Charlie and the Nature Factory [Warning: Stunningly Beautiful Large Photo Images]

bettielee · May 20, 2012

ah, finally I have seen a pimpernel! Remember Watership Down? I sometimes go looking for the flowers/ grasses the bunnies were named after, and the foods they ate.

Gorgeous pictures, everyone.

Susie · May 20, 2012

Gorgeous photos, guys! I'm wondering dear Silver, has anyone guess what MLQB is yet?

Happy week to y'all 'n :Cake:

s too!

heyjude · May 21, 2012

Beautiful, Tepelus!

heyjude · May 21, 2012

So a little bit ago I happened to glance out my window and saw a very confused-looking friend at our front door. I snapped off a picture quickly, but didn't want to take the time to do it right, as he looked mighty unhappy to see me. Fortunately, he is a box(?) turtle and didn't much fight me as I airlifted him to the nearest lake.

heyjude · May 21, 2012

::headdesk::

Sideways and huge.

I swear, it's not sideways on Photobucket. And it's not huge.

Tepelus · May 21, 2012

He's so cute!

swachski · May 21, 2012

Awesome photos, everyone! I especially lurv that Angie Blue one. What an amazing combination of vibrant colors.

Angie · May 21, 2012

heyjude said:
So a little bit ago I happened to glance out my window and saw a very confused-looking friend at our front door. I snapped off a picture quickly, but didn't want to take the time to do it right, as he looked mighty unhappy to see me. Fortunately, he is a box(?) turtle and didn't much fight me as I airlifted him to the nearest lake.

Aw, I love turtles. There's a pond near my mom's house, and the road there has soft gravel shoulders. The turtles like to dig there to lay their eggs...which, unfortunately, results in turtles on the road getting run over by cars. I always pull over and move them off the road when I happen to see one. They probably go right back out there, cussing me in turtle language, but it makes me feel better anyway, LOL!

heyjude · May 21, 2012

Angie said:
Aw, I love turtles. There's a pond near my mom's house, and the road there has soft gravel shoulders. The turtles like to dig there to lay their eggs...which, unfortunately, results in turtles on the road getting run over by cars. I always pull over and move them off the road when I happen to see one. They probably go right back out there, cussing me in turtle language, but it makes me feel better anyway, LOL!

That's sweet of you.

I spend more of my free time than I'd care to admit getting turtles safely across the road.

cray · May 21, 2012

heyjude said:
So a little bit ago I happened to glance out my window and saw a very confused-looking friend at our front door. I snapped off a picture quickly, but didn't want to take the time to do it right, as he looked mighty unhappy to see me. Fortunately, he is a box(?) turtle and didn't much fight me as I airlifted him to the nearest lake.

i can't believe you'd drowned a poor innocent box turtle for trespassing!

heyjude · May 21, 2012

SRSLY?

I have no idea. I put him on the bank, not in the water, though.

Oy. That poor turtle. He's probably been eaten by a gator by now.

NO WAIT! He had pond scum all over him. Surely that meant he was in the water.

Oy.

cray · May 21, 2012

maybe it was regular scum. :Shrug:

heyjude · May 21, 2012

No, no, it was pond scum.

I dated a lot before I got married; I know from scum.

cray · May 21, 2012

you win.

Tepelus · May 21, 2012

I'm beginning to think he isn't a box turtle. I think he may be a cooter.

heyjude · May 21, 2012

Okay. He definitely wasn't a gopher or red eared slider. Or a soft-shell. ::shudder:: Those guys are angry.

Wicked · May 21, 2012

I'm not very familiar with the native turtles of Florida, but that looks a lot like a Western Painted turtle. We have plenty of them here, but I don't think they should be that far South, unless he's a pet that slipped out of someone's backyard.

The Western Painted keeps the orange coloring on the underside of the shell.

Silver King · May 21, 2012

Tepelus said:
...I think he may be a cooter.

That's what he looks like to me as well, in this case a Florida red-bellied cooter.

heyjude said:
Okay. He definitely wasn't a gopher or red eared slider. Or a soft-shell. ::shudder:: Those guys are angry.

Did someone say soft-shelled turtle?

This big female was busy digging a nest when I happened along and took a few quick shots. They are the fastest turtle on land, as well as one of the most aggressive, so I didn't stick around for long:

I went back to check on the nest a couple of days later and found that it had been raided, with broken eggs and their shells strewn all about. The nest itself appeared to have been repaired, though, with most of the earth put back into place; so perhaps, if there are any eggs left, the turtle was able to salvage the brood chamber.

Tepelus · May 22, 2012

Poor turtle eggs. Hopefully some of her eggs will survive and hatch. Probably a raccoon or something got to them.

AbielleRose · May 22, 2012

Wicked said:
I'm not very familiar with the native turtles of Florida, but that looks a lot like a Western Painted turtle. We have plenty of them here, but I don't think they should be that far South, unless he's a pet that slipped out of someone's backyard.

The Western Painted keeps the orange coloring on the underside of the shell.

We have those here, too, and from what I remember from childhood (we had one who kept coming back to our yard) they're pretty easy going. The one who kept coming back would let us play with him and was very patient for a wild animal. I think we named him Bill, but I was only about 7 or 8 at the time so its hard to remember.

Gosh, I think of all the baby birds I brought home as a kid and hid in my room and feel so bad now. As a kid you don't understand how delicate they are and how their moms will probably come back for them or panic when they can't find them. Its sad seeing a nest, bird, turtle or whatever else, disrupted.

swachski · May 22, 2012

Silver King said:

I'm trying to appreciate the beauty of this thing.....

...nope, not happening.

heyjude · May 22, 2012

Aw, he's beautiful. Just very, very grumpy.

AbielleRose · May 22, 2012

*is a little scared to travel to Florida after seeing, not the gators and mean turtles... but the giant bugs and creepy little lizards*

heyjude · May 22, 2012

Aw, the lizards are super cute!

Silver King · May 22, 2012

swachski said:
I'm trying to appreciate the beauty of this thing.....

...nope, not happening.

You'd have to look hard, as the true beauty of the beast is in its ugliness.

More moorhens. Note how one of the chicks is following its mom extremely close:

Later, one of them falls well behind the group:

The mom turned back to retrieve the straggler and gave it all kinds of hell for slowing their progress:

Charlie and the Nature Factory [Warning: Stunningly Beautiful Large Photo Images]

I'm a sparkly fairy princess!

Thanks, special friend for my avi!

Making my own sunshine

Making my own sunshine

Making my own sunshine

And so...

checking the 'reset' box

Shaddup and lemme think.

Making my own sunshine

Superior Life form

Making my own sunshine

Superior Life form

Making my own sunshine

Superior Life form

And so...

Making my own sunshine

Outcast Rogue

Megalops Erectus

And so...

Crazy Cat Lady

checking the 'reset' box

Making my own sunshine

Crazy Cat Lady

Making my own sunshine

Megalops Erectus