May 2009

My Gecko’s are really Anoles!

I’ve learned alot about my front porch wildlife from the Postles and the Parkmans. These are actually Anoles not chameleons or gecko’s ( hey in my world those little green creatures looked like the Geico green guys on all those commercials!)

The two little guys I saw fighting and who I told to stop were indeed battling for their territory. These are the pictures from yesterday- I don’t know my little friends well enough to figure out if these were two different guys on either side of my front door or the same guy who just changed from side to side.

I do know the guy on the right side posed for me- my camera was inches from in ( true- it was from the inside looking out the window) but he let me close enough to click and take several pictures! His pouch was bright cherry red and he kept opening and closing the pouch to either try and scare me off or impress me. I hope they’ll stick around all summer for me to watch them.

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Geckos, Frogs and Birds Oh My!

3 Comments / General / Diane Kaufman

Who knew my cottage was a wildlife preserve! In between the rain drops this past week, I’ve had a chance to observe wildlife in action, literally just outside my front door!

David, our cottage handyman and retired editor from the AJC ( Atlanta’s newspaper) pointed out to me I have a very large nest in the palm tree outside my door with some sort of large bird and her 6 babies. This is not a small bird- this is some sort of wood stork or other large water bird. No chance of this nest blowing out of the tree- it looks like it’s made from large sticks! I tried to get a picture of the mom and babies, but I couldn’t quite get them to pose.

Then on the rail on my front porch area I saw two green geckos doing what I thought was the mating dance. Both their pouches beneath their neck became big and red, but then one lurched and grabbed the other’s head and looked like he was trying to eat the other!! I was so startled I yelled at them to stop which scared them both and one ran away. I think it was a fight and I saved the little guy’s life!

But the loudest and funniest wildlife visitors are the frogs. My next door neighbor has a large pond in their front yard as a direct result of all this rain. Whenever this happens we have a large group of big fat squishy frogs who have this deep throated croaking which sounds like ducks! The noise is so loud that inside even with the TV on, you can hear them over honking and croaking over and over!

Just more pleasures of living on a barrier sea island- no matter how well populated we are , the wild life finds a way to shine through!

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Look at the results of all the rain!

2 Comments / General / Diane Kaufman

All this rain ( and it’s still raining….) has resulted in great flowers in my window boxes and in front of the cottage. I took these yesterday when there was a brief ( yes very brief!) break in the rain… The entire island is over flowing with rain, but also beautiful gorgeous flowers!!!

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Rain Rain go away

4 Comments / General / Diane Kaufman

We’ve had rain now for the entire week. The rain is moving up the coast and has stopped on Tybee for a few days ( can you blame it? Great place to hang out for a few days!) This has been a very hard loud rain and water we’ll be grateful for later this summer. I only wish I had my rain barrel in place to have been collecting all this great water! Next week I’ll have two in place and will share the pictures.

The dogs wish they could be sitting out in the yard watching birds, people and bike riders. Instead they are stuck on “their” sofa looking out the window wishfully at that pouring rain.

At night the frogs arrive and start their croaking. We have a virtual pond at my neighbors home next door and the frog noise is so loud you can hear it over the TV!!! Rain again today but we’re about to sneak out between showers for a quick walk.

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Nests!

1 Comment / General / Diane Kaufman

We’ve had crazy winds all week. Lots of rain ( which I actually love because it helps our flowers grow so beautifully) but with the rain has come winds which make it feel like the fall and winter. I’ve been walking the dogs like I usually do and started to know an interesting phenomena– birds nests are being blown out of the trees!

I love nests. I love the concept of “nesting” as in being so happy in your own home ( nest) that you don’t ever want to leave. If I hadn’t named my own cottage Mermaid Manor I would have found a name that included the word nest. I actually just helped name one of our soon to be Mermaid Cottages which I’ve been sharing the process with you- Wrenn’s Nest ( more pictures and details to follow soon!)

This week while walking the dogs I’ve brought home 4 bird nests- all empty – and they now help decorate my home. There are little birds flying everywhere on the island and singing as well- it’s quite musical when you walk outside!