In our far-backyard there is this hole in the grass that's maybe
three inches in diameter leading to a tunnel.  Now, I haven't
stuck anything in the hole to see how far it goes, mostly because
I'm a chicken, but also because bees are frequently seen entering
and exiting.  The area surrounding this opening has lots of barely
submerged tree roots which make the ground surface lumpy and the
previous owner had a Irish Setter who liked to dig back there.
So, knowing all that, I'd like to figure out what's happening
below ground. Is there such a thing as burrowing bees?  How do I
determine if gophers are present and when and what do you do to
get rid of them?  

28 responses total.

Oh, yes, there are.  There are several species that nest underground.

   Bumblebees do, don't they? And some wasps.
Could you please describe what the bees look like?

About the same color as honeybees but somewhat smaller and faster.
Do they nest just inside an existing hole or do they create holes
and burrow?    

Lots of bees burrow, but usually their holes aren't very wide. My mom
has some small bees which are a pretty green metallic color. They come
out of holes in the ground that are only as wide as the bee.
Bumble bees live in holes.

Yellowjackets also burrow.  We get them every so often in the flower
beds lining our driveway.  I don't think the holes they make are nearly
that big, though.

We have carpenter bees here at our place.  They burrow into eaves and other
wood structures along our roofline.  Huge bees, they look like bumblebees
on steroids.  They don't sting, just look fierce.  They chew, instead.  You
can hear them chewing and watch the sawdust come down.  We haven't had 'em
this year, but we have been controlling 'em with chemistry for the past
7 years..
 
I wonder why they're not here this year?

I suppose it might be possible that your bees dug their hole somewhere
inside the larger burrow.

probably killer bees. 

Well, the bee problem seems to have resolved, mostly because
whatever it is that's living down that hole has destroyed the nest
with some of that earth moving equipment.  I mean, this tunnel now
has an opening about six or eight inches in diameter, with a nice
ramp going down, and and an approach so well used the grass has a
worn path.  I swear at night I can hear the sound of diesel
engines down there.

So... I've decided to try diplomacy.  Whatever it is now has a
name, Boris, and every night I go out and have a little chat with
it (or at least the hole), ending with a wish for a "good
evening".  My anxiety level is somewhere between a National Geographic
Special and Caddyshack.

Hey, Boris was the groundhog who lived & foraged in my old back yard
in Pittsfield Twp.  Are you suggesting that he followed me?

Actually, the enlargement of the hole, which took place about a week
ago, was quite spectacular.  What kinds of creatures live in underground
burrows like that?  Could it be a....  skunk?

it would be really neat if it were an aardvark. that would explain your lack
of an insect problem.

You could always use the good old-fashioned prairie remedy -- stick a hose
down the hole and fill the burrow with water.  You won't find out what
lives down there if it is a mammal, as it will have more than one exit,
but it will have to leave the burrow.

thank you, aaron "mr. humane society" larson...

Yeah, I don't want to kill it or hurt it in any way.  I don't even mind it 
living back there with an open-ended lease as long as I can be assured
it isn't doing any damage to tree roots and that it's not going to 
make the ground back there so lumpy we won't be able to use the yard
for anything.  

I asked about the skunk possibility specifically because when we came
home late one evening last week, there was a strong skunk odor in the
air, and our cat Winston, who was outside, had a bit of odor on him.
(Not enough to require a bath, thank heavens.)

winston wouldn't have managed, absentmindedly, to have gotten a streak of
white paint down his back, would he?

re #13:  Geez.  I didn't suggest blocking the exit, did I?

perhaps some other animals could form a little picket line so that the
whatever-it-is would be afraid to cross it?

Odorists. 

Maybe you could hook a trip wire to the shutter of a camera with flash.

Our next door neighbor, Bill, is a naturalist.  He stuck his arm in
the hole (definitely the sign of a person who's on comfortable terms
with nature) and announced that it's a ground squirrel's nest.

Ground squirrels are small rodents that look a bit like chipmunks.
Unlike gophers or moles, they don't do a lot of burrowing and hence
don't tend to damage lawns.  So we're feeling hospitable toward
the critter.

feed it, feed it!

We are, we are.  I'm sure the little critter is helping him or herself
to the dicarded seeds from the birdfeeder and when something a little
more "gourmet" is in order, our friend digs up newly planted mums and
nibbles on the roots.  

John, could you ask your neighbor if he could be a bit more specific than
just "ground squirrel"?  I'm looking in my mammals field guide, and don't
see any ground squirrels that are supposed to be native to this area.
I'm not saying he's wrong, as the range maps in such guides are not always
exact, but I've never seen anything that looks like a ground squirrle around
here.  I'd be happy to learn something new!

And I'd always thought that "ground squirrel = chipmunk".

Although they are close relatives, they are not the same.  (Ground squirrels
are more commonly confused with gophers.)

John's still sleeping so I'll answer this one. ;-)  Bill said he's
seen this particular ground squirrel in the neighborbood, and at
one time it (or another) lived in the yard across the street but
probably moved out when dogs moved in.  It's different from a chipmunk
in that there isn't a white stripe down the back but instead a 
series of 9 or 11 white dots.  That's all I remember from our brief
conversation but I'll ask him more when he's back from vacacation.

And while we're discussing indentifying flora and fauna...  I finally
pickup up a book designed to quickly identify birds at an urban, 
backyard, Michigan birdfeeder.  Compared to some of the more general
books it's quite limited in scope but it tells much more about 
the specific birds listed.  So, armed with my trusty binoculars 
I'm learning who's who in the who world and when I need to swear
at whatever it is that's mutilating our gorgeous 30 foot pine I 
can say, "You yellow bellied sapsucker" and mean it. 

  I, too, was always under the impression that chipmunks were
simply a subset of ground squirrels..  Maybe the critter we call
a chipmunk at home is a ground squirrel, but the "chipmunks" I've
seen around here look remarkably similar.  (I seem to remember 
having seen them listed in some book as a "thirteen striped ground
squirrel" or something silly like that..)

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