With all of the construction (and deconstruction) being done on the Little Bayou House, the yard looks a mess. While my guys are brilliant when it comes to building, cleaning up their mess is another story. Most of the time, things stay where they are dropped. Well, I have had enough of this! It is springtime and my gardens need to be planted! This is impossible at the moment because of the stacks of lumber that block all access to said garden. I would have to climb over the fence if I wish to even step foot in there much less do any serious planting. So, there was just one thing to do. I took a break from the painting and staining to do a bit of decluttering of the yard.
Scrap pieces of lumber were picked up one by one to be piled into the wheelbarrow. These were to be hauled to the burn pile. As I was grabbing the scraps, I unintentionally uncovered a nesting site filled with tiny white eggs. Oh, geez! Not this again. Last year, I was keeping tabs on a skink's nest down by the water's edge when a bad storm washed ashore. Mama Skink had to abandon the nest. The flood waters had already killed a few of the lizards that had hatched but a clutch of eggs remained. These were relocated into the greenhouse where they all hatched and the tiny skinks lived happily in the protected area of the greenhouse. Some are still there. But, today, the eggs were much smaller. These belong to a different skink. This was the nest of a Ground Skink. A Ground Skinks are tiny, brown lizards that prefer leaf litter as a hiding spot. They are quick about darting under cover when danger is near. Being only about five inches long, it is easy to overlook the Ground Skinks. Mama Ground Skink chose to make her nest under boards in the very spot that I wished to clean. That put an end to my work for the day.
After discovering the Ground Skink's nest, several of the boards were gently replaced to hide the eggs. Hopefully, my bungling did not disturb the lizard and her nest too much. The boards will stay until the eggs hatch and the little lizards are on their merry way. I can live with this a bit longer, I guess. The things I do for the critters of the Bayou!! We may be buying our tomatoes this year!
Some folks find it exceedingly strange that I care so much about the critters here on the Bayou. I find it exceedingly strange that they do not care about critters. The critters (regardless of species) are my friends. I have often made the claim that I have more critter friends than people friends. I prefer it that way. There is no reason to be otherwise.
Just recently, the tropical storm brought drama to the Bayou. Not in the ordinary sense of damaging winds but rather to my critter friends. A mama skink had laid her clutch of eggs under a board that was a bit too close to the marsh edge. I fretted more over her wellbeing than my own. She was a stoic and stayed with her eggs until she could no longer. When flood waters filled her nest and killed many of her already hatched little ones, she abandoned the nest. Seeing the submerged eggs brought out the mother instinct in me and I scooped up the remaining eggs to move to the greenhouse. Two little ones hatched during the transport but the eggs sat dormant and cold for days. I had made up my mind to bury the eggs and move on with other things. This morning with that intention, I went to the greenhouse. I lifted the moss covering the eggs only to find that all but two had hatched! The remaining two were also in the process! I was elated! My little family of lizards had survived against all odds!
Yes, I do realize that the baby lizards will never understand the circumstances that surrounded their coming into this world and I do realize that they will never recognize me as the person who helped them out of their hard time but, still, I love each tiny one. I did not do it for any other reason than I cared. This, my friends, is what a bond is all about. Regardless of the fact that the skinks will never understand nor appreciate what I did, I would do it all again. My friends were in need....I was there. Lending a helping hand is never a bad thing and if folks cannot understand that, it is their loss.
There are endless surprises on the Bayou. There is not a day that goes by that I do not find something that intrigues me. Then again, it does not take much to draw my attention. Son claims that I am easily amused. I suppose I am. I am interested in a broad variety of things and so I am seldom bored. With nature, learning is boundless and each event is interesting. This is the way it should be. People were not born to be shut up inside houses at all times.
This morning as Mark and I headed to the pier, my brother was already on his mower cutting grass. That is where I should have been but my little push mower was sitting idle as I explored the wonders of the Bayou. Near the large clumps of palmettos were two old boards that had washed in with the squalls from the Gulf. I had the brilliant idea that if I moved the boards, perhaps I would be inspired to haul out the mower. I picked up one board and tossed it on the trash pile to be hauled to the back. No problem. But when I grasped the other, I immediately regretted the action. Oh, geez! There was something moving under my board! I really should learn to inspect before just doing. A large five-lined skink darted out from under the board and raced right across my foot!
It was then that I discovered my mistake. Under the board was another skink and TWO CLUTCHES OF EGGS! Yep, two mama skinks had laid their eggs under the old board. The one mama had abandoned her nest and was glaring at me from about four feet away. She had made a dash out to distract me and hopefully lure me away from her eggs. The other mama took up a defensive stance and was guarding her eggs. There were two different actions for protecting their clutches but both mamas were equally justified in their methods.
After a couple of photos, I eased the board back down on the nests making sure that I positioned it exactly as I had found it. I sure did not want to harm the mamas nor their eggs! I love these lizards. They are some of the best hunters on the Bayou and are actually beautiful! Carry on, Little Mamas, carry on. Your precious eggs shall not be damaged by me!
