Ten Minute Break

I took a stroll to end of the driveway tonight at 11 pm before tucking myself in for the night. I couldn't help but throw out some screech owl whinnies. I got a response first from what I think was a flying squirrel. A boxy shadow glided from the outer branches of the catalpa tree closest to the driveway to the trunk when I began to call. About a minute later, a small shadow passed about ten feet overhead, heading across the driveway and the garden to the catalpa tree with the bluebird box on it. I soon heard the high pitch whinny from the east across the paved road perhaps at 150 yards distance. After another minute a lower-pitched whinny joined in the chorus directly behind the house, perhaps 40 yards away. I kept each whinnying for a minute or so then stopped, not wanting to disturb them further. The owl behind the house moved to the south and was heard close to the pond. The other owl fell silent. I decided to leave them be and walked back to the front door listening to the lonely call of the screech owl near the pond. I'll stay out of their lives for a few weeks, but I'm sure I'll feel the urge to talk with my neighbors again in the future.

On the Visitor Center

I stopped at Canoe Creek State Park and helped set up an activity for tomorrow at the visitor center. Heidi, the environmental educator, pointed out a roosting bat behind the light outside of the door. After we were done, I walked around the outside of the building looking for other animals coming up with a woolly bear caterpillar, an assasin bug, and the bat. All these animals are preparing for winter in their own way. Woolly bear caterpillars are the folk weather forecasters with cinnamon red and black stripes. The caterpillars find a safe place to overwinter - under rocks, in the leaf litter, and in logs. In the spring, they'll spin their coccoons and Isabela tiger moths will emerge. This woolly bear will hopefully be moving to more sheltered location for the winter. The assasin bug pictured here is one I frequently find in my own house. These overwinter in the cracks and crevices of houses, in rocky areas, and other sheltered spots. Known for their predatory behavior, these Hemipterans are quite adept at stalking prey. Their piercing sucking mouth part acts as a tube that exudes digestive juices and ingests the soupy nutrition it creates. Assassin bug is more of a general term, applying to some 3,000 species. The bat, probably a little brown, has found safety for today. I hope after a good day's rest this bat moves to a sheltered cave or some warmer abode. Temperatures are dropping into the 30s tonight.

Thoughts on Tomatoes

I planted a garden this year and I am having more success than last year, but not great success. The key to my progress this year is a fence. The deer haven't eaten my tomatoes. But, I still have a ways to go. My tomatoes grew fine, and I now have red ripe cherry tomatoes and some good canning tomatoes. But now my tomato plants' leaves are turning brown and shriveling up. It starts from the lowest leaves and is working its way up. Maybe the roots are too warm. I'm going to shake off the mulch and pull up the plastic under the mulch tomorrow. Then there are the zucchini plants. I have small zucchinis developing, but the first ones produced were eaten on the vine. Not the entire zucchini, just chunks taken out of it. Then there are (were) the beans and peppers. I planted them. The beans never came up and the peppers were eaten by an insect that I couldn't find to identify.

Thank God for the grocery store.

Summer is Coming

This week has seen cooler temperatures and changes in the bird calls, animal behaviors and blooming flowers. Most notably, no turtles have been seen laying eggs in a week. Walking past the gravel bank reveals no new digs or disturbances that I can see. The page is turning. Many of the birds have nested and the fledglings have moved out into the wide world. Mourning doves that can barely fly, tree swallow fledglings, robins, and chipping sparrow fledglings have been seen repeatedly. We have been without rain for five days, too. Until last night. A good soaker dropped up to an inch and a half of rain on the area. A rather tall white flower has emerged along the roads and is now blooming in the yard. I hope to look it up when I go inside. Tonight, as I sit on the porch writing this, spring peepers are peeping again. Earlier I heard a toad trilling. The vernal pool along the dirt road is full again. I won't be mowing the trail through the wet meadow anytime soon.

I've been teaching 2nd through 4th graders about "Creepy Crawlies" - the overlooked and often feared spiders, insects, crustaceans, worms, slugs, and millipedes. In my quest for course materials, I found two lovely lady dobson flies near my porch light. The rich browns and delicate wings were lovely, but those formidable-looking mouthparts made me pause when I caught them. The cold has kept the ladybug invasion down, but as I sit here, I am seeing the lady bugs rising from the grass and flying about. I hope the next week brings their numbers up and we can get the "Christmas tree effect" we had last year.

Lightning Bugs Appearing

I noticed the first one two weeks ago, I believe it was June 3rd. Just a little yellow-green light in the unmowed grass near my flower bed. I saw several others that night. Over the past two weeks, their numbers and flights have increased, with most activity occurring after a rain on warm and humid evenings. I was hoping for more activity, but I haven't had the chance to see the trees light up like Christmas trees as they did last year. I'll keep looking.

I read in an article in the Clearfield Progress newspaper that lightning bugs are declining in some areas. In addition to beetle pesticides killing off the larva, keeping grass short can cause them problems. I'm showing my solidarity with the little night lights by not mowing 2/3 of my property. Viva la luciérnaga.

Egg-citing News From the Reptile World!

The wood turtles are laying eggs! Last week, I stumbled up the bank near the creek and spotted a freshly dug nest. I shifted my gaze a few inches higher, and found the excavator herself - a large female with a carapace length of perhaps eight inches. I left her, and thought her gone for good. Until yesterday.

A stroll down the road to the sight of last week's excavation was productive. As a peered over the guard rail to scan the gravel bank, a female wood turtle - perhaps the same one as last week - had her lower body immersed in a hole in the gravel. I left to tell a neighbor who I thought might be interested in seeing this. Upon our return, he spotted a second turtle five yards away from the first. Both had holes started.

That was around eight in the evening on June 2nd. Today, June 3rd, I found the turtles still digging, but at different locations at nine in the morning. The orange legs and torso, the slatey green-brown backs, and the pyramidal concentric rings were clearly evident. I took some pictures and left the ladies to do their thing undisturbed.

Researching these turtles has reminded me of some of the amazing attributes of their physical construction, their behaviors, and their life histories. More on those things later.