Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Nursery

Each new season I spend in my woods, I am charmed by the local residents. Last spring a turtle laid her nest of eggs just below a basil plant in my herb bed. I placed a protective fence around the nest, but the little ones never hatched. Too much rain?...too hot?...life with Mother Nature is sometimes  unforgiving.  We are now entering the season of the box turtles.

Yesterday after a long and violent rain I opened the front door in the early morning with coffee in hand and saw this gal making her way toward my hosta bed across my new paver sidewalk.



She was a stunner in colorful beauty. One of the most striking box turtles I have ever seen, a newcomer. 



She has all her parts, which is sometimes not the case for these gentle creatures.

I went back inside and finished some housecleaning and then decided to walk around the house to see if the storm had created any damage. There had been some pretty high winds along with the downpour.   I rounded the corner to my newly created liriope grass bed that lines the side of the garage.  This new bed was part of the work from the changes to the driveway and retaining wall made this spring and gives some grace to what was a grass-less pathway to the water along the garage wall.


I was a little shocked as was this gal when we happened upon each other.  She was a different turtle, more faded in color and a little larger.






I soon realized that she was working on a nest (click on photo below for better view.)  Once again my home has been blessed by its selection as a box turtle nursery. I hope these little ones do better than those from last year.



When I returned an hour later you could not tell that anyone had disturbed the earth. It was perfect!

21 comments:

  1. Awe.....I hope they hatch! pictures when they do!

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  2. how cool. we see them around here all the time after the rain...usually save quite a few a year from the road....of course my boys want to keep them all...the first one is so orange...nice.

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  3. Wow.. they're beauties and it's wonderful that they have chosen your home to raise their young. Hopefully they'll be hatching. Very cool.

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  4. Amazing! Right under your nose. I do hope they succeed.

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  5. your post was so touching, tabor. i loved the thought of turtles being so comfortable with you that they come by the droves just to lay their eggs in your yard...lucky YOU! one great thing about turtles...they can't chase you away from their nests if you decide to poke around a little ;) i can't wait to hear more about them!
    by the way, your paver walkway is gorgeous!!

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  6. That's fun: we have a family of frogs that hang out in the sun on the side of our house by the front door. Not as charasmatic as your turtles though.

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  7. I like the new look of your site. Very nice!

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  8. What beautiful turtles!! And that they have made your garden the nursery is fabulous. I too hope they hatch!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  9. Exciting - I have rescued a few (not as pretty turtles) from Callie. The downside of having this little dog.
    I hope they hatch.

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  10. Oh how neat, Tabor. Hope you have a big family of Box Turtles soon. Don't you just LOVE it???? My bluebirds are still nesting --but I'll bet those babies fledge soon.

    You are right... I hope that all of those 'lurkers' don't leave comments...I have a hard enough time keeping up now... i don't need more blogs to visit...ha..
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  11. Sounds - and looks - delightful. TGhan ks for sharing.

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  12. Thank you so much for these pictures! They are stunning. I love box turtles and could watch them all day. Alas, I now live in an area where there are none.

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  13. Turtles are amazing creatures. Thank you for sharing this!

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  14. Hi Tabor,
    How cool it must be to live where turtles choose your home as their home - fingers crossed for the nestlings!

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  15. Lucky, lucky you!!! :) Their colors are so vivid! We have some BIG turtles here but I haven't seen any like those.

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  16. im just dropping by , and you blog is sooo interesting.. and when the poor little thing was trying to receive her nest i was like Awwww..
    Any way, i really like your blog so i guess i will follow it :D

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  17. And yes mother nature can be cruel!

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  18. and now I'm finally back... what glory!!

    I can't wait to have a look through your posts.
    getting know you.

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  19. You certainly have some fascinating local residents crossing your spiffy new paver sidewalk! Amazingly beautiful detail in their shells and such cute, unassuming faces :)
    How interesting to have turtles laying eggs in your garden. Love your photos, especially the one with the egg. I hope they hatch!
    We had a short, violent rain storm early last evening. I thought the wind would blow our house down, it was so strong. We actually saw some sunshine this afternoon...very welcome, and I hope to see more tomorrow. It's been scarce this week.

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  20. Wow, this post definitely calls for the rest of the story. Keep us posted.

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  21. What a little beauty. What luck to have these little creatures so close at hand to admire. Thanks for sharing.

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Glad to hear from you once again. I really like these visits. Come sit on this log and tell me what you are thinking.