Yard work, ecology: digging in the dirt…
Self-tutoring about yard work and developments that can occur: the tutor mentions evidence of a visit.
Where we live, one doesn’t typically see as many small animals as big ones. Deer, for instance, one often sees in public. Black bears are common to find in the woods.
In the Maritimes, it seems to have been somewhat the opposite: one might see a fox, a skunk, or a weasel, but bears or deer, not so often – at least, where I lived.
Out in the yard, I find deer droppings sometimes. A few days back, however, I found evidence of a visit from a different creature. One of the mounds I’d built to plant pumpkins in was completely leveled, and there had been digging in another area as well.
In the places that were dug up I know there to be a lot of worms. Yet, the digging wasn’t by birds; I know what their digging looks like. Rather, at these sites, earth had been moved, as if it had been shoveled. I don’t think a small animal could accomplish it.
My wife immediately suggested a bear had done it, which makes sense. My reading suggests, possibly, a raccoon as well. Whatever it was didn’t dig any of the lawn, just in the garden.
Interesting, eh?
Source:
Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.