Animals

Our garden is adjacent to acres of forest trees, whose resident birds and critters often visit our garden, but we’ve taken steps to encourage more visitors who are either migrating through or may call Oregarden home.

Below are photos we’ve taken of some our garden visitors:

Mammals
Dragonflies
Bumble Bees
Birds
And more!

Mammals

Without a doubt, the cutest inhabitants of our garden… and some of the most mischievous. During veggie growing season, I find all sorts of things … hollowed out tomatoes, nibbled cucumbers, toppled sunflowers, shaved lettuce, and lots and lots of dug holes. But, hey, if something isn’t eating your plants, then your garden isn’t part of the ecosystem. :) We have a number of chipmunks that live in our garden, in burrows between boulders. Occasionally a ground squirrel makes use of burrows under the catio. But most are frequent visitors from the forest across the street, hitting up the garden salad bar or Tweet Tomatoes, our bird feeder zone. We have a raised bed out front that serves as the ‘deer buffet’ where they stop by to munch on yummy veggies and flowers.

While you might find better photos on the internet, nearly all of these photos were taken by us in our garden of our mammal visitors. Only the few identified as *** PLACEHOLDER are public photos. Also, an ‘N’ denotes a native species to our area.

Little Brown Myotis Bat (N) *** PLACEHOLDER

Dragonflies

Odonata is my biggest naturalist passion - I just love them and we travel Oregon striving to photograph as many species as we can. We’ve photographed 14 species of odonates in our garden so far, a few featured below. I have a special iNaturalist project for our all our odonate observations across Oregon, and you can view more photography on the Dragonflies page.

Bumble Bees

From what I’ve researched, there are roughly 30 species of bumble bees native to Western North America, half of which are present in the Willamette Valley area of Oregon where we live. I’m thrilled to have taken photos of at least 7 species of bumble bees in our garden so far! Bumble bees are a favorite of mine - large, fuzzy, easy to hear and spot, and they just seem so joyful.

Yellow-Faced Bumble Bee (Bombus vosnesenskii)

Brown-belted Bumble Bee (Bombus griseocollis)

Black-tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus melanopygus)

Yellow-Fronted Bumble Bee (Bombus flavifrons)

California Bumble Bee (Bombus californicus)

Birds

We are practiced birders in Orgeon, but also attract them to our garden by adding native plants and water features. We built a robust feeding station we call ‘Tweet Tomatoes’ that supports numerous feeders and is in close viewing distance of the catio. Our garden has had over 50 species of birds so far… All of the bird species pictured below have been spotted in our garden, at our feeders, or flying overhead. We keep this list updated to help us keep track of all our sightings.

While you might find better photos on the internet, nearly all of these photos were taken by us of our birdie sightings in the garden or at a nearby refuge. Only the few identified as *** PLACEHOLDER are public photos, while we are working to capture our own.

We created this key so you can see which birds below frequent our garden and which are more rare sightings:

VC - Very Common (Daily)
C - Common (Weekly)
U - Uncommon (Monthly)
R - Rare (Quarterly or Migratory)
VR - Very Rare (No more than 1-2x a Year)

Violet-green Swallow [U] *** PLACEHOLDER

Western Wood Peewee [VR] *** PLACEHOLDER

And more!

In addition to the above critters spotted in and around our garden, we record most of our observations on iNaturalist under the project ‘Oregarden’.

Wasps are important pollinators, though often not as efficient as bees. Their defense capabilities tend to generate fear in people, but many species do serve a purpose in the ecosystem and should be respected.
Oregon has at least 500 species of spiders, but I haven’t seen nearly that many in our garden. Spiders are beneficial predators and serve a significant role in keeping populations of many insect pests in check. They are also fascinating and use various tactics to capture prey.
I have an affinity for slugs. I find them cute, inquisitive and a reminder to take things slow and enjoy the journey. Did you know their slime is actually a liquid crystal? A substance between solid and liquid with remarkable properties. Slugs are also really easy to photograph. :)
Beetles are often overlooked as pollinators. But I’ve learned beetles were actually the first insects to begin pollination, about 200 million years ago and remain essential pollinators to this day. I also find they have some of the most striking colors and patterns.
Although not as efficient pollinators as bees, butterflies are able to see the color red. Since bees cannot see red flowers, butterflies and hummingbirds play an important role in pollinating these plants. And when the sun goes down, moths and bats take over the night shift for pollination. It has been found that moths visit a greater variety of plant species than bees and are vital in pollination diversity.

European Paper Wasp (non-agressive, good pest control)

Rodent Bot Fly (predatory species that attacks rodents, including squirrels and chipmunks)

Complex Volucella bombylans (large hoverfly species and bumblebee mimic)