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Monday, June 23, 2014

Three Rabbits and a Turtle

This morning I encountered the same three rabbits that I saw the other day. They behaved in pretty much the same way as before, though I approached them a little differently. When they first scattered, I didn't notice the tiny one. So I went after the two big ones right away. And this time the bigger of the two thought it would start that slow chase first.


However, when I finished with the first rabbit, I noticed that the other one was still lingering and watching.


Once the smaller of the two rabbits had disappeared, I decided to go check by the pine tree where I has seen the tiny rabbit last time. Even though I had not seen it run for cover this time, I had a hunch that it would go there, because there is something a little predictable to this rabbit behavior.


Sure enough, the tiny rabbit was there. When I first spotted it, it was chewing on grass, unconcerned, even though it must have seen me. But as I got closer, as usual, it ran away.


As if those were not enough wildlife sightings for the morning, after I went back inside I saw a three-toed box turtle going for a stroll on my sidewalk. I could see him clearly through the window of my front door. Now why would a turtle choose the sidewalk, which is made of cement, over the green grass of the overgrown lawn?


I immediately set out to investigate. The turtle looked familiar, and I must have seemed familiar, too, for it was not nearly as shy as one might have expected.


It was hard to get a really good shot that was centered, because by the time I did that, the legs had been retracted.




Eventually, walking away seemed like the best option, and so the turtle went off on his own, abandoning the sidewalk and disappearing into the grass.


I love to watch turtles walk, so I followed at a discreet distance.


When they are walking they show how very long their neck is, with their head held high/


Is this a new turtle who just happened to be friendly? Or are the animals on my property getting used to me?

5 comments:

  1. Maybe the turtle likes the ease of walking on the sidewalk? I remember when I was going to college how the crows on our campus loved to eat the food that lazy students somehow could never make into the trash can. They especially loved french fries and chicken rice bowls. Funny how yesterday the crows on my walk have to look for their prey in nature, but who knows, maybe some of those same crows make it over to residential and business areas where trash is left out. I heard about a group of crows that love to eat avocados that have rotted and dropped from one person's tree. I wish I had that avocado tree because I would not be letting the avocados rot, but lucky crows I guess.

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    1. Crows are very smart, Julia, so they are versatile enough to take advantage of different situations. I guess those avocados are not going to waste, as long as the crows enjoy them.

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  2. Update: My friend Pam just helped me to identify the turtle. It is the same very old male as in this post:

    http://notesfromthepens.blogspot.com/2014/06/stages-in-life-cycle-how-old-is-that.html

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  3. Sounds like your habitat is absolutely perfect for turtles, Aya! Wow, you really have a lot of them.

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    1. Thanks, Kathy. I do have plenty of turtles. But it's important not to count the same one twice. This is a repeat sighting of a male three-toed box turtle that I met in a different location earlier this month.
      He is probably over fifty years old.

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