Tell me your nature observations! (bugs, rabbit, bird, beetle)

[uggabugga]

yesterday we had a ton of rain. my wife and i went for a walk after work, and i did a double-take when i saw this big guy.







i picked him up briefly, would guess he weighed 17-20 pounds.

[PAhippo]

wow-he's awesome!

I like turtles.


well, not nearly as interesting as finding a turtle but daisies and buttercups are out. That means June.

[bjh]

Nice turtle pix.

Yesterday pulled up to park and a mockingbird, a robin and a sparrow all hopping around nearby. Why walk when you can hop?

[Almrausch]

I saw in action our chipmunk we nicknamed "Swirl" and he stole my first orange looking medium size tomato. Why did he had to steal the only big one,couldn't he have taken a green one? Every day I looked outside and admired my first produce and now I have to wait longer Also something is chewing on our "Iceberg rosebush" the leaves are young, I am suspecting again a rabbit...never knew they feast on young rose bush leaves My Sandcherry bushes are bare,no leaves left,but I do see new growth just in time for another Smorgasbord feast for the rabbits

[PAhippo]

Saw my 1st lightning bugs last night.

[CraigCreek]

OH, wow, do I have stuff to report! I was in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park last week, and got to see the synchronous fireflies at the Elkmont Campground! The park ran shuttles for several nights and barred everyone else (other than campers) from entering the area, but I went (independently) on the first night after the shuttles ended.

What I saw was spectacular. The fireflies didn't "synchronize" until it was completely dark - around 9:30 p.m. - but then! They filled the forest floors along both sides of a paved path through the woods, and twinkled simultaneously for about six seconds, then turned off for another six seconds, before twinkling again. They were extremely profuse, a bright white color, and absolutely breath-taking. The crowd of several hundred who lined both sides of the path were nearly silent in awe and wonder...one of the great moments.

The other things I saw were not so awe-inspiring: two bear jams and one deer jam in crowded Cade's Cove, an eleven-mile one-way drive through a bucolic valley surrounded by spectacular wooded mountains and containing old cabins, churches, a mill, barns, and other early structures. Cade's Cove is known for its wildlife - but the tourists included some of the dumbest people it's ever been my misfortune to encounter.

Upon spotting the first bear, a yearling cub newly on its own, peacefully grazing in a meadow beside the road, people abandoned their cars in the middle of the bumper-to-bumper traffic, grabbed their small children, and ran up the road to see the bear up close and personal. Ditto with the second encounter, with a perhaps 175-200 pound bear, browsing in the open woods just before the end of the loop road, and not far from the Cade's Cove campground, picnic area, and ranger station. One woman grabbed her two little grandsons (?), ages approximately four and five, and literally ran up the road to get as close to the bear as possible. The bear turned - grandma grabbed the crying five year old, left the four year old boy to his own devises, and rapidly hotfooted it back to her car. But other families with young kids were also getting as close as they could to the bear...who was too close to the campground, etc. for his own safety.

I shouted at a few offenders - "Get in your car! He's dangerous!", etc. - just couldn't help myself when kids were put in danger by their idiotic families - and got some dirty looks for my trouble. I suppose I spoiled their fun...

If this bear had attacked any of his pursuers, he would be trapped and put down. People, think!! Do you want to contribute to a wild animal's completely unnecessary death because you want Junior to see a real, live bear up close?

You just can't educate some people, through the park rangers and management try mightily. I reported both bear sightings at the ranger station, and the latter bear is now scheduled for capture and release in a more remote part of the park. Let's hope this solution works. But meanwhile (preaching to the choir here, no doubt), remember that these are wild animals, not on show for tourists' amusement, that they can run much faster than people, that they can climb trees - and that the Darwin Award candidates are numerous. Don't join them.

I'd rather remember those incredible fireflies, and the respectful silence of those who chose to see them...

[bjh]

Crepe myrtles are in blossom. The magnolia trees are also going full steam. Producing flowers. Those pollinate, darken and fall off. Then a new batch buds and blooms. Did you know the fallen petal of a magnolia blossom smells wonderful?

[Almrausch]

Well I found the culprit who is feasting on my young wild rosebush ..it is a young rabbit. He came this morning through the fence,sat under my young planted maple tree,stretched out,his nose wickling. I gave him a name "Lodengrün". I was calling DH to come and see and how cute..cute turned into a bad ,bad bunny,he hopped over to my bush and bit a branch off and started to have I suppose his breakfast I stepped out barefoot on the soaking wet lawn from all the rain and clapped my hands and chased him back and forth til he vanished under a fence. Until we meet again "Lodengrün"

[bjh]

This afternoon I saw a mockingbird chasing a squirrel into a parking lot. Maybe squirrel tried to get in to the bird's nest. The squirrel ran under cars, but the bird followed and every time the squirrel came out from under the cover of a car the mockingbird chased him, bumping him and squawking. The squirrel had his tail over his back and head, but it didn't stop the bird. He followed the squirrel all over the parking lot.

[uggabugga]

sad nature observation over the weekend. my friend came over and insisted on mowing a tall grassy area behind my house, and ran over a small box turtle