Bradford Chase Kids: Community Wildlife

We have just recently received an interesting article written by one of our young Bradford Chase residents! It is about the wildlife we see in our community. Please enjoy!

Bradford Chase Wildlife

As many of us have noticed, our neighborhood is teeming with a variety of animals and plants. As we become more curious about our native neighbors, we must start with the more obvious things, such as our trees. Every other house in the neighborhood has a maple tree. But some of these trees have been removed due to neglect from current or previous residents. These trees still left in our neighborhood, require simply fertilizer every year or so, and a good watering every week. Though they create brilliant colored leaves soon before going dormant for the winter, they can wreak havoc. While growing larger in such close proximity of our homes, the maple trees’ expanding roots may cause our homes foundation, driveways, and sidewalks to crack, or add to existing damage. And over decades, these trees roots may also find their way to the surface and expose themselves. These roots may cause injuries such as tripping and falling, so always be cautious.

Some of the wildlife sightings in our neighborhood have been really interesting! Some residents, including myself, have noticed a murder (No, not a death, a murder is the name for a group of crows.) that have been lurking around our neighborhood. The strange group is most likely here to feed off of insects and the small birds seen hopping around in our yards. Another common species seen in our community all the time, but hardily noticed, are bats! You can see these creatures from about 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM. You can distinct bats from birds by noticing they never stop flapping their wings during flight. They also resemble triangles, with their pointed tails leading to their wing tips, back to their heads in a straight line. They often fly in aimless circles, because their eye sight is not very reliable. There are also ducks that wander into our yards and live around and in the pond area. As well as ducks there are also turtles that live in both ponds.

Do you know what this is? Well, this creature is a Gasteracantha-Cancriformis or spiny-Backed Orb Weaver spider. This spider is harmless and is known for making large webs, even for many other spiders five times its size. This spider has spines on its shell like back. They are commonly five to nine mm long and ten to thirteen mm wide from spike to spike. They are found in wood line areas during the fall and they only live long enough to reproduce. So these spiders may seem threatening, but they are only another friendly neighbor.

I hope this article has shed some light on your wanders of our neighborhood surroundings. Have a great day!