by Winding Pathways | Jul 14, 2014 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Chickens, Garden/Yard, Mammals, Nature, Pests
The charming but pesky chipmunk is an amazing forager and storer of food.
Wildlife sometime create yard mischief. Raccoons, possums, and skunks tip over trash cans in the middle of the night. Chipmunks tunnel under walls, moles heap mounds of dirt. And woodchucks and cottontails raid the garden.
Damage, or perceived damage, often infuriates homeowners. Woodchucks have the uncanny ability to harvest lettuce the day before it is to be picked for an evening salad, and raccoons raid the sweet corn patch the moment ears are ripe. Moles hump up hills of dirt that lawnmowers hit, and skunks mine into the sod for grubs. What’s a homeowner to do?
WHY WILDLIFE CAUSE PROBLEMS
There’s no mystery to it. Wild animals are attracted to yards because they are comfortable places to live or find food. All living creatures need food, shelter and water to live. Yards frequently offer these basic needs all in proximity. Create a beautiful diverse yard and wildlife will enjoy it as much as people. In most cases people love seeing most species of wildlife in their yards, but often agree that they are best enjoyed in moderation.
THREE STEPS TO CONTROL GARDEN WILDLIFE DAMAGE
There are three ways to effectively overcome, or at least minimize, wildlife damage.
Homeowners differ in their strategy on how they weigh the benefits versus problems of wildlife in the yard.
Strategy One: Tolerate damage and enjoy wildlife.
It’s a state of mind that may require attitude adjustment. How important is a perfect lawn or head of cabbage, versus watching a cottontail mom peacefully nurse her babies on the edge of the law? How valuable is the beauty and inspiration gained from seeing chipmunks pack their cheeks with seeds and scamper across the yard versus the tunnels they make in retaining walls? For many people having beautiful and interesting wildlife out the window far outweighs damage they may cause.
We had a friend who grew a tiny garden with a few lettuce plants, a short row of string beans, and one hill of summer squash. When a cottontail devoured them she was incensed and declared war on bunnies. She bought traps but never managed to catch them. She built a fence but the lettuce thieves found their way under it. Her stress level rose as plants disappeared.
We suggested she might rely on simple arithmetic to solve her problem.
“Instead of spending about a hundred bucks on fencing and traps, wouldn’t it be simpler and cheaper to just buy lettuce, squash, and beans at the farmer’s market”, we asked her. She agreed. It took some mental adjustment, but now she buys locally grown vegetables and enjoys watching the cottontails that she once hated.
SOMETIMES IT’S BEST TO JUST IGNORE MINOR DAMAGE AND ENJOY WILDLIFE.
Strategy two. Preventing damage in the first place.
The saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” holds true for wildlife damage. In most cases homeowners can both enjoy wildlife and prevent or greatly reduce damage critters might do. Some simple ways to anticipate and reduce conflict include:
Fencing: Craft fences sturdy enough to keep rabbits and woodchucks out of the garden. Cottontails, for example can jump a long ways horizontally but not high vertically. An inexpensive 18 “ tall temporary fence of chicken wire will keep them out of the garden. Woodchucks are more challenging, as they are expert diggers and climbers. A garden fence needs to extend below the ground to keep them out and needs to be at least three or four feet tall. Watch for more fencing specifics in future editions of Winding Pathways website.
Securing: Store trash cans inside the garage with the door closed to keep raccoons from tipping it over. Better yet, compost food scraps and don’t put anything in the can that will interest wildlife. Composting turns waste into a wonderful resource that improves the soil. Don’t let the trash man cart it away. Some people who prefer not to add meat scraps to the compost bin, feed them to a small flock of chickens or simply put them on the edge of the yard in the evening for the raccoons to devour. No more tipping over the trash can.
PREVENTION IS A KEY
Strategy three: Killing the offending animal.
Often people resort first to killing an animal. However killing a few woodchucks, raccoons, moles, or chipmunks will not solve damage problems. These animals are in the yard because they find perfect conditions there to live. Remove a few and others will move in. Keep killing and you’ve created a wildlife death trap.
Sometimes it is necessary to kill an animal. Upcoming issues of Winding Pathways will feature tips on how to eliminate problem animals.
by Marion Patterson | Jun 26, 2025 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Garden/Yard, Mammals, Pests
What’s In A Name?
Nibbling on grasses
A big furry animal has made a tunnel under the deck and clear cut down the garden. Is the culprit a woodchuck or groundhog? The answer is simple. They’re two names for the same animal.
The window by Marion’s computer desk overlooks our deck. On a spring morning, she was startled to look out and be face to face with a big woodchuck just outside the glass.
He soon ambled off. A few days later, we were enjoying basking in the sun in our outdoor nook. It’s next to a front lawn that we seeded with white clover last year. Out of the corner of our eye, we caught movement. It was the woodchuck, likely on his way to enjoy a clover lunch. When he spotted us, he quickly exited.
What is a Woodchuck?
Several species of marmots live across the northern hemisphere. Visitors to western national parks often see the Yellow-Bellied Marmot in higher elevations, but the one most Americans spot is the amazingly abundant woodchuck.
Woodchucks live in both suburban and rural areas from the Atlantic Ocean westward to Nebraska and Kansas and north to Hudson’s Bay and even Alaska.
Woodchucks are great tunnelers.
They are an amazing adaptable vegetarian. Among North American rodents only beavers are bigger. A huge male “chuck” can weigh up to 15 pounds. As rodents they have impressive incisor teeth and powerful legs perfect for digging burrows under decks or inside or near old sheds and brush piles.
True hibernators, male woodchucks emerge from their burrows in March here in Iowa. Females wait a few weeks and usually end their winter slumber in April. They’ll soon have three to five pups. As soon as the babies’ eyes open, mom will bring them outside where they learn to dine on a wide range of vegetation. They love garden vegetables. Perhaps nothing is as tasty as beans, lettuce, or Swiss chard.
Tree Climbers?
Most people realize woodchucks are excellent diggers, but few recognize they are squirrels adept at climbing trees. On hot summer afternoons, they love resting on a shady and breezy tree branch.
Reducing Woodchuck Damage
Although they’re big and active during the day, woodchucks are wary and usually vanish when they spot a person. They can’t hide the huge mound of dirt by their burrow, and a clear-cut bean patch also may mark their presence.
How do you reduce woodchuck damage? Since they can burrow, run, and climb, it’s challenging keeping them out of a yard or garden.
These Actions Can Help
Rich placing wires to prevent woodchucks from digging under the porch.
Fencing: A stout fence around a garden or deck can make access challenging. The fence needs to be dug into the ground. Placing a mesh of stout fencing on the ground under a deck will reduce the odds that a chuck will burrow there, but it has to be done before the animal starts making its home.
Dog: An alert dog will chase chucks away.
Altering the yard: Removing brush piles where chucks like to burrow will encourage them to create a home elsewhere.
Trapping: Woodchucks are usually easy to catch in a box-type live trap. Set the trap near the burrow and bait it with bits of apple or other fruit. It helps to cover the trap with a tarp or some brush, as they feel more secure underneath something.
There’s a problem
What do you do with a healthy but very unhappy chuck caught in a box trap? Keep fingers out of the trap! Call the town animal control officer(s) and ask for their suggestions on what to do with it. We don’t advocate taking it on a long drive and releasing it in the country. It seems unethical to “give” the animal to someone who lives near the release area. Preventing damage is always best, but sometimes euthanizing a problem chuck is the best solution.
Woodchucks are amazing animals. We enjoy seeing them as long as they stay out of the garden!
by Marion Patterson | Aug 1, 2024 | Garden/Yard, Mammals, Pests
Young rabbits “play” to gain skills and show dominance.
Have you noticed the abundance of the cottontail rabbit this summer? While they can create mischief as in eating desired plants, they also are fun to watch.
Winding Pathway’s resident cottontail rabbits give us delightful evening entertainment. Shortly after sunset, a few appear like magic from out of our labyrinth’s tall prairie. As we sit on our porch they scamper about, chase each other, and nibble on the white clover poking out of our lawn.
Many people dislike cottontails for their habit of feasting on favored garden plants and gnawing on tree bark in the winter. Because we enjoy both rabbits and Swiss Chard, we keep them away from our vegetables and, thus, appreciate their antics.
Several cottontail species range across most of the United States, southern Canada, and South America. They’re well adapted to thrive in diverse environments. Ours is the Eastern Cottontail rabbit. This year they are especially abundant.
There are Rabbits and Then There are Rabbits
Side by side
Cottontails and common domestic pet rabbits may look similar but they are vastly different.
Pet Bunnies
Pet bunnies trace their ancestry to Europe and were domesticated thousands of years ago. They make fascinating and loveable pets and thrive in a safe roomy hutch eating commercial pellets. These are the rabbits that were released in Australia and caused enormous agricultural and ecological damage. They readily breed, are social, and join others to dig a series of burrows called warrens. Some readers may remember the award-winning novel, Watership Down, and the Netflix series about precocious rabbits.
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Children and adults enjoy bunnies.
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Rabbits are social.
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Friendly pets
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European rabbits adapt to people
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Show animals.
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Children with rabbits
Cottontail Rabbits
Cottontails, in contrast, are wild animals that rarely, if ever, become tame or make good pets. Like European rabbits they are social and like the company of other bunnies but not people. Cottontails don’t make burrows but sometimes enjoy ducking down an abandoned woodchuck hole. Cottontails live under dense vegetation, in culverts, and under outbuildings. They eat a wide range of wild plants but love snacking on vegetables. In winter they sometimes eat the bark off young trees. So, be sure to protect your young trees with wire mesh around the base.
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Time for an evening snack.
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bunny play
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Nibbling clover
Enjoying Both Cottontails and Vegetables
Years ago, we learned a trick that lets us enjoy our resident cottontails and abundance from the garden. European rabbits are high jumpers, but not cottontails. Instead, native bunnies are long jumpers who can’t jump high. Just a wimpy two-foot-tall chicken wire fence around the garden or a young tree keeps them away as long as they can’t get under it.
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Keep rabbits away from young trees.
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Cottontails cannot jump high.
Why So Many Cottontails This Year
For the past few years, Iowa has been in drought. It limited the new tender growth of clovers and other delectable plants that bunnies love. Sparse rain thinned thickets where they hide. This year’s been wet. Vegetation is tender and abundant yet we’ve not had big early thunderstorms. Why’s that important to a cottontail?
Before giving birth, a cottontail digs a shallow hole in the ground, often near the edge of a lawn. She lines it with fur and soon deposits three to eight tiny blind helpless babies. Mom mostly stays away but nurses them in the morning or evening by sitting over the burrow and letting her babies nurse. They grow amazingly fast and are out on their own when only about three weeks old. Mom soon gets ready for another litter.
Who Doesn’t Love a Cottontail Rabbit?
Predators love rabbits. They’re a favorite meal for dogs, cats, raptors, snakes, foxes, and coyotes. There are always rabbits because their survival strategy is to have many babies, even though only a small percent reach adulthood and reproduce.
Getting Rid of Cottontails
Well, why do it? They are inquisitive and beautiful animals that share yards with people.
An easy solution is to run chicken wire around desirable plants to keep them away. So, people can have their plants and rabbits, too.
Hooray for bunnies! They brighten our evenings as they scamper about our yard.
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Rabbits know to stay hidden
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Cottontails live in the labyrinth.
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Nibbling clover
by Winding Pathways | Oct 26, 2023 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Garden/Yard, Nature, Trees
Magnet bur oak in front yard
We didn’t intend to create a magnet when we planted a skinny bur oak in our front yard 13 years ago.
It created a startling experience one October evening when Marion went to the porch to check the weather. A large furry form dropped from the nearby tree and scurried away in the gathering darkness. A woodchuck? Not likely. They work the day shift. Later we caught the mystery animal in the bean of a flashlight as it returned to the magnet tree. A husky raccoon that again retreated in haste when it saw us.
Over the next several days we watched squirrels and woodchucks forage on the acorns. At dusk bucks and does with yearlings eagerly, yet watchfully, gobbled up acorns. In between, turkeys wandered by to forage. Blue jays dropped out of the tree onto the ground and carried off husky acorns to store for winter.
Why Oaks Attract Wildlife
Our October oak was a perfect magnet. While most area oaks were acorn-bare, our youthful front yard tree was loaded with them. They were huge, sweet, and free of the weevils that often consume acorns before exiting through tiny holes.
Blue jays, wild turkeys, woodchucks, raccoons, squirrels, and deer consider October acorns prime carbohydrate-loaded food. When few oaks, scattered around, bear a heavy crop, wild animals beeline to those loaded with nuts. That’s why our tree was a magnet drawing in a stream of wildlife until every acorn was consumed.
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Small oak and maple.
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Prolific Bur Oak acorns
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White oak acorns have lower tannic acid.
White oak types have leaves with rounded lobes. These include white, bur, and swamp white oaks. Their big acorns are low in tannic acid and are a prized animal and human food. Most trees only bear a heavy crop every few years with acorns that sprout almost as soon as they hit the ground. If not eaten soon weevils find them.
Black oak types have leaves with pointed lobes. Their acorns are loaded with bitter tannin. Often wild animals only feast on them after nearby sweeter white oak-type acorns have all been eaten. Black oak-type acorns wait until next spring to sprout. Perhaps their tannic acid helps them remain uneaten until they sprout months after falling from the tree.
Optimal Places to Plant Oaks
When planted in an ideal location with full sun and rich soil, an oak will begin producing acorns when it’s seven to ten years old. Our front yard tree had a light crop the past few years, but when it reached its 13th year it was loaded with nuts. It was a true magnet that lured wildlife in from far and wide. We enjoyed watching many animals dine on acorns produced by a tree we planted.
by Winding Pathways | Jul 15, 2021 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Foraging, Nature
We take a walk every day, sometimes through urban and industrial areas. Other days find us on prairie or woodland trails. Everywhere we’re spotting an abundance of summer fruit being devoured by birds, woodchucks, chipmunks, and even deer.
Last August 10 a terrible derecho roared through our area, felling about 70% of mature trees. It seemed tragic but a year later vegetation has responded with enthusiasm in former shady places now sunlit. These include berries. Brambles: Newly sunny woods are filled with first-year black raspberry and blackberry canes. Next year there’ll be an abundance of berries. These are delicious food for people and wildlife. We like them fresh.
Here are few other species of berries. Some are human edibles. Others leave for the birds.
Munching
The sweet, but bland mulberries are children’s favorite.
Mulberries: These deliciously sweet, but bland, fruits have a long bearing season that’s mostly in June but lingers well into July. Robins just love them. So do many other birds……and children. Mulberries are a delicious underused human food. One of our favorite dishes is rhubarb mulberry pie.
Cherries: Many birds love domestic cherries. Our trees were almost ready to pick when a family of raccoons did the picking for us. No cherry pies this year. Wild black cherries are common. They’re edible to humans but are small, have a big pit, and are usually bitter. They’re hardly worth the effort to pick and process so we leave them for the birds to enjoy.
Leave These for the Wildlife
Chokecherries: They ripen in late June and into July. These pucker up any human trying to eat them, but birds love snacking on them.
Elderberries: These shrubs love trail and roadside sun and produce bunches of berries in late summer and into fall. Some people go to the trouble of making wine or jam from them but we leave them for the birds to enjoy.
Poison Ivy: Another berry to leave to the birds is poison ivy. This favorite of birds is how the plant spreads when the birds drop seeds. Leaves of three? Let them be!
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Berry canes emerge in the sun.
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We bring along a small bag to bring home berries.
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Birds spread poison ivy by eating the berries and pooping the seeds out later.
Dogwoods: These berries aren’t human food but make delicious bird chow. They ripen late and stay on the shrub through winter. Want to find bluebirds or robins on a cold January day? Find a patch of dogwoods that still have frozen berries clinging to them.
Winter Food
Waxwings flock to winter berries.
Highbush Cranberries: Look from late July on as they ripen in mid to late summer. A wildlife favorite, birds and chipmunks forage happily in the shrubs. Some berries linger into winter and often wintering waxwings greedily forage on the berries. Deer come by and munch both the leaves and berries.
When we set off on a summer walk, we stuff a bag or two into our pockets. Then, if we discover a blackberry patch, we’ve got a way to carry a few handfuls home.
