Mostly Show and a little Tell -- Wildflowers and some Wildlife, too!

I was trying to do a series on "What's Blooming Here".  What happened was after my early May post and my mid-May post -- the vegetable garden needed to be planted, the lawn needed mowing, the annual flowers needed to be planted, the lawn needed mowing, it was time to much, and... the lawn needed mowing again.  You get the picture.  Through it all, I was taking pictures, so now I have a lot to show you.  But I also need to hoe the vegetable garden, so I'm not going to do a lot of "telling", mainly "showing".

First thing to show is something I mentioned in my mid-May post.  Here are the white trilliums fading to a soft pink.

Now on to more flowers.  Here are the May-apples.  You have to look under the leaves for the pretty waxy flowers.

I think they are gorgeous close-up and I love how this one caught some of the raindrops in its lower petal.

Also blooming in the woods in late-May/early June are several other white flowers.  At only a few inches tall each, they might be easy to overlook as well.  

Canada Mayflower

Easy to overlook, except there is usually a lot of it!

Then there is Starflower: very dainty and unobtrusive.

Sometimes also occurring in large numbers.

This photo was taken on the backside of the swamp from the kayak.

Here's another small white-flowered plant that is not as common.  It's a member of the dogwood family and it's called Bunchberry.  In the next photo, it's just starting to bloom.  There's a bit of Canada Mayflower and Starflower growing alongside.

Here's a little better look at the Bunchberry flowers in full bloom.  You can really see they are like miniature dogwood flowers and leaves.

Next we have another woodland flower - Marsh Violet.

I've shown other violets in the previous 'what's blooming' posts but this one is later blooming and requires quite a trek for me to see.  It's worth it to hike all the way around the swamp to find the glade where they grow.  The photo really doesn't show how lovely it is.

That whole wet area is full of them in bloom.  They've been there for years.  I hope the fact that the closest hemlock tree has tipped over will not affect them.  The tree even had a large rock next to it.... why did it blow over?  Here's a close-up of the violets so you can see how thick they are.

Also from the back of the swamp, I could see these Blue Flag - common name for Iris versicolor. 

Another member of the Iris family is blooming now, too.  It grows in dry meadows.  It's called Blue-eyed Grass.  It's not a 'grass' though its' leaves do look like it.

Summery wildflowers are taking the place of spring ones.  Everywhere something is blooming - you don't have to hike to see lots of them.  Along the roads you can see Dame's Rocket in pretty shades of light to dark purplish-pink.

Also there are hot pink Ragged Robin.  I'm seen them some places (while driving) that are quite pink with them, though the nearby ones I photographed were not as noticeable, but still pretty.

Buttercups are everywhere.

In wetter places they tend to be more abundant, but they can pretty much grow anywhere, much like the dandelions they are 'replacing'. 

Buttercups with a Red-winged Blackbird... wonder if he likes butter?

There are some other fairly common yellow flowers blooming that you might not notice because of all the other things to catch your eye.  They are Golden Alexanders.  Each individual flower looks somewhat like a yellow Queen Anne's Lace.

They grow along our roadside ditch and make a bright spot in the shade.

There is a lot of Honeysuckle blooming now, too, in colors of white, yellow, and pink.  I think the pink is my favorite, maybe because it doesn't seem as common.  The two colors make a pretty combination in the next scene. 

Pink Honeysuckle and Golden Alexanders

That photo was taken at the edge of our road, and so was the next.  

Yes, it's turtle egg-laying time.  The painted turtles are coming out of the water to find a place to lay their eggs.  Many times, like by our swamp, this involves crossing a road.  So, please, keep an eye out for them!  Thank you!

Why did the turtle cross the road?

I don't know why the chicken crossed the road, but I do know why the turtles do.  They come out of the swamp and cross our road to lay their eggs.

On good turtle-sunning days like the April day in this photo, I like to count how many I can see.  The most I've counted at one time was 18.  How many can you see in this photo?  Also, can you identify the two flying birds?

Beginning around the end of May and going thru June, we frequently see lady Painted Turtles on land, looking for a place to lay their eggs.  If we see them in the road, we move them to the side in the direction they are heading.    

Thursday was a busy turtle day.  A four turtle day, in fact!  The first turtle was in the road when we were heading out our driveway to go somewhere, so I don't have a photo of her.  My husband waited in the car while I put her across.  

Turtle number two was in the ditch by our driveway when we first encountered her - more on her later.  

 Here is turtle number three:

 She was laying her eggs very close to the road... she had not crossed it.

You can see how close she was to the road in the next photo.

That's the turtle, right in the center of the photo.

Turtle number 4 also did not cross the road.  She did not come very far out of the swamp.  I've read that older turtles will go farther from the water to lay their eggs, so maybe this is a young turtle.  They can live anywhere from 20 to 50 some years, also from what I've read! 

In this photo you can see how close she was to the water.
That would sure make it easier for the little ones to get to the swamp after they hatch.

 

We have found newly hatched Painted Turtles in our yard and they are quite tiny, but they can move pretty fast, too!

Baby Painted Turtle on May 27th

We always carry the babies down to the water when we find them.

 Now we come back to what I think is turtle number 2 again, because she was near where we saw the one in the ditch. 

She had crossed the road, but not very far.  She had tried to dig a nest in some very hard dirt in our lawn.  As you can see she was not successful in digging and her eggs were laying on top of the ground.

I decided to leave them alone that night and see what would happen.  They were still there... intact, the next morning!  Quite often, racoons or other predators eat turtle eggs so I was surprised.  I decided to move them (especially because they were in an area where I mow and I was planning to mow that day).

I dug a shallow hole for them in a protected spot nearby in my flowerbed and covered them up.  Two days later they have not been dug up by any predators, so maybe they have a chance.

Speaking of having a chance... every year, it saddens me to see a turtle or two hit in the road by our house.  This year there has already been one mature and one hatchling turtle killed.  So, if you are driving by... please slow down and watch for our turtles!  Thank you.