch the birds and other critters moving about. It won’t be long before squirrels run up and down on the trees, and deer will move along the tree lines. We also watch butterflies visiting the flowers nearby. Hummingbirds are in and out feeding from their feeders and flowers. It’s been an unusually hot summer. Birdfeeders are put out every morning attracting birds of all kinds. The sun comes out, the trees sway with the wind, and the clouds float by. There’s more to the Prairie than birds, butterflies, and flowers. There’re predators.
In the bird world the Prairie hosts birds of prey: hawks, eagles, merlin, osprey, owls, falcon, kites, kestrel, vultures. These birds have strong talons, sharp beaks, keen eyesight, all for hunting and consuming other animals. The Mississippi Prairie has ten different hawks. The bird predators seek grasslands, crop fields, near woodlands, and forest edges. While they have their place and are a beauty to watch, they are predators. Birds are not the only predators wandering about the Prairie.
Bobcats have been seen, as have coyotes, snakes, feral hogs, skunks, cougars, raccoons, opossums, armadillos, beavers and foxes. Red foxes are the most common predators of small beavers and chickens.
Prairie people often like to raise chickens in the hen house for home grown eggs. Then the fox comes for the kill leaving the chicken. It’s heartbreaking for the family raising chickens.
Fox also takes small mammals like rabbits, mice, squirrels, birds, snakes, and insects. It’s been several years since I’ve seen a fox, but I know they are out there. The baby red foxes are called kits, cubs, or pups. They are really cute but it’s best to leave them alone.
Alligators are found in nearby rivers, creeks, and back waters. After heavy rains alligators may move on land. The critters have been sighted but no one has been hurt I know of. They usually, like the other animals, just move along.
Then there’s snakes. It seems like we’ve seen fewer of those until last week when a small snake the size of your pointer finger and a little over a foot long hid by the flower pot at the front door. The front door was left ajar, and the snake headed in that direction. Grabbing a broom, I swept him into the yard and let him go his merry way. It’s the way of life in the Prairie.
Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].
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