It seems incredible that it was three weeks ago that I dragged my overstuffed bags past the sun room and caught a final glimpse of the frog pond I created, observed, fretted over, and about which I’ve shared in couple of times in blog posts. As we gear up for a new life in Kansas City, with all the excitement that entails, I have to reflect on this verdant little microcosm. Its steep walls are now less obviously covered in black plastic, now that the ivy and other plants have had a year to grow in. It’s more diverse these days and the sticks and leaves that have fallen in have created a complex bottom.
The diversity of life I had always hoped would take hold has come out in force. Just before I left, while trying to decide where to plant some ferns, I saw tree frogs and a bullfrog in addition to a reappearance of the toads that visited last year long enough to spawn. The water will now be filled with rotifers, paramecia, green algae, and the larvae of tiny insects. All this from very humble beginnings as a simple hole, some black plastic liner and water from the garden hose.
I’m glad I was able to stay in Raleigh long enough to see this garden at its verdant best. Towering magnolias, oaks, and pines shade bluebells, camellia, gardenia, and honeysuckle scrambling together in a profuse riot of green, punctuated with specks of pink, yellow, blue, and white. The bird feeders have meant that the visual feast has been accompanied by as full a profusion of sound. It validates the reasons we registered it as wildlife habitat with the National Wildlife Federation.
Below is the list of we’ve been able to identify in and around the property.
Bird feeder
- American Crow
- American Goldfinch
- American Robin
- Blue Jay
- Brown Nuthatch
- Brown Thrasher
- Cardinal
- Carolina Wren
- Cowbird
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Downy Woodpecker
- House Finch
- Gray Catbird
- Marsh Harrier
- Nashville Warbler
- Northern Flicker
- Nuthatch
- Pine Siskin
- Pine Warbler
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Red Bellied Woodpecker
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- Song Sparrow
- Tufted Titmouse
- Towhee
- White-crowned Sparrow
Bird bath
- American Robin
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Blue jay
- Cardinal
- Coopers Hawk
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Eastern Bluebird
- Mourning dove
- Nuthatch
- Pine Siskin
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Towhee
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
This is doesn’t include the mammals – opossum, white-tailed deer, coyote, sugar glider, resident chipmunks and squirrels, or the raccoon that got its foot stuck in the hummingbird feeder.
Predicting what day-to-day life in Kansas City will be like is difficult at this early stage, although from what I can tell, its going to be stimulating. What I will miss from Raleigh, in addition to this urban sanctuary, is the people who have meant so much during our time here. Friends and close colleagues whose warmth and creativity have provided irreplaceable moments of joy here. I’m proud of what we accomplished together and look forward to hearing of their many future successes.
As the next chapter unfolds, I’m excited to anticipate new encounters with unfamiliar species and ecosystems, new relationships and exposure to a different culture. But there’s plenty of time for that later. Today, I’ll remember- with gratitude – the sound of a thousand tree frogs on a warm summer night, fireflies blinking on and off as they weave through dusky flower beds, or eyeing off a pileated woodpecker from our living window.
ERIC DORFMAN 
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