New Book Series about a Box Turtle

 

Goldie the Box Turtle books are about my backyard wildlife experiences with an Eastern Box Turtle. Over a two year period, I observed a special turtle travel around the yard. In reviewing old photographs, I confirmed that this particular box turtle has been near my home for at least 7 years!

I've used full page illustrations and original photography of Goldie. These books are written for the preschool through 2nd grade child.

All my books are available at Amazon.com where reader reviews are encouraged. Book link: https://amzn.to/3D3BNC7

Dried American Beautyberry Stalks Feed Wildlife

 

Hermit Thrush in American Beautyberry Bush

I've found that leaving my American Beautyberry bushes intact through the Fall and Winter provides food for wildlife. This is something my "neatnick" gardening friends would never consider. Dried up berries on stalks are untidy looking, but have brought in many birds. Carolina Wrens, Dark-eyed Juncos, Hermit Thrush, White-throated Sparrow, Eastern Bluebird, and Eastern Phoebes are species that I've observed in my backyard. 

By the way, I have about 20 Beautyberry bushes. These include the original 3 given to me by a friend and the other 17 that are spontaneous volunteers "planted" by wildlife. My rural street has the bushes coming up on the roadside as well.

Dark-eyed Junco under Beautyberry Bush

Eastern Phoebe in Beautyberry Bush

Eastern Bluebird in Beautyberry Bush

White-throated Sparrow in Beautyberry Bush

The American Beautyberry is a native plant of the United States.

Tomatoes from Trimmings

 

Some of my tomato plants were growing “Jack and the Beanstalk” style up to the sky. To strengthen the plant, I trimmed the tops off. The aroma of the tomato cuttings was so fragrant, I put them in a water glass on the kitchen counter. Roots emerged a few days later and, after a couple of weeks, I planted those top trims in a pot on the deck. Those plants are over 3 feet tall now, and, more importantly, have 3 beautiful tomatoes on them.

New Book About A Box Turtle!

 

“Goldie The Friendly Box Turtle” is based on my own backyard wildlife experience. Over a two year period, I observed a special Eastern Box Turtle. It was interesting to watch her travel outside my home and learn about box turtle habits. In reviewing old photographs, I confirmed that this particular box turtle has been near my home for at least 7 years!

Young readers will learn about box turtles, and gain an appreciation of nature. I intend for this to be the first of many stories about Goldie.

Available in paperback at Amazon: https://bit.ly/smiling-turtle 

Bird Photography

Eastern Bluebird

When you enjoy bird photography, it's a challenge. Your subjects, the birds, tend to move around a lot. They can be skittish around people. It helps if you have camera equipment that can quickly take a shot from a distance.

Many of my photographs are taken from inside my home, through the window using a Sigma 600 mm telephoto lens on a Canon Rebel T3i DSLR camera. I use a monopod to stabilize the heavy lens. I'm listing the equipment links on Amazon below.

If you click on the link, I may receive affiliate credit. If I do, it will be exciting for me because I have been featuring affiliate links for years and have yet to receive any monetary credit. Oh well. There's my disclaimer, nonetheless.

Do your research and make sure your camera is compatible with any lenses you decide to purchase. Enjoy your bird photography!

The author with her "bird" camera at the NC coast

My telephoto bundle:

Growing Broccoli Sprouts

Growing Broccoli Sprouts

Broccoli sprouts are a good source of sulforaphane- which is believed to have anti-cancer health benefits.

These are the stack trays that I grow my sprouts in. I start the seeds in these trays in a kitchen cabinet. After 3 days growth, I move the stack to a countertop that receives indirect sunlight.

Below are the links for the growing containers and seeds. If you click on the links, I may realize a few cents for affiliate marketing promotions. Thanks!

My Favorite Things: Garden Tools

My Favorite Things: Garden Tools

The Ironic Birdwatching Trip

Hundreds of Tundra Swans Gather in a Field

We set out to visit one of the largest natural inland lakes in NC: Lake Phelps at Pettigrew State Park. For a few months in winter, tundra swans migrate to eastern lakes in NC. In previous years, we had seen the swans at Lake Mattamuskeet and wanted to explore a new place.


Very much like Lake Mattamuskeet, Lake Phelps is in sparsely populated farmland. It was such a disappointment that no swans were sighted.


We drove to Elizabeth City along the Pasquotank River in Albemarle Sound for evening plans. Here a few seagulls squawked along the waterfront.

Waterfront View at Elizabeth City NC

As the day’s light was fading I suggested we stretch our legs at a local Walmart Supercenter. It looked like this newly developed commercial area might provide interesting options for dinner.


As we approached the shopping center adjacent to a highway, we could see huge farm fields resting after recent cultivation. In the background were slowly rotating giant wind turbines. 

My husband spotted the white shapes first. As we sat at a traffic light our hopes soared. These birds were way too large from this distance to be seagulls. We had found the Tundra Swans - not at a lake, but at fields next to a Walmart.


Sadly my cameras were back at the hotel. Even so we enjoyed the sounds of hundreds of gathering birds as light faded. The next morning we returned to take photos. Our proximity to the swans was limited. They were in sodden fields without road access. Still it was a thrill to watch the landing flocks and hear the chattering between birds.

Author Videotaping Birds with Osmo Mobile 3 and iPhone 8

Nearby rainwater retention ponds provided sightings of Mallards, Red-winged Blackbirds, a Meadowlark, and Canada Geese.

Mallard Couple at Rainwater Retention Pond

Ironically a visit to a wildlife area was a bust but a last-minute side trip to a shopping area provided an exhilarating birding experience.

Disclaimer: If you click on the Amazon link for the gimbal kit, I may receive a few cents for driving traffic to the retailer. Thanks for your interest!
My review of the DJI Osmo Mobile 3 is here: http://bit.ly/GimbalForMobilePhone

My Favorite Things: Bird Feeders

Bird Watching 

The Droll Yankee Dipper (link above) is an excellent bird feeder that keeps squirrels from raiding your feeder. The bird perches collapse with the weight of the squirrel and they drop to the ground. This version of squirrel-proof feeders does not require a battery because it is entirely mechanical. I've had my Yankee Dipper feeder for 2 years.

I also own the Yankee Whipper (link below) with the circular bird perch. The weight of the squirrel causes the perch to spin and throw the squirrel off. I prefer the Dipper model that does not require recharging a battery. I have owned this model for 10 years.




A new purchase for me is the Droll Yankee brush for cleaning these long, tubular bird feeders. It really makes a difference to have the right tool for the job! This 24 inch brush is high quality and Made in the USA. It reaches all the way to the bottom of the feeder insides and leaves the plexiglass sparkling! (The link is below.)



If you would like to see my bird photography, I post on Twitter @gopamnc. My tweets are optimized for social media and include retweets of good Twitter bird photography. My portfolio-quality photography can be found on iStock/ Getty Images at: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/pam-schodt .



Affiliate Disclaimer: The links to my favorite things are items that I have purchased and am recommending. If you use the links on this blog post, I may receive a few cents for directing traffic to Amazon webpages.

A Big Tomato Harvest after a Wet August

Fresh Harvest of Cherry Tomatoes

We had a lot of rain in the last 30 days. 8-10 inches in fact. My gardening friend quoted "17 inches in 16 days" so results vary. The good or the bad part of it, depending on your perspective, is most of the rain would fall overnight. There was no progress made on indoor projects. I remained outdoors mucking around wet grass and picking over-plump tomatoes.

Eggplant with Garlic Sauce

Vegetables

Tomatoes were splitting with the excessive rain, but mostly edible. I harvested a nice bunch of eggplant to make my eggplant with garlic side dish. The eggplants are small, about 6 inches long, but I'm happy to have them. It looks like another group will be ready for a September harvest.

Tomato Harvest

Tomato and Eggplant Garden

Tomato Plants

The jalapeños are plentiful. My summer's first serving of jalapeno poppers were so intensely hot, however, it scared us away from one of our favorite dishes.

Pests

Hornworm Eating Green Tomato

There was an uptick in hornworm and other caterpillar activity on the tomatoes. This is a challenging game of trying to spot the very well-camouflaged worm on the plant. Clues are a stripped stem or a chewed green tomato (see photo) or waste material on leaves.

False Dragonhead Flower

Flowers in bloom

The late summer flowers are starting to bloom now. A couple of days ago, the first False Dragonhead bloomed. When several of these bloom together, the color impact of the purple is amazing.

Crape Myrtle Tree in Bloom

The flowers on the Crape Myrtle tree are a deep pink or fuchsia color. The tree has been allowed to grow tall so that the blooms are at the second story windows. Cleomes have finished blooming and I've collected seeds.

American Beautyberry

The American Beautyberry is known more for its purple berries than flowers. The green berries are starting to change to a dramatic purple.

Coming Up Everywhere

Wind and birds have reseeded several plants across the yard.  Lemon Balm, Crape Myrtle, and American Beautyberry plants are popping up everywhere.

☔

I hope you are having a great August! You can find rainfall totals for U.S. locations here.

The Joy of Gray Tree Frogs

Juvenile Gray Tree Frog

Top View: Gray Tree Frog

I never gave the little gray frogs clinging to the underside of our pool much thought. They were tucked into themselves trying to sleep and save energy for the coming night's insect hunt.

Tadpoles at 5 weeks

All that changed when I rescued frog eggs from rainwater collected in the pool cover. For the next 3 months, I raised tadpoles to frogs. If you're interested in my tadpole blog post it can be found here.

Newly Emerged Froglet on Lemon Balm Plant

Gray tree frogs are nocturnal. During the day, I have found them resting on a shaded water faucet, on a sunflower branch, or above the water line at the pool. At night we have seen them on a window waiting for insects attracted to the indoor light. 

New Froglet Appearing Green on Leaf

Color

Gray Tree Frogs can appear whitish gray, greenish white, green, or brown. The froglets climbing out of my tadpole habitat were dark brown. After several hours, the one frog that stayed around turned green. This camouflaged him with the leaf he rested on. The adults that rest above the water line around the pool appear white. The juvenile I found poolside was a greenish white. The frogs on the window hunting after dark are green.

Gray Tree Frog Looking Green

Gray tree frogs or H. versicolor are able to camouflage themselves with their surroundings. The dark froglet emerging from my habitat looked like a mud speck on the black plastic habitat container. The poolside frogs are white-gray and blend into the pool liner that has a white and blue design.


Tadpoles

Gray Tree Frog tadpoles living in nature with predators can develop a red tail. This bright tail helps them survive. Of course my tadpoles were safe and had normal tails.

A few of my observations on raising tadpoles were:

• They would not eat mosquito larvae.
• Some mortality was due to cannibalism.
• They preferred dried worms to fresh.

The tadpole project was long, but enjoyable. These are great little frogs! I was happy to assist the 19 tadpoles that developed into frogs.

More information on the red tails: http://mister-toad.com/photos/frog/gray-treefrog-tadpole-01.html

Spelling: Tree frog or treefrog?

Treefrog can be spelled as one word or split up: tree frog. While searching the internet for information, I concluded that about half the websites spell it tree frog and half the other way.

Lots of Green Tomatoes in my July Garden

Cherry Tomatoes on Patio Plant

 Vegetable Garden

Since I planted tomatoes and peppers late this year, July presents itself with lots of green tomatoes. I have bunches of cherry tomatoes growing in containers on the deck. Massive caged tomato plants are along the back of the house. Small eggplants have started in this area also. I hope to get good eggplant produce, but recent years have been plagued with the opposite. In the past, aphids have overrun the eggplant so I aggressively treated these with a soap solution this year.

Cherry Tomato Plants Thrive on Deck

Tomato Plants off the Deck

Across the yard in the traditional vegetable garden, the yellow and zucchini squash are battling with the insects. Jalapeno peppers are producing great, but the green pepper plants are off to a slow start. Several of these plants died after bugs ate most of the leaves..

It is interesting that my zucchini, which has always been a stalwart of the garden, has not produced a single fruit. I photographed the beginnings of one, but haven't seen anything since. The squash bugs have been around for a couple months and I haven't had the heart to use a pesticide. The store-bought yellow squash plants are producing in small numbers.

We're making plans to rest this garden area next year. Because of back problems, I'm to avoid bending, and weeds and grasses have taken over.

Japanese Beetles on Eggplant Leaves

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly on Butterfly Bush Flower

Flowers in Bloom

The Butterfly Bushes are smelling great and attracting many skippers and swallowtail butterflies. The Hibiscus is blooming and attracting bumble bees. Stargazer lilies continue to bloom.

Hibiscus in Bloom

Pests

Japanese Beetles are numerous this year. In the past, they have destroyed Hibiscus blooms and Azalea leaves with their relentless appetites. This year, my gardener neighbors and I have noticed the diversity of plants being attacked by this pest. Butterfly Bush blooms, Crape Myrtle leaves, Strawberry leaves, Cleome blooms, and Asparagus ferns are now on the menu. I collect the clumsy beetles in jars of soap water. It's a chore that can go on all day. It seems I will have to treat the yard in the spring to curb the beetle infestation.

Sedum Showing Leaf Damage

The mystery pest of the month has attacked the sedum growing in the front yard. The leaves have been partially removed down the stem in "corn cob" fashion. Is it insect or is it animal?

Thanks for reading my blog post! I hope your gardening is going well. All the best, Pam

Mother of Tadpoles

While we were out of town in May, some rainwater accumulated on the pool cover and frogs laid eggs. Before draining the cover, I scooped up the eggs in a couple of large plastic cups.

The next day I had two cups of tadpoles! This began my job as "Mother of Tadpoles."

Tree Frog

Frogs and toads throughout the world are fighting a deadly chytrid fungus. Anytime I have the opportunity to save a frog or two I pitch in. Because my family had seen tree frogs around the pool, our guess was that these were Gray Tree Frog tadpoles.

I set up a habitat in a rectangular plastic bin and placed it under a deck canopy for shade. A couple of large rocks and floated grasses provided cover. I had 100 tadpoles.

Tadpole Habitat

Research of tadpole diet listed flies, mosquitoes, worms, and grubs. I thought feeding would be easy because after a few days it became apparent that I was also "Mother of Mosquitoes." Yes, large numbers of mosquito larvae were also in the habitat. They swam right in front of the tadpoles without fear. For good reason. My tadpoles had no interest in eating mosquito larvae.

This latest discovery was upsetting since many diseases are carried by mosquitoes: West Nile Virus and Zika to name a few. Bug bites were common enough without me adding to the mosquito population.

I cut a piece of screen and covered the habitat. In this way, I could prevent more mosquito eggs from being laid in the habitat. It would also keep the mature mosquitoes from escaping. If I was lucky, the tadpoles would have an appetite for mature mosquitoes. Unfortunately, the screen obscured the view and enjoyment of the tadpole habitat.

Screen obscures view of habitat but keeps mosquitoes out

Early on I learned that the tadpoles would eat pill bugs and earthworms. They preferred this "food" to decompose for a couple of days before eating.

Process of Straining Out Mosquito Larvae

Close Up of Tadpoles

After 3 weeks, I strained out the tadpoles to remove the mosquito larvae. This reduced the mosquito larvae by 75%. The latest count was about 50 tadpoles.

As the weeks slowly passed ( it could take 4-8 weeks for the frogs to develop), I maintained a schedule of feeding every other day. I added the food in the corner by unclipping the screen to avoid the escape of any mature mosquitoes.  In week 4, I was down to 25 tadpoles. My numbers were down, there were no dead tadpoles floating around so read between the lines. The 25 tadpoles swimming around were getting big and healthy. Yes, they had to be eating other tadpoles. Sad. It was disappointing that they would eat their brothers and sisters, but let mosquito larvae dance right before their eyes.

Tadpoles Week 5

Week 6 - I counted about 20 tadpoles in the habitat without legs.

Week 7 - Tadpoles are pencil eraser size. I am going away for a week. In preparation, I remove the screen and place a log and stick in the habitat. If the tadpoles complete their transition to frogs, they will be able to leave the habitat.

Tadpoles Week 8

Week 8 - I return from vacation and count 10-15 blueberry-sized tadpoles. One tadpole has legs and a long tail. The others are legless but very plump. I am happy that I will see them leave as frogs. The habitat contains mosquito larvae. The growth of these tadpoles is at the 2 month mark. This has been a longer project than I anticipated. I feed the tadpoles earthworms, and replace the screen to keep the mosquitoes in check.

First Frog to Leave Habitat

Exciting news! The afternoon of the day I wrote the Week 8 update above, one of the tadpoles completed its transformation to a frog. It was so small it resembled a dab of mud on the lip of the habitat container. It is very delicate and petite when compared to the tadpoles. I removed the screen for the frog to make its way out of the habitat. It stayed on a log for several hours. Later it moved to a spot on the habitat lip protected by a potted plant. The next morning it was gone. There are around 17 tadpoles left. 2 appear to have legs. The first frog was one day short of 2 months old - two months since it hatched from an egg in a plastic cup!

Cleaning Day

Week 9 - I began the 9th week with a cleaning of the habitat. I used a toy insect net purchased from the Dollar Tree. Each tadpole was carefully scooped up, separated from mosquito larvae, and placed in a temporary holding container. I was happy to discover the population count to be 20 tadpoles with one-third having legs. The next morning a small froglet with a stubby tail had moved out of the water. It seems they will be maturing into frogs very quickly now.

Froglet Resting on Side of Habitat

Tadpole Habitat July 2018

Week 10 - The tadpole count this week was 12. Since tree frogs are nocturnal, it seems that some frogs have been leaving the habitat unobserved. This morning I photographed a very agile froglet scrambling onto a branch. He still has a tail stub, but looks ready to leave. I had to replace the screen cover to discourage mosquitoes. One side of the screen is open to allow frog migration.

Froglet Week 10

After two months of this project, I realize the maturing of my tadpoles will be gradual and might  continue for another two weeks.

Froglet on Lemon Balm Plant Week 11

Week 11 - I checked the habitat each morning and frequently found froglets along the container sides. Since the habitat screen was open to some potted plants on one corner, the frogs could mature to "land" life in the backyard. As before, mosquitoes took the opportunity to lay eggs in the habitat. I spent some time transferring the tadpoles to a clean container and dumping the mosquito larvae. This will probably be the last "big" cleaning I'll need to do. I have 9 tadpoles left and all but 3 of them have legs.

Froglet on Plant Pot

Week 12 - In just a few days, this tadpole project will be 3 months in duration. Over the last two weeks, 1-2 froglets liberated themselves from the tadpole habitat each morning. Only one stayed on a potted plant long enough for photographs. Being Gray Tree Frogs, their instinct is to head for the trees.

For 3 days, I have had only one tadpole left. He was noticeably smaller than the others.  He has not started growing legs, but has a good appetite and is now a normal "pre-froglet" size. I anticipate his metamorphosis will take another 5-7 days.

Treefrog Just After Metamorphosis

Week 13 - The last tadpole didn't make it. He died quietly in the habitat. This has been an interesting project. 3 months passed from the time I collected the tadpole eggs. Out of 100 small tadpoles, 19 made it to the frog stage. I can only guess that mortality in the wild is even higher. It's clear that anytime we have a chance to help a frog survive, we should lend a helping hand. These guys have a tough life as tadpoles with drought and predators.

Juvenile Tree Frog

To read more about Gray Tree Frogs click here.