Flag Day is celebrated on June 14 to commemorate the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777. Today were was another type of ‘flag’ waving in the wind. A native iris, the Northern Blue Flag is often found at the margins of water. The blossom has large lobes that bees use as landing platforms to attract insects to the nectar glands. This wild iris is also a deer-resistant perennial.
Blue Flag on Flag Day
Today I drove around a turtle (after I took its picture) and discovered it was a turtle which isn’t as common as the painted or snapping turtle. The Blanding’s turtle was removed from Wisconsin’s Threatened list on January 1, 2014 but are still listed as a Species of Special Concern. The destruction of Blanding’s turtle habitat is causing increased turtle mortality in all life stages and roads are also a hazard for them.
The females may travel a mile to their nesting site from about mid-May through early July depending on spring temperatures. Nests are not safe from hungry birds, crows, skunks, foxes, and raccoons. Each clutch, or nest of eggs, contains from 3 to 17 eggs and takes 65 to 90 days to hatch. The Blanding’s turtle takes 17 to 20 years or more to reach maturity and may live over 70 years.
Blanding’s Turtle
The road crossing turtles sometimes get some help from people to get them safely to the other side. but helping little painted turtles are easier to help than snapping turtles with their claws and strong jaws.
Road Crossing Snapper
On the news today, there was a warning about turtles crossing the road to get to their nesting sites because roadway mortality is a major factor in their decline. Their “hide in their shell and wait it out” strategy which has helped them since before the time of dinosaurs doesn’t work so well with fast moving cars and trucks so keep an eye out for the the turtles sharing the road.
Troubled Turtle Times
The color green is showing in the grass, trees and plants like ferns. Ferns first appear in the fossil record about 360 million years ago so they have been around for a long, long time. They may have been around for a long time, but they do disappear in the winter here so it is nice to see them spreading out in the summer again.
Old Ferns
As the rain moved away in the late evening, the sun started to peek out of the clouds just before the sun’s descent approached its setting for the day.
Sunday’s Sky
The birds and ducks are in various stages of nesting as this week I have spotted almost completed empty nests, nest with eggs in (and which parents complained loudly when I got too close), and nests were the parents where making many trips bringing food to the youngsters.
Bluebird Nest
The goldfinches stay around all year, but it is always nice to see the bright yellow color returning on the males during the summer instead of their dull winter feathers. Goldfinches breed later in the season than most in area to insure plants like thistles, produce seeds and nest building materials.
Colorful Goldfinch
This is a nice peaceful beach, but 75 years ago, different beaches were not a tranquil when some 156,000 Allied troops had landed on Normandy’s beaches to attack the German forces on D-Day. Instead of pretty colors reflecting on the sand from a sunset, the D-Day beach landings were bloody as the first waves of landing forces suffering terrible losses.
A Tranquil Beach
I have been seeing a lot of deer tracks in the muddy soil, even some tiny ones, although I haven’t spotted any fawns yet this spring. I did startle a doe the other day as we both were surprised with the encountered but she bounded off a lot faster than I could.
Surprised Deer
