Kansas Backyard Wildlife

I was entirely convinced that Kansas would be a pretty boring place to live, save the occasional rattlesnake that might show up in our backyard or the brown recluse spider in our shower.  Luckily, Larned is NOT prime rattlesnake territory (I haven't seen one yet) and after hours of research, I'm becoming less convinced that the spider in our shower was a brown recluse.

However, aside from the swarms of mosquitoes, it turns out we do have some exciting amphibians and birds here.  I enjoy seeing Nathan squirm as Kites fly overhead looking for sandwiches (see October 4th in this blog post).  There are a plethora of other birds that migrate over in the spring or summer including the rare whooping crane, so we're looking forward to them too. 

I have to give my uncle Tim credit for the best backyard find thusfar, though.  In our basement window well, he discovered what can only be described as a combination breeding ground and prison for toads!

There were dozens of toads (dozens!) in our window well, along with a thick, composting layer of leaves and garbage that only served as a hiding place for more toads.  Thinking they couldn't get out on their own, Tim and Nathan proceeded to release every toad they could.  They now live in our garden, yard, and probably all over Larned by now.

Assuming this wasn't an isolated incident, we checked the next window well.  It didn't have as many toads, but we found something even better: a large tiger salamander.

We left him alone, thinking he probably wanted to live there his entire life.  I hope he does, because I can't wait to show the new baby what we've got in the backyard. :)