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Common Snapping Turtle
Much to my surprise it just showed up one day on a path behind my cabin. A tiny Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina). They have a reputation as having a combative disposition but this creature was so little I could hardly think of it in those terms. A short distance from where I first saw…
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Pickerel Frog
A pond will attract some fun creatures. Even a small man-made pond. Immediately after the pond at my cabin was put in, frogs began arriving. One species of frog that visits is a Pickerel Frog (Lithobates palustris). A word of caution. The pickerel frog is the only poisonous frog native to the United States. You may…
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Eastern Fence Lizard
A cute little creature that I see climbing on the cinder block foundation of my cabin on occasion. An Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus). With golden eyes that stare back at me wondering what I am. Fence Lizards grow to be between four, and seven and a quarter inches long. Usually females are gradations of…
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Rattlesnake Fern
My apologies if you are creeped out by references to snakes. Rattlesnake Fern is the common name for Botrypus virginianus. Some say the common name comes from it growing in rattlesnake territory. However its range is across all the United States and nearly all of Canada with the exception of its far northern territories. Others…
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Poison Ivy
Poison Ivy, Toxicodendron radicans I’m feeling itchy already just anticipating writing this blog. It was not until I was well into my adult life that I first got a Poison Ivy rash, complete with huge blisters. OH! How very painful it was. Fast forward 30 years or so and I’ve grown to love, or at least…
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A Snake Worth Noting!
Surprise In The Crawlspace A couple weeks ago, as my husband, Bill, and a friend were working in our crawlspace, in an area where one can’t even crawl, they came upon a copperhead. Having snakes in the crawlspace is not unusual and to some degree welcome, since they eat mice that invite themselves in, despite all our…