Saturday, May 28, 2011

Turtle Eggs

What started out as a rainy day, morphed into a sunny day, and then ended as a cloudy day.  Guess that made a happy day for everyone. 

As I was trying to take some rainy morning pictures, this robin flew smack dab in the middle of my picture and I got his picture among the wet leaves.


Here's the topsy turvy pot stand we bought in the Amish country of PA last year.  Last week I filled the four pots with compost and planted some sun lovers.  They're growing so I think they like their new home.


It's a weed, Virginia Creeper, but I thought it was beautiful in its own way.



We watched a mama turtle dig a hole, lay her eggs, and refill her turtle nesting hole.  She wasn't happy with us being so close at first, but we were real still so she finally relaxed and completed her slow dirt nest project.  It was fascinating watching her ever so slowly dig a hole with her back feet, lay her eggs, and then slowly cover them with the loose dirt.  Nature is fascinating in its true form.  We didn't bother her but went out later after dark and she had nearly completed replacing the dirt in the hole and packing it down. She was in no hurry. 

I did a bit of research to learn after she spends time doing these steps, she just walks away, and doesn't raise them.  The newborn turtles who emerge successfully are totally on their own.  We generally have at least one turtle in our garden each year. And most years we have a turtle nest among the veggies for the eggs to incubate in the warm Carolina sun.   This was the first time I actually was able to watch the process. 



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