Saturday, July 25, 2009

SKUNK VISITS ALF

     Alf and his Dad were away for three weeks . When they got back a wasp colony had firmly established itself under their back step . Gord (Dad) and Alf were trying to get rid of them as it made the back entrance of the house somewhat risky . The wasps came up out of the ground beside the steps so it was assumed they were a type of ground wasp . A system of spray and killing wasps with a trowel was used . Alf was collecting the wasps and put them in water to drown them.

      This morning Gord came out the back door to find the ground dug up beside the step. A wasp nest was lying beside the step. No wasps were around. I guess the skunk had a huge evening meal with all the adult wasps and larvae in the nest . Alf's eyes were as big as saucers . His Dad was not aware that skunks ate insects . Now the back step is safe from nasty surprises .

     Skunks main diet is from insect material .We often see little digs or scrapes were skunks have retrieved insects or larvae from just under the soil surface . There are more skunks around our yards than we are aware of unless we take note of the places the dig or scrape to uncover food .
photo by Judy Boyd