May Apples

May Apple, Podophyllum peltatum

In April you would have found flowers beneath these umbrella-like leaves.

Now, underneath the foliage, the fruit ripens.

Supposedly, Eastern Box Turtles find the fruit quite tasty. They are said to be one of the main distributors of the seeds of the May Apple.

Turtles, In Hand

Driving has been treacherous lately. Thanks to our recent rainfall (finally!) the turtles are on the move and they always seem to find their way onto the road. The two little ones in the photos below were fortunate. Treebeard has keen eyes and a soft spot for turtles. He spotted both of them and scooped them up, sparing them from a crushing encounter with the next car or truck to pass. After I took a few pictures we released them close to where he found them, but far from the blacktop.

Mud turtle hatchling

Cooter hatchling

Last Ones

Here are the last of the photos taken on the swamp trip last weekend that I'll share with you. We ended our day with a fine, fat gator and a "turtlebow". The young men had a good time and us old folks had a good time. Who could ask for more?

(Hey, FC, do you think that gator is a female?)

Dinner Table

It is a wonderful thing when young people seek out opportunities to learn about their homes. Yesterday we paddled the pond and swamp with two local teenagers who wanted to know more about the natural and cultural history of the pond and swamp. It was a very enjoyable day. They were interested in the things we showed them and very patient with our stories that always began, "One time, when we were paddling up through here..." And after nearly 31 years of paddling the pond, we have lots of stories!

I didn't have a chance to take a lot of pictures thanks to the fairly stiff breeze that blew all day. There are a few images that I'd like to share, though. We'll start with these three.

Out on the pond you run across some pretty unusual tree shapes from time to time. Yesterday we noticed a bald cypress with an interesting lump growing off one side. Some critter, most likely a raccoon, had used it as a dinner table / rest area. The turtle shell is from a little turtle called a stinkpot.

Little Surprises

One last note from Friday's paddle...

Along the shore line, nestled in cypress needles, was the empty shell of a musk turtle. Bones have a quiet beauty all their own. Whenever I find a bit of some creature's skeleton I often pause to ponder how it came to be there. Did the creature die a natural death or did a predator help it along its way? Is this the spot it died or did some other animal carry the bones to this spot? And in the case of turtle shells, is there anything still inside?

This time I got a little surprise - a shell within a shell.

Friday, On The Pond

Friday dawned clear, bright and breezy. The weatherman informed us that the day would be mild, the last such day for while. Since I had the day off, Treebeard and I decided it would be a good day to head to the Millpond and do a little paddling.
We were right :)

Loads of turtles were out basking. Most were very skittish so I had to zoom in to get a shot.

Red maples grow on old cypress and tupelo stumps out in the pond. The flowers create a nice contrast with the gray of the Spanish moss.

This beaver lodge has been in more or less constant use for at least the past 30 years.
Every once in a while it will be empty for a year or two, but then some enterprising couple will move in and fix it up again. It, like all the other lodges on the pond, is a great place to find basking snakes in the warmer months.

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Species list from Friday:

Insects: Honeybee, Apis mellifera; and others that we didn't take the time to ID

Amphibians: Spring peeper, Pseudacris crucifer crucifer; Brimely's chorus frog, Pseudacris brimleyi; Southern leopard frog, Rana sphenocephala utricularia

Reptiles: American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis; Northern black racer, Coluber constrictor constrictor; Yellow-bellied slider, Trachemys scripta scripta; Eastern painted turtle, Chrysemys picta picta; assorted Cooters, Pseudemys sp.

Mammals: Eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis; Nutria, Myocastor coypus

Birds: (Order in which they were first observed)
Tree swallow
Canada goose
fish crow
red-shouldered hawk
red-tailed hawk
eastern phoebe
Carolina wren
winter wren
yellow-rumped warbler
wood duck
American black duck
American wigeon
turkey vulture (143 at once!!)
black vulture
mallard
bald eagle
ring-necked duck
pintail
killdeer
ring-billed gull
goldfinch
purple finch
green-winged teal
ruby-crowned kinglet
downy woodpecker
red-bellied woodpecker
white-breasted nuthatch
eastern bluebird
hooded merganser
hairy woodpecker
great blue heron
pileated woodpecker
American robin
Carolina chickadee
common grackle
barred owl
sharp-shinned hawk
northern flicker
golden-crowned kinglet
pied-billed grebe
belted kingfisher
redwing blackbird
pine warbler