natureswondersbyclyde

      Two species each of harmless and attractive turtles and snakes, including eastern box turtles, wood turtles, ring-necked snakes and brown snakes, live in and on dead-leaf carpeted woodland floors in the northeastern United States.  These reptiles have characteristics in common in their shared habitat, including having protective scales, and being cold-blooded and camouflaged on forest floors.  They are quiet and secretive to avoid predators, and lay small clutches of eggs in woodland soil.  Some of those leathery-shelled eggs, however, are dug up and eaten by striped skunks and raccoons.       Box turtles and wood turtles belong to different genera of turtles, but their habits are similar in the woods habitat they share.  Habitats mold unrelated creatures living in them into similar beings so those critters can fit into and use those habitats they adapted to for their advantage in continued survival.  Porpoises, which are mammals, and fish are streamlined for life in water.     

      Four stately, fifty-year-old Norway spruce trees border our suburban lawn in New Holland, Pennsylvania.  Although eastern hemlocks and white pines are native to North America and have lovely qualities, my favorite planted coniferous trees are Norway spruces because they have several beauties, and are tough.      Hemlocks currently suffer from wooly adelgids that slowly kill those pretty trees.  And white pines snap off easily in strong winds.  But the handsome Norway spruces have neither of those problems, or any others that I have noticed.  Therefore, they are good trees to plant on lawns, even though they are not native to North America.         Norway spruces have several beauties.  Their needled limbs gracefully sweep down, out, and up at the tips, looking like half ovals.  Year around, one can hear wind sighing peacefully through their swaying boughs.  And one can smell their wonderful scent in the air.  In winter, snow piles on the needled branches and beige cones hang from

     I celebrate winter solstices because after those "shortest days of the year" periods of daylight per day start getting longer as we go into spring and summer.  But I also enjoy days around summer solstices for their long periods of sunlight each day, when people can be outside longer to enjoy nature's beauties.       Around the summer solstice, the sun rises early every morning in the northeast, passes high overhead through each day and sets late in the evening in the northwest.  Trees and shrubbery, therefore, get sunlight from every direction through each long  summer day, which allows those plants to make and store ample sugar for next year's growth of leaves, flowers and other parts.      The summer and winter solstices are caused by the Earth's listing 23 degrees from upright.  And as the Earth revolves around the sun, the northern and southern hemispheres take turns pointing toward our own star.  When the northern hemisphere points away from the sun, th

      Over the years, as the planted shrubbery, vines and trees grew, adaptable wildlife settled in our neighborhood to raise young, which created enjoyable experiences for us human residents.  Following are some of the highlights of those wild birds and mammals rearing offspring in our neighborhood.      One day early in April a few years ago, I saw a hen mallard duck sneaking out from under a planted bush in our yard.  Suspecting a nest, I waited until she flew away then peeked under that bush to find a clutch of twelve eggs.  The next day, she began setting on her eggs.  I estimated the time of the ducklings' leaving their nursery to the day because it takes 28 days for duck eggs to incubate, and another day for the ducklings to have the strength to leave their cradle.        On the day I estimated the ducklings would leave their nest, I was thrilled to see the hen looking about cautiously from under the shrub.  Then she stepped out and away with a stream of twelve cute, fuzzy d

      Females of all species of turtles, world-wide, lay eggs with leathery, flexible shells in holes they dig themselves in sand, soil or mulch.  There the eggs are incubated by sunshine heating the materials they were laid in.       Turtles in southeastern Pennsylvania where I live, and across much of the eastern United States, including common snapping turtles, eastern painted turtles and eastern box turtles, lay eggs in soil and mulch in June.  And the cute baby turtles hatch about two months later, and are immediately on their own.  Aquatic baby turtles quickly make their way to the safety of a pond or slow waterway where they hide among water vegetation to avoid would-be predators.        As reptiles, turtles are cold-blooded, have scaly skins and descended from an ancient lineage.  They were present on earth before and during the age of dinosaurs, many millions of years ago.  And many turtle species hibernate where winters are cold.       All turtles have unique features, reveal