Just throwing this down for giggles. As I was sitting down to do a few of the in situ shots of the last Estate Find, I heard a rustling in the taller grasses/weeds very close behind me. It wasn’t a deer as expected, and wasn’t showing above the grasses at all, but was easy enough to find. So while I was there, I shot a quick video clip.
That’s all – nothing elaborate, just
Today is World Turtle Day, and I’m prepared, having in fact obtained a few images the day before, because I’ve got it going on. What “it” is and what “going on” means is up for interpretation, and I doubt we’ll be in agreement over those. Regardless, some World Turtles.
The explosion of both foliage in the many trees around the pond and large lily leaves
This one goes back a little too far, certainly not counting as this past week in any way, but I didn’t want it back-to-back with XIIX. Once again, I was out exploring at night by headlamp, but really, I was standing just outside the front door when I spotted a dark spot in the yard not far from the greenhouse. It was easily identified just by getting a little closer.
That’s
Knowing that I’d be tied up for the latter part of the week, I went out today to find a subject for the Estate Find, and/or see if any other snakes had emerged. I wasn’t successful on either count, finding only the typical subjects of the property so far, but a little later on I almost casually got the Find for this week, so no issues there. This guy had to be featured, though.
Naturally,
The other night as I worked on the computer in Deep 13 (my basement office/workshop/studio/makerspace/junk room,) I heard a soft, repeated sound, kind of a cross between a tap and a thump, coming from someplace off behind me. Once the repetition had established itself, I got up and went looking for it. It didn’t take very long.
This is a spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer,)
I get a little tired of numbered posts, even though I’ve been the one that established them in the first initial place, and we had a ‘Sorting Finds’ post just two weeks ago. But in that intervening time, I collected over 700 more images before I even got the chance to back up the files to an external drive (I have two internal harddrives mostly for backups, and a backup
The turtles outdid themselves today, and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to post another photo. There’s nineteen of them on this little tussock, now known to us as “Turtle Island,” because of course. And there’s even room for more if they’re careful (which they often are not.)
Near as I can tell, these are entirely eastern painted turtles (Chrysemys
It’s been a couple of weeks now since I got these shots, having set them aside for a writeup, and I’m finally getting to it now. Don’t judge. Or judge all you want, because I’m not paying attention anyway.
While alongside the creek that forms the east edge of the property, I noticed a large yellow-bellied slider (Trachemys scripta scripta) drifting in the water, and
Photography has been a little slow for the past few days, though this is also due to my own lack of effort. Still, things occasionally pop up.
Take, for instance, the conditions on the pond a week ago today:
… versus today:
Seriously.
These guys (which would be yellow-bellied sliders, Trachemys scripta scripta, and eastern painted turtles, Chrysemys picta picta,) wasted no time
… of these conditions.
These are all from yesterday, when the temperature here topped 18°c – not bad for December 30th, and I think it got even higher today. A cold snap is on its way, with the possibility of it dipping below -5°c, so these pics are in appreciation, and to refer back to when we’re not going out at all.
First off, the turtles put on a display.
That’s