Fauna and other natural things

[cathwen]

The spring peepers are peeping! 

[FishProf]

I heard about 3 peepers last night.  Brave (or lusty) souls, indeed.  It was dropping below freezing at the time.

[sinenomine]

I can't wait to hear the peepers! Still too cold where I am, but there was an owl making a lot of noise early this morning.

[apl68]

While walking through a low-lying section of the park trail this morning, I passed three different frogs squatting on the edge of the water.  Each one in turn leaped into the water as it became aware of my approach.  Each let out a frightened yelp just before doing so.  It reminded me of wild reaction shots on old cartoons where a character sees a ghost or something.  Funny, but I also felt kind of bad for accidentally frightening the poor little things so badly.

[apl68]

This morning I was doing my Monday-morning trash pickup at the park.  I spotted something trashy lying down near the water.  As I started in that direction to pick it up, I saw the park's gaggle of...excitable tame geese heading toward the bank near the same spot.  I decided that discretion was the better part of valor. 

[apl68]

On my morning walk I surprised a rabbit, who of course fled.  I feel a little bad for interrupting what was no doubt meant to be a peaceful silflay.

[sinenomine]

In the past couple days I've encountered a bear and a number of deer.

[FishProf]

On my morning walk I surprised a rabbit, who of course fled.  I feel a little bad for interrupting what was no doubt meant to be a peaceful silflay.

I am reading Watership Down to Smolt, so I got that reference!

[apl68]

On my morning walk I surprised a rabbit, who of course fled.  I feel a little bad for interrupting what was no doubt meant to be a peaceful silflay.

I am reading Watership Down to Smolt, so I got that reference!

I read it many years ago, and then had to re-read it recently for a discussion in a library leadership course.  It led to a good discussion, as Watership Down contains quite a variety of portraits of different kinds of leaders and leadership in action.  We had the discussion just last week, in fact.  So I've still got rabbit speech on the brain a bit.

Who knew rabbits could be so mean sometimes?

[cathwen]

My husband and I have discovered a new trail which has become one of our favorites because it borders a creek that is jam-packed with turtles.  A look on our state's reptiles and amphibians page helped me identify them as painted turtles.  They bask on logs in the sun, all in a row,, or just swim around.  It seemed that every log, and even a partially submerged tire, was covered with painted turtles!  Today we also saw two snapping turtles as well.  We call this section of the trail Turtle Town.

[apl68]

When I was a kid, Dad took off from his day job one day to go to a bookstore about an hour away to fetch Sunday school literature or something for our church.  Mom was in summer school, and there was evidently nobody else handy to keep us that day, so he took us with him.  We were just driving down the road toward town at the start of the trip when Dad spotted a box turtle in the road.  He put it in the back with us.  A little farther on, he spotted another one and collected it as well.  Now we each had one.

We kept trying to get the turtles to peek out of their shells.  Naturally they weren't eager to do so.  At the bookstore, we left the turtles in the car while we went inside.  We came back to find that the turtles had moved around some while we were gone.  They clammed up again when they saw us.  We kept them until we got back home.  Then we released them into the woods, not far from where we had first found them.

With hindsight, we should not have left those turtles in the car on a hot day.  It could have done real harm to them.  I guess we just didn't think about that possibility.  Fortunately they seem to have suffered no ill effects from the day they spent with us.  No doubt they were glad when it was all over.

[Thursday's_Child]

When I was a kid, Dad took off from his day job one day to go to a bookstore about an hour away to fetch Sunday school literature or something for our church.  Mom was in summer school, and there was evidently nobody else handy to keep us that day, so he took us with him.  We were just driving down the road toward town at the start of the trip when Dad spotted a box turtle in the road.  He put it in the back with us.  A little farther on, he spotted another one and collected it as well.  Now we each had one.

We kept trying to get the turtles to peek out of their shells.  Naturally they weren't eager to do so.  At the bookstore, we left the turtles in the car while we went inside.  We came back to find that the turtles had moved around some while we were gone.  They clammed up again when they saw us.  We kept them until we got back home.  Then we released them into the woods, not far from where we had first found them.

With hindsight, we should not have left those turtles in the car on a hot day.  It could have done real harm to them.  I guess we just didn't think about that possibility.  Fortunately they seem to have suffered no ill effects from the day they spent with us.  No doubt they were glad when it was all over.

And, unfortunately, one thing we've learned about terrestrial turtles is that they have a home territory.  Remove them from it and they are unlikely to remain where you put them - unless you force them to, and do it for at least a year.  Otherwise, they just start wandering, trying to find their way back.  They usually die still trying.

When you see a turtle crossing the road, help it across - in the direction it was going.  That gives it the best chance of survival.

[apl68]

When I was a kid, Dad took off from his day job one day to go to a bookstore about an hour away to fetch Sunday school literature or something for our church.  Mom was in summer school, and there was evidently nobody else handy to keep us that day, so he took us with him.  We were just driving down the road toward town at the start of the trip when Dad spotted a box turtle in the road.  He put it in the back with us.  A little farther on, he spotted another one and collected it as well.  Now we each had one.

We kept trying to get the turtles to peek out of their shells.  Naturally they weren't eager to do so.  At the bookstore, we left the turtles in the car while we went inside.  We came back to find that the turtles had moved around some while we were gone.  They clammed up again when they saw us.  We kept them until we got back home.  Then we released them into the woods, not far from where we had first found them.

With hindsight, we should not have left those turtles in the car on a hot day.  It could have done real harm to them.  I guess we just didn't think about that possibility.  Fortunately they seem to have suffered no ill effects from the day they spent with us.  No doubt they were glad when it was all over.

And, unfortunately, one thing we've learned about terrestrial turtles is that they have a home territory.  Remove them from it and they are unlikely to remain where you put them - unless you force them to, and do it for at least a year.  Otherwise, they just start wandering, trying to find their way back.  They usually die still trying.

When you see a turtle crossing the road, help it across - in the direction it was going.  That gives it the best chance of survival.

Fortunately these turtles weren't relocated by a very great distance--we had found them just a little way down the road from home.

People have giggled at me over the years for helping turtles across the road, when I could safely stop to do so.  I've accidentally run over a couple over the years.  There are  few more sickening sounds than a turtle imploding as your car's wheel passes over it, especially when you had been trying to avoid the poor thing....   I've rescued more than I've ever run over, so I guess I'm on the credit side of the ledger.

Our former Mayor was noted for helping turtles across the road as well.  He died at the beginning of the pandemic.  Last year the town named the local sports complex after him.  When we held the public dedication, they placed an effigy of a turtle by the sign in honor of his services to them.  Last time I bicycled by, it was still there.

[apl68]

Found a poor turtle lying aplastado in the street a couple of blocks from my house this morning.  We humans and our machines destroy so much wildlife without even meaning to.

Our region is fairly rich in turtles.  In the spring they seem to have a bit of a slow-motion migration that takes them over the roads.  Most people around here have probably run one over at some time or another.  I've been known to stop (where it was safe to do so) and move them out of the road in the direction they were heading. 

Apparently our late Mayor had a reputation for that sort of turtle rescue.  The local sports complex has his name on it.  If you look carefully under the sign bearing his name, you'll see a life-size effigy of a box turtle.  It was placed there at the sign's dedication to commemorate his kindness to road turtles.  It's too bad he couldn't have been at the wheel of whatever vehicle ran over the poor turtle in my neighborhood.  The turtle might still be going about its business today.

[Puget]

I have lived in this east coast local for nearly 7 years now, having lived most of my life in western locations with actual predators (including bears and mountain lions, aka "danger kitties") and still can't get over the local attitude toward wildlife. Today someone on Nextdoor posted that they are "basically being held hostage inside my home by coyotes". Like, did someone arm the coyotes? Did the coyotes get ahold of dynamite? No? Then leave them alone and they'll leave you alone (and help with our rodent issues).