Tiny Turtles

When my husband appears at our kitchen door, it usually means something is 'up'.  Sure enough, last Sunday afternoon, when he came to that door which he seldom uses, he had something in his hand.  This is what he had-- minus the quarter, which I added to the photo for scale!

He and his brother had been digging potatoes and noticed some egg shells.  Then, looking more closely, they noticed tiny turtles!

As you may know, we live across the road from a large beaver swamp.  In May or June, it's pretty common for us to see painted turtles coming out of the water to lay eggs.  (You can read about it in this post).  We have seen turtle hatchlings before, but never this late in the year.  Normally, when we see them on land, we put them in the water in the swamp.  But this late in the season, I wasn't really sure what would be the best thing to do for them.

So, while I researched it a bit, I put them in a small basin, with a little water in one end and a dry area on the other.  They didn't move around too much, but they did seem to like the water side best.

The reason they only moved around a little, probably, was because they were dormant before they got dug up with the potatoes.

Boy, what cuties though!  

So tiny and perfect.  I really wanted to 'mother' them, and take care of them, but...
I decided, after getting some helpful advice, that the best thing for them would be the most natural thing -- to put them back outside.

I didn't want to replant them in the garden, because then; come spring, they would have to cross the road.  Besides the road crossing, it is a long distance to the water from there.

I did get some nice, loose soil from my brother-in-law's garden though.  And I gathered up some other equipment.

I found a good spot for them closer to the swamp.  Before I said 'good-bye', I took some portraits:

You can see a little bit of this one's 'painting' on the plastron in that shot, now here it is up-side-down...

You can see that it still has some of its yolk sak, which will continue to supply nutrients til it's gone.

This one was more 'out-going'...

but still kind of 'sleepy'.  Here is its underside.

Good thing they were not too active, because it's time for them to go back underground.

That's all loose garden soil under them, and then I gently covered them with more.

Over that I placed a cage made out of a piece of wire fencing.  It has openings big enough for them to crawl out of, but hopefully not big enough for a predator to get thru.

With my hammer, I pounded in some old tent stakes to secure it on the ends, and covered it with a few leaves to help make the spot blend in with the surroundings.

Then I said a little blessing over them, asking God to protect them and help them survive the long, cold winter.  Our swamp seems to be a good home for painted turtles (click here to read about the day I counted them), so hopefully these will be able to join the rest.

A November Walk

We've had some absolutely fantastic weather for November, so I'm not complaining.  But November is not one of my favorite months.  Typically our days are drab and dreary after the brightness of October-- and the song lyrics that often pop into my head are, "So you speak to me of sadness and the coming of the winter" from an old John Denver song.   

Our winters are long, and since I can't go into hibernation, I try my best to enjoy them.  So, last Sunday afternoon, while not the nicest of days, weather-wise-- I went for a walk anyway.   You can see things in November that you can't see when the leaves on the trees.

What did you see, you ask? Come along with me and see!

For starters, that nice weather I mentioned has my Johnny Jumps-Ups blooming in my flower bed! 

After walking by the flowerbed, I walk along the road to see what I can see in the swamp.  There's a multiflora rosebush that usually has some sparrows hanging out in it.  It's a pretty safe place for them, with all those thorns.

Song sparrow

Today there is also a black-capped chickadee pecking at the rose hips.

Also, along the road by our mailbox, where I had watched a pair of Baltimore orioles nesting, I'm surprised to see another nest close to it.  Hadn't noticed that before when the leaves were on the tree!

I'm wondering if it was the cedar waxwing that was stealing nesting material from the oriole's nest?  Or maybe a robin... kind of looks like a robin's nest but it's hard to tell from down on the ground.

Not much else in the swamp today, so we'll head up the hill. My route takes me along this beautiful stone wall.  Can't see as much of that in the summer, either.

Or the neighbors place on the other side of it.  Wonder if the original people who lived there had a hand in building the wall?

Another neighbor who lives at the top of the wall has this wonderful sweetgum tree.  Its leaves are already down, but they are still pretty...

even if today they have some snow on them!

Just past the sweetgum, in the old pasture, is an apple tree I'm quite fond of.  You see, the old tree fell over and instead of dying, it sprouted several new ones.

They produce a lot of apples, too!

Those apples hang on later than many do, and they will be good eating for wildlife this winter.  Here's another view point of the old trunk.

From the old pasture, we'll head into the woods.

The marsh marigolds that bloom in this rill in the spring are gone... the mosses and ferns are the stars now. 

I wonder where the acorn caps on this rock came from?  Must be an oak tree somewhere nearby.

As I carefully step over an old piece of barbed wire fence, something on the ground catches my eye.

Now, that's a cute mushroom!

And a moment later, I see another 'fun guy'... does this look like a turtle to you, too?

I do have fanciful thoughts on my walks sometimes... it's fun to imagine a gnome living in this hole.

With the snow on the leaves outside his home, I imagine he is curled up inside by his hearth, reading a book.  We can't see him, but in the next photo, we can see someone who would be hidden by leaves in October.

I know it's not a good photo by any means, but I never get photos of these birds - it's a ruffed grouse, right in the center on the log.

Something else I may have walked by earlier in the year without seeing is this bird's nest full of rose-hips.

 Probably a white-footed mouse made many, many trips... collecting his food for the winter and storing it there.  I'll try to remember to check on it later!  Probably won't ever see the mouse, as they are nocturnal, but maybe I can see if its food supply goes down.

Time to head back to the house.  Down thru the hayfield we go.  A yarrow plant is blooming like it's July!

This walk has been full of wonderful things... I really have to remember that November is a beautiful month, whether it's flowers or seed pods, fungus turtles or ruffed grouse.  There is always something to see in God's creation.

Wild clematis seed pods

A Memory and An Amazing Bird

I can't remember a time before our family watched, fed, and loved wild birds.  So, it's hard for me to say if I have what birders call a 'spark bird' (a special one that lit the spark to an on-going love for birds).  

I do know that one of my earliest, clearest memories of any bird was of a red-headed woodpecker.  When I was young, a neighbor friend of my mom had one coming to her feeders and we went to see it.  My, but they are beautiful birds!  No wonder it made such an impression on me.

Photo by Julie Zickefoose, used with permission

While I don't have any photos of 'my' red-headed woodpecker from years ago, you can read a delightful tale about the one above-- named Garrett, at Julie Zickefoose's house.  Click here to read her story, see more photos, and share in her excitement from when she had one coming to her bird feeders!   

I've only seen red-headed woodpeckers a few times over the years since my first one.  As a species, they have undergone a sharp decline due to various factors, such as habitat loss.  You can read more about their interesting life history by clicking here for the Cornell page about them. 

The last time I saw a red-headed woodpecker was on a road trip our family took across the USA several years ago. We saw a few of them, including two that had been hit in the road.  They commonly are hit as they forage for insects along roadsides. (Yes, we stopped to examine them).  

Red-headed woodpeckers are more often seen in the midwest than in eastern Pennsylvania. So, I was very excited to see one recently!

On Sunday afternoon, my brother and I were birding on the farm in southeastern Pennsylvania where I grew up.  We had seen lots of birds, in particular; all the kinds of woodpeckers we could expect to see there.  Downy, hairy, northern flicker, red-bellied, and pileated woodpeckers were on our list, and a yellow-bellied sapsucker that we were pretty sure of.  So, when we noticed another woodpecker, we checked it out more carefully to try to confirm a sapsucker.  We were very glad we did, because this one wasn't a sapsucker... not with those dark wings with large white patches, white belly, and brown head!

 Woo-hoo... it was an immature red-headed woodpecker!

 He or she (both look alike) was taking beechnuts from this tree, and flying to a couple of different spots close-by.   It would either quickly eat or store the nut, then fly back to get more.  

We shared the sighting with my brother's wife thru a cell phone call, and she quickly walked down to the woods to see it, too.  A neighbor even showed up on horseback, though that was a coincidence!

Woodpecker woods!

While these woodpeckers are rare in eastern Pennsylvania, and we were very excited to see it, there are still a few places where they are more common.  Julie Zickefoose writes about one of those special places in her blog post about North Bend State Park in West Virginia.  Now, that's a place to put on my bucket list to visit someday!

While I don't expect to ever add red-headed woodpecker to our property list here in northern Pennsylvania, you never know.  I remember as a kid how excited my mom was when red-bellied woodpeckers started coming to our bird feeders (and I think that's why they are still one of my favorite birds).

male red-bellied woodpecker

Red-bellied woodpeckers gradually moved northward over the last several decades, so maybe red-headed ones will get here someday, too.  I certainly would be thrilled to see one here and I'd love to have to update my post about 'Our Wonderful Woodpeckers'.  

Meanwhile, I'll enjoy the memory of the one near where I grew up, and the one we saw there on Sunday!

 

Bird 'Bloopers'

When you take as many photographs of birds as I do, you are bound to have to delete a lot.  Which I do, certainly... but I've also been saving up some of the 'bloopers' for you.  I think I have a pretty good collection now, so I'm going to share.

What makes a bird photograph a blooper?  Of course, a blooper is supposed to be funny and we all have different ideas about what is humorous.  So, I hope one or two of these photos will make you smile!

Cardinal having a bad 'hair' day!  That Mohawk does not look good on you, Mama!

Another bad 'hair' day, this time a Black-capped Chickadee.  She needs a blow dry!

Sometimes, the bloopers occur because of the location.  This wire fence has provided some fun...

The audition for the ballet didn't go so well!

However, this bird qualified for the Olympic gymnastics team, largely due to its strong grip.

Meanwhile, this Field Sparrow was so bored with the whole thing that it stretched out for a nap.... yawn!

A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird was just perplexed!

A White-crowned Sparrow turned its back on the show, giving us a different kind of show.

Speaking of 'show', this Ruddy Duck hen is doing a little showing off.  "See I can touch my 'knee' with my 'nose'. "

Some bloopers are just not the photo I was hoping for.  I thought I'd get a nice photo of a pair of Hooded Mergansers in the swamp, when this happened:

Maybe the drake is saying, "Thanks for the shower, honey."

Another unexpected photo is this one of a chickadee from the side.

Praying before dinner?  Or checking in the rear-view mirror?

This Northern Flicker was doing its best impression of a dead tree limb.  (Though you can see a bit of the yellow shafts on its tail if you look closely)

A common blooper when taking bird photos is twigs in the way.  Unfortunately, birds are very often found in trees, which have lots of twigs.  What might be a very nice photo is not, all because of a twig.

American Robin eating a crab apple. 

This Eastern Bluebird photo is not bad, but still... a twig!

Although, that photo is prettier than the ones I have of the young bluebirds when they favored sitting on this telephone pole:

"What, you wanted to take a pretty picture of me?"

Tree Swallow - No it's not 'screaming' because its feathers are stuck in the knothole...  that's just a feather that's part of its nest.