Top Photo: Mating common snapping turtles in the spring create hatchlings for the fall (see below). Snapping turtles have a rough and tumble mating season. The choosing and sorting out of mating partners can be rather violent. But for snapping turtles it’s a necessary part of the process which occurs each spring and summer. Rest comes next for the big males. Snapping turtles leave the water infrequently and for only a very few good reasons (a basking snapping turtle isRead more
Posts filed in: weather
Keeping On Track
Top Photo: Ellerbe Creek Railway – Engineer Michael. A little out of my realm (I’m usually writing about nature), but every now and then you have to celebrate the people who keep the museum running, literally keep the place on track. The Ellerbe Creek Railway has been closed the past few days due to routine maintenance. Our facilities crew has been replacing railroad ties and recalibrating the tracks to ensure they’re safe for you and your family, friends, or entourageRead more
Three Drupe Producers
Top Photo: Japanese apricot (Prunus mume) flower buds. Just a brief reminder that Japanese apricot is about to burst into bloom, thorny olive is fruiting, and American holly still has plenty of fruit left over to satisfy the resident robins, wintering hermit thrushes, and visiting waxwings. Two of these plants are non-natives while the last, American holly, is born and bred. They all produce drupes, fruits that have one central seed surrounded by a fleshy, usually edible, part and skinRead more
Into the Mist
Top Photo: Just outside Into the Mist during summer. Into the Mist is a favorite exhibit for many members, and one-time out of town visitors too. But like all good things, maintenance is sometimes required to keep things going the way they should. Our Outdoor Landscape Environments (OLE) team is working hard to be out with the old and in with the new. As you can see in these photos the grass has been removed, old piping is on theRead more
Shedding, Basking, and Waiting
Top Photo: A green anole in mid-molt. Air bubbles are visible under old, shedding skin of the green anole pictured here. Green anoles may shed as often as once a month, or as infrequently as once annually. They may eat their old shed skin. At first glance, the dragonfly below looks to have three pairs of wings, even four pair. In fact, eastern amberwings have two pairs of wings. The illusion is cause by the translucence of the dragonfly’s wings,Read more
Moon (just a phase its going through)
Top Photo: Nearly full waxing gibbous moon with “V” of double-crested cormorants passing over various lunar mares.* You can’t see it now, it’s heavily overcast and raining, but as I write this, the moon is nearly full, waxing gibbous. On December 7 it will be full and thereafter begins the waning side of its phases until the new moon on the 23rd of the month. Here’s a handful of shots of various phases. Enjoy! *Both cormorants and eagle were photoshoppedRead more
New Arrivals in Wetlands
Top Photo: Paddling out in the wetlands (new wetlands structure coming). If you’ve been out in Explore the Wild lately you may have noticed several new arrivals in and around the Wetlands, a floating walkway, geese, ducks, and a snake. First, the walkway. A new floating walkway across at least part of our wetlands has arrived in sections and is now in the process of being bolted together in Explore the Wild. If you stroll through the area, you mostRead more
Snow
Top Photo: Wetlands with ice and a sprinkling of snow. When it snows here in the Piedmont, it’s always a rush to get out to photograph the uniqueness of the event. It doesn’t snow often and when it does the snow is usually gone within a day or two. Sometimes it’s gone within hours. Snows here are short and sweet. Here’s some photos from this morning (Saturday 1/29/22) before it all disappeared. And finally, three dinosaurs. Enjoy it while itRead more