Some thoughts on the back yard eco-system with no real answers.
It is hard to build a good eco-system in a small in-town yard (1/4 acre), but many of us do the best we can. The obvious things are having a variety of trees, shrubs, plants for food and habitat, not using harsh chemicals, water sources, keeping family pets to minimum etc.
We like the butterflies and bees nectaring on our chosen flowers, but then need some host plants for species. Have some host plants, and caterpillars get eaten by birds. Parasitic wasps good to keep down some cats, but not our faves. I have lots of parsley (to harvest for market) and sometimes lots of cats in various growth stages. Then they are gone, just vanished. Hungry birds? I was enjoying watching a cardinal family set up housekeeping and rearing 3 babies outside my window. Mom and dad on constant foraging for caterpillars to feed the babies. I didn't see the cardinals in the parsley pots per se, but definitely foraging the hedge and thick grown areas.
I am not one to be super protective of certain species, though may try to get a few swallowtail cats re-homed to a pop-up hamper the next time I see them.
Susan -thinking outloud
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applestar
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I have the same ambivalent feeling about cat(erpillar)s, predatorial wasps and flies, and birds. I extol the wasps and flies when they have infested or are snatching pest caterpillars off of the cabbages and broccoli, and the cardinals that duck through the tomato foliage in search of hornworms.... Yet...
I'm seeing now sadly rare Monarch butterflies flitting in my garden. Not every day, and they are so skittish - as compared to prior more bountiful years - that it's difficult to see them leisurely glide or remain still enough to ID if male or female.
Not much concerned if they are male, but if female, I want to check for eggs and cats on the milkweed so I can bring them in while still young enough to escape predation. They eat tiny wasp eggs on the leaves or get fly eggs laid on them.
Often, though I see them out the window flying around the garden in mid afternoon when I don't intend to go out anymore that day....
I'm seeing now sadly rare Monarch butterflies flitting in my garden. Not every day, and they are so skittish - as compared to prior more bountiful years - that it's difficult to see them leisurely glide or remain still enough to ID if male or female.
Not much concerned if they are male, but if female, I want to check for eggs and cats on the milkweed so I can bring them in while still young enough to escape predation. They eat tiny wasp eggs on the leaves or get fly eggs laid on them.
Often, though I see them out the window flying around the garden in mid afternoon when I don't intend to go out anymore that day....
I don't have a lot of caterpillars, except this year, a cabbage worm found my kale. Now, that it is gone, hopefully, so will the cabbage butterfly. I don't have many beetles, the lights take care of the Chinese rose beetle and I did have some chewing on Mr. Lincoln which is in my back yard and not in light, but it was minor and has stopped.
The birds I get are more seed and fruit eaters like doves, mynahs, bulbuls, finches, and rice birds. They will eat slugs and snails after I catch and kill them. I have been infested with some greenhouse frogs that I probably brought home as hitchhikers on my plants. They might be eating some insects and hopefully some slugs and snails, but I don't know if these tiny frogs would take on a 4 inch African snail.
Most of the beetles and caterpillars are taken care of by the geckos in my yard. They also really love to pounce on earthworms.
The bees visit my garden everyday. They are not as numerous as they were before all the varoa mites and hive beetles appeared and decimated them, but they are slowly making a comeback.
I do have cats but they are indoors, so they are only a danger to roaches and geckos in the house. And only one of the cats hunts. The other two would just watch a roach pass by them.
While it would be nice if all these creatures were selective and only went after the things we don't like and left the things we do alone, but then it wouldn't be in balance. For the ecosystem to be healthy there has to be population control so everything has to have a predator and everything has to have some prey or plant to feed on.
The birds I get are more seed and fruit eaters like doves, mynahs, bulbuls, finches, and rice birds. They will eat slugs and snails after I catch and kill them. I have been infested with some greenhouse frogs that I probably brought home as hitchhikers on my plants. They might be eating some insects and hopefully some slugs and snails, but I don't know if these tiny frogs would take on a 4 inch African snail.
Most of the beetles and caterpillars are taken care of by the geckos in my yard. They also really love to pounce on earthworms.
The bees visit my garden everyday. They are not as numerous as they were before all the varoa mites and hive beetles appeared and decimated them, but they are slowly making a comeback.
I do have cats but they are indoors, so they are only a danger to roaches and geckos in the house. And only one of the cats hunts. The other two would just watch a roach pass by them.
While it would be nice if all these creatures were selective and only went after the things we don't like and left the things we do alone, but then it wouldn't be in balance. For the ecosystem to be healthy there has to be population control so everything has to have a predator and everything has to have some prey or plant to feed on.
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rainbowgardener
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I have noticed that too. My parsley may have 5-7 swallowtail caterpillars crawling on it, but they seem to just vanish. I think a very high predation rate with all the birds in our yard. Just putting a perforated tall cup over them with the stems they are on, helps with the survival rate. Have to keep checking and moving it as appropriate. Once they have pupated, I remove the cup and just try to hide them with some vegetation scattered over them.
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applestar
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I was just looking out the window and saw a red/orang tail flicking around under one of the cabbages that I need to harvest soon because the Cross-striped cabbage moth caterpillars are devastating everything left out there and cabbages are too low to the ground and leaves too stiff to inspect.
I grabbed my birdwatching binoculars and focused just in time to see a male Cardinal hop out from under the big leaf with TWO caterpillars in his beaks.
I grabbed my birdwatching binoculars and focused just in time to see a male Cardinal hop out from under the big leaf with TWO caterpillars in his beaks.