Yard Guard

Mongoose, of the small, brown variety

Ibis, of the large, dark, shiny-sided variety

On Saturday afternoon, I was sitting on our back porch feeding Zarya when an ibis (sorry, don't know the technical name for what kind of ibis it was, but one like the one in the picture above) swooped into our yard. For a little bit of background info, let me point out that we quite dislike ibis.  There is a nest of ibis (ibises?) in a big tree in our yard, much to our chagrin.  They are INCREDIBLY LOUD, particularly early in the morning.  You thought roosters were bad?  Try having an ibis nearby!  We try to yell at them and chase them out of the yard when possible, but being as I was feeding Zarya, I was stuck just watching the thing prance around the yard.

Moments later, I heard a rustling in the lilies and watched as our little friend Ricky, a small, shy, brown mongoose (we have mid-sized striped mongooses, giant gray mongooses, and little brown mongooses around) who comes to get a drink our of our tire swing most every day, popped out from among the lily plants.  We don't have any pictures of Ricky, but it's not for lack of trying.  He's so shy and sensitive to movements and noise that he takes off whenever we tiptoe around with a camera.  But back to Saturday afternoon now.

Recap: Big old ibis lands in the yard.  Little Ricky comes bursting out of the lilies.
Next: Ricky races straight at the ibis, throwing his shy self behind in a valiant display of courage.  When Ricky nears him, the ibis becomes a bit flustered and takes a short flight-hop to the other side of the yard.  Ricky pauses momentarily at the place the ibis had been standing, then wheels around and once again charges toward the ibis.  The irritated ibis takes off, flying up into a tree.  Ricky scuttles over to his favorite spot, our tire swing, where he gets a drink of water from the rainwater that pools in it, then stands on top of it for a little bit to survey the yard.  After being assured that everything is once again okay, he goes back to the lily plant, where he picks up his girlfriend, who has been hiding there, watching her man perform.  The two scurry off as a pair, leaving our yard ibis-free for the afternoon.