Oh, the joys of Midland.One of the joys of living here in Midland is that I put a pond and stream in my backyard. Each day we have squirrels, pigeons, blue jays and other of God's creatures visiting us for a drink at harB's friendly oasis. There are other visitors - we have seen yellow tanagers, hummers, and once we had a hawk land for a drink briefly. He didn't leave a tip, but then hawks are known to be predators, and predators are by nature selfish.
Today we had about seven grackles. GA calls them Wal-Mart™ birds, because they like to hang around parking lots and feed on dropped food. You've seen these scavengers - they're not afraid of people or cars, and they stay just out of reach, hopping around looking for pizza crumbs. They're large and black, and they have an annoying "song," which I guess could be compared to heavy metal or something. Grackles are not my favored birds, because they poop on the bridge that spans the stream, and when they wash, they get oil in the water which clogs the filter. But birds are birds, and you can't be selective about who visits your water feature. That's nature. But at least they don't hang around long; they just come for a quick drink and a bath, and then go back to America's store.
Outside the fence is a large bed of harvester ants, sometimes known as Texas Red Ants. I leave them alone, because Midland is on the edge of fire ant territory, and the two species are battling for the turf. You can easily see a harvester ant bed, while a fire ant bed can sneak up on you when you're pulling weeds, and besides, fire ants hurt more and they're considerably more aggressive, so I favor the harvester ant any day. But the clincher is that the harvester ant is the only food source for the Texas horned lizard (or the "horny toad," to use the technical term) - when the harvester ants are driven out, the lizard disappears. They are already completely gone in the more rainy climates, such as Wichita county where I grew up. They used to be as common as tax increases in a non-election year.
I'm pretty much "green" and organic, but I make two exceptions: I will use fire ant bait, albeit sparingly, and I will use Roundup™ to control weeds. I'm told that Roundup goes inert when it hits the ground, and doesn't affect the soil, which is important to me. I feel bad about the fire ant bait, but you have to do what you have to do.
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As a followup, I have heard that there is now a way to kill fire ants organically. You get Hartz Dog dip, and dilute it, and pour it on the mound. It takes a couple days for them to die, but it works. And then it breaks down without hurting the soil.
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