Snapper Turtle Crossing

Off and on over the years, on a warm spring day, I get lucky and catch a sighting of the old snapper turtle(s) crossing from the bog over the road to the pond.

In 2010, a turtle crossed on May 7th.  (See blog post May 7, 2010)

In 2016, there were 2 turtles crossing the same day on March 10th.  (see blog post March 20, 2016)

This year, on April 13th, I was pulling in the driveway, and there was a snapper trucking up the yard, headed for the road and pond.

My husband came up and carried it over the road to safety.  Off to the pond it waddled.

We were curious if we could find where it had hibernated all winter. 

Here clearly is the hole, where it had laid and the path from which it emerged from the bog by the vernal pond.

So, from our observations, the turtles move in the spring anytime from March until May, waiting for a warm sunny day.

Designed for Nature

In mid-June, we took part in a garden tour, Designed for Nature, held by the Woman's Farm and Garden Association in partnership with Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve and Audubon, PA. The focus was on showing gardens transitioning to use of native plants and showing creative water management.

Many weeks were spent preparing the gardens, weeding, replacing and filling in plants and adding more natives in corners that were dull.

To explain the history of our journey, I wrote the following:

Die Vogelweide story

Over 10 years ago, after surveying our new home, we decided to increase the habitat for the various animals, birds and insects, with whom we share the land. Already established, the lower meadow and wetlands, abutting a small stream, were filled with goldenrod, sensitive fern, pin oaks, jack in the pulpit, reeds, red maples, willows, and sweet gums. It’s home to a pair of red tailed hawks, crows, raccoons, turtles and even a mink. We’ve added an orchard area with blueberries, pears, plums, peaches and elderberry and we are hoping this year, that the paw paws will take hold. We also planted sycamore, white oak, black gum and red bud trees.

The upper meadow was created by simply staking out an area and stopping the mowing. Within a year, there were junipers, sensitive ferns and hard wood seedlings pushing up. Over the years, and with mowing every 2-3 years, it has evolved with now milkweed, dogbane and goldenrod present, attracting numerous native bees, butterflies, bluebirds, gold finch and fox.  We’ve added a nut corner with pecans and hazelnuts.

For privacy and creating a natural animal pathway, we’ve planted over 50 white pines and other evergreens, enjoyed by rabbits, birds, owls, turkey and fox.

A large fenced vegetable garden was added on the side and also a side garden filled with pollinator plants, such as cardinal flower, witch hazel, nodding onion and iris.

In the more manicured areas around our home, we’ve tucked in lovely natives, such as beauty berry bush, turtle head, iris cristata, clethra, itea, blue false indigo along with winter berry bushes and red twig dogwoods, a black gum, a sweetbay magnolia and a service berry tree.

A vernal pond, up by the ridge, is home to huge old snapping turtles, who migrate each season over the road to a large pond, as well as opossum and raccoon. Ragwort, blue flag iris, golden rod and bayberry have been added to the other natives such as pin oak and walnut and old maple trees and swamp cabbage. Don’t be surprised to see a cooper hawk bathing here on your way out.

A list was compiled of the native plants in various parts of the yard. This is not a complete or comprehensive list, but just a start, that will be continued to be added to as new natives are discovered, especially in the meadow and naturalized areas.

Native Plant List for Designed for Nature Tour 

Vernal pond

Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)

Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)

Pin oak tree (Quercus palustris)

Black walnut tree (Juglans nigra)

Sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum)

Golden ragwort (Packera aurea)*

Blue flag iris (Iris versicolor)*

Bayberry (Morella pensylvanica)*

Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris)*

Upper meadow

Hazelnut or filbert  (Corylus Americana)*

Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum)

Golden rod (Solidago)

Sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

Black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia fulgida)*

Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus)*

Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis)

Riverbirch (Betula nigra)*

Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)*

Lower meadow

Sycamore – (Plantanus occidentalis eastern)*

Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)*

High bush blueberry*

Golden rod (Solidago)

Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium)

Sedges

Red bud tree (Cercis canadensis)*

Willow (Salix alba)*

Sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

Jack in the Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)

Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis)

Black Cherry Tree (Prunus serotina)

Maples (Acer Rubrum)

Side garden

Nodding onion (Allium cernuum)*

Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)*

Dogwood (Cornus)*

Black walnut (Juglans nigra)

White oak (Quercus alba)*

Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis)

Red bud tree (Cercis canadensis)*

Hackberry tree (Celtis occidentalis)*

Itea  (Itea virginica)*

Manicured areas

Turtle head- hot lips (Chelone lyonii ‘Hot Lips’)*

Itea  (Itea virginica)*

Hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos)*

Sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana)*

Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia)*

Forthergilla (Fothergilla x intermedia ‘Blue Shadow’)*

Helianthus

Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Seward’)*

Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)*

Iris (Iris cristata)*

Winterberry hollies (Ilex verticillata)*

Red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea)*

Black gum tree (Nyssa sylvatica)*

Pin oak tree (Quercus palustris)

Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis)*

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)*

Serviceberry Tree (Amelanchier)*

St. John’s Wort (Hypericum x hidcoteense ‘Hidcote’)*

Blue Star (Amsonia ‘Blue Ice’)*

* Planted natives or from seed

Finally, the garden tour date arrived and despite pouring rain for hours, we had a big crowd come through, had a lot of fun, met many wonderful people, received lots of kind comments and encouragement, learned about many more wonderful native plants and even bought a bunch more natives at the end.

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Birdhouses Closed for Business

Before the birds begin making their selection for new birdhouses for the season, we chose this grey, cold, wet day to get the houses cleaned out.

Some interesting finds and observations included:

> One nest had a prominent blue jay feather featured, although it hadn't been used by one:

> Three plumb mice promptly jumped out as we removed the thick nesting material, jumping wildly into the air, practically onto us, but landed in the snow below and scurried away:

Another house, at the top of the property and usually used by bluebirds, had a small, very messy, loosely built nest made of small twigs and moss. It looked like it must have been very uncomfortable for baby birds:

We have never seen this type of nesting materials in this birdhouse before. Perhaps, it was a Carolina Wren's, Northern Mockingbird's, or Great Crested Flycatcher's nest? 

Northern mockingbird nests are composed of a lot of twigs, and seem to resemble the nest we found the best.

(Photo: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/)

As we made our way back to the meadows, we flushed out a very wet Coppers Hawk, who routinely can be seen here, by the vernal pond:

The newest birdhouse hasn't been used recently and was completely free of bird nesting material:

The birdhouses will all be left wide open this year to hopefully break the cycle of house sparrows using them.

Every bird is on their own for the nesting season this year!