Turtle, deer, and crows

Yesterday was a good day for wildlife watching at my house. Of course there were the usual birds at the feeders, including hummingbirds, and we've even been lucky enough to get a pair of Painted Buntings again this year. The birdwatching is always good here, but the other animals we see can be pretty special, too.

The turtles that always climb up out of the nearby creek and come into the neighborhood to nest in the sandy soil have been very active this month. Yesterday when Gregg went out to get the mail, he spotted a big female laying eggs in a hole she had dug right beside our mailbox. He came in the house and told me about it, so we stood at our front door and watched her slowly retreat in the direction of the creek when she was done. Then a gang of crows who were around and also watching promptly showed up, dug off the top layer of soil, and ate the eggs. As sad as we were that mama turtle's efforts had been in vain, you can't help but admire the crows' intelligence and cunning. And as I told Gregg, "Crows have to eat, too."

Here's another thing that happened yesterday. Gregg happened to look out of the office window early in the afternoon and saw a young deer walking through our front yard. He/she continued around the house, to the south facing side, and laid down for a while beside the hedges next door. I gently raised the bathroom window and took a photo with my phone.

The deer rested there for a good 30 minutes, only leaving once it started to rain.

First of May

Yesterday I told my husband the naughty rhyme that begins "First of May, first of May..." and he had never heard it before. I can't remember where I first heard it, but it may have been here in blogland. It made him laugh.

Unfortunately May didn't get off to a very good start. I started to feel bad first thing this morning after arriving at work, with a burning, raw feeling developing in my chest along with a cough. I had the nurse take my temperature, and it was slightly elevated, so I left work and came home to take a Covid test. Thankfully, it was negative, but I still feel kind of rough. Body aches, a cough, a slight headache. When I got home this morning I slept for four solid hours, and this was after a full night's sleep. I guess I've picked up some respiratory bug at the school. Fun times! I'm just thankful it's not any worse (or Covid again).

We've been seeing the annual influx of turtles from the creek walking onto our property, probably to lay eggs in the sandy soil. We saw three big ones in our yard on Sunday alone. Poppy is fascinated by them. One was right outside our front door so and I took a short video of Poppy's reaction to it.

We also saw a crow circling around a turtle on our neighbor's property later that day. The turtle kept stretching its head up to watch the crow, and the crow kept landing and creeping nearer and nearer. It was such strange behavior that we Googled it and it turns out that crows will watch for turtles to lay eggs, then come back later to dig them up and eat them! Who would have thought?! I guess this particular turtle knew what was going on, because it kept creeping away until it finally disappeared behind some shrubs. Hopefully if it was a nesting female she was able to hide her stash from predators. But as I told Gregg, "Crows have to eat, too."