Turtle Explodes!!!

The turtle pictured to the right is no more. He was a good turtle and did his job well. His job was to fill the pond 3 times a day. Not all that demanding but something the turtle, named Alejandro, did every day when it wasn't freezing.

The story of his demise isn't all that long so I'm going to sate your curiosity.

On Monday evening we were watching the news when the weather man said we were going to have our first "hard freeze." Anyone who has ever lived in cold country and also has a sprinkler system will understand that this means you had best blow the water out of the system or come spring it will be squirting water all over the place. On top of that your anti-siphon thing-a-ma-jig (as in expensive) will probably break from the ice. Anyway, I had to blow out the sprinkler system.

I fired up the compressor and started in zone 1 and worked my way through all the zones. The last chore was to blow out the water line that fed the pond. I blew out the water in the line but wanted to blow out the lines leading to the turtle.

To shorten the story a bit I'll just leave it to say I guess a hundred pounds of air was a bit more than 'ol Al could handle.

The pictures left and below show all that remains of him.

With the water line full of air I opened the valve with the intent of letting the air blow out any water left in the line between the valve and Alejandro. As soon as I opened the valve there was an explosion. Not just a pop like a balloon but this turtle exploded!

BOOM!!

Lucky for me I was about 3 feet away from this, has been, turtle. I looked around to try and see what had happened and I saw the turtles head, internal hose and cute little tail dangling from the water line.

The largest piece of the turtle surviving is what you see in these pictures. I think most of him is now residing at the bottom of the skimmer pond. What I could find were a bunch pieces of the turtle no larger than about an inch.

I decided to do my own investigation as to why Alejandro blew up. It wasn't all that hard with his shell was out of the way. When the valve was opened the volume of air was such the green hose blew up like a balloon and 'ol Al wasn't up to working under pressure around 100 PSI.

So here's to Alejandro. His service now complete. He just couldn't handle the pressure.

R.I.P.

Coop Stopped By

Coop is actually a Cooper's Hawk. I discussed this marvelous bird last November in this post.  It isn't surprising that nothing has changed but I did get some pictures that I thought I would share. 

This picture (left) I selected because it shows the talons nicely.  The bird is just a marvel to watch.

My thought in providing the picture to the right was to show the contrast between Coop's breast and back.  If you look closely you will see the band near the base of his tail.  Actually there are two bands which is very helpful in identifying the bird.

With a wing spread of around 2 feet, which is rather small me thinks, it still radiates a powerful presence.

Take a few minutes and click on the link above and read about this awesome creature.

The Amazing Walking Stick... The Insect

I was taking out the trash after dinner the other evening and noticed the pictured insect on the window screen.  She (most are anyway so it's a good bet she is in fact a she) is 4 to 5 inches long and a nice light brown, almost a beige.  I was surprised to see her as I thought they only lived in tropical climes.

As usual in preparation to writing this post I checked out Walking Stick Insects on the Internet and found some very interesting facts about them, interesting to me anyway.

There are over 3000 different types of Walking Sticks know to exist.  They come in all sorts of colors, sizes and textures.  Some are plain like the young lady I found and some are hairy, some bumpy.  There has to be a Walking Stick that will appeal to most everyone.  The largest one was measured at 21 inches counting it's legs.

You don't have to worry about them taking a bite out of you as they only eat leaves with one exception.  The exception is when the Walking Sticks molt, they are known to consume the outgrown shell. The eat mostly at night and just hang around the trees and shrubs during the day. 

They aren't defenseless creatures either.  They will sacrifice a leg if necessary and grow a replacement in the next couple of molt cycles.  They also will regurgitate a foul smelling substance and if necessary spit it at the predator who dares to get too close.  I'm happy to report that I experienced none of this when taking it's picture.

Many folks take Walking Sticks as pets.  While interesting for a short time I would think one would tire of them fairly soon as they don't do much.  I suppose they would be good pets if you could teach them to roll over or shake hands.  There are many examples of "imported" creatures creating ecological havoc because they are imported.  Don't add to that problem and be prepared to dispose of the creature properly to protect our environment.

The most interesting thing about Walking Sticks is the female don't need a male to reproduce.  They will lay their eggs (actually they just let them drop to the ground) and when they hatch, up to 3 years later, they will all be females and identical to their mother (clones?).  The female does emit a pheromone to attract males but it sounds to me like that isn't necessary to make babies but the male is necessary to make male offspring.  The eggs have a very hard shell and the hatchling will emerge by opening the shell via a hing they create.

This is a very interesting insect.  I hope you may be inspired to find out more about them.

Fall Flock Stops by for a Bath

A new visitor to the yard caught my eye this past week.  I'm think'n these birds must be on their way south for the winter as I've not seen them in the past.  They are European Starlings and from what I've read about them it seems odd that I haven't seen them before.

This is another of the imported creatures as discussed in this post.  In my efforts to identify the pictured bird I was surprised, when I came across the name Starling, to find pages and pages of blogs and web sites advocating the annihilation of the bird.  It appear the problem with this bird is it builds nests in man made structures, poops and "can overcome buildings," whatever that means. Some say it's the third trashiest bird alive after the pigeon and sparrow.  Glad they haven't met my neighbor or they would be advocating the annihilation of neighbors too. 

There were about 80 birds imported from Europe that were released in New York City's Central Park back in 1890.  These 80 +/- starlings are believed to be the descendants of the more than 200 million birds now making North America their home.  Personally, I would have to consider the possibility of, just maybe, someone importing a few since 1890 to add to the genetic pool.

In my ever so humble opinion the bird is pretty with fairly brilliant coloring even in black and white because the black is very black and the white is very white.  It's about the size of a Robin Red Breast.  I can't speak to it's demeanor but it sure is pretty to look at.  They have different appearances depending on their stage of life... fledgling, non-mating adult and mating adult.  Each stage has different colors and markings.

The starling is related to the Mynah Bird (sometimes spelled Myna).  If you've never seen a Mynah Bird they are quite entertaining in that they can mimic words and sounds similar to a parrot.  I've seen them at pet shops, fairs, circus side shows and have always been entertained and somewhat amazed at the abilities of the Mynah Bird.  I've read reports of starlings mimicking car alarms and sirens. 

One of the noted behaviors of the starling is the large flocks in flight and how they fly and turn creating complex shapes in the sky.  Something maybe even the annihilators might enjoy.

Another member of the starling family is the Grackle.  I first saw Grackles when I lived in Corpus Christi, Texas.  They were in the malls and grocery store parking lots awaiting cars to park.  Once parked they would approach the front of the car and pick off bugs that were smashed onto the car.  They were happy to get the bugs and you didn't even have to give them a tip.

Starlings appear to be adaptable, gregarious and entertaining at least to this observer... of course they don't live in my backyard either.

And Then There Were Two

I often rationalize to myself that if I had a decent camera then I would be able to take decent pictures.  Using my Nikon Cool Pix 4800 (circa 2004) I've managed to get a few great pictures.  For every great picture I luckily snap I take bushel baskets full of pictures that could be used for warnings on current day medicines.  Most pictures wind up in the bit bucket, a few I save just to refresh my memory and fewer still I share with friends and blog readers.  The following pictures would normally be sent to the bit bucket however I doubt if I will be getting a nice SLR digital mega-pixel camera with zoom lens very soon if ever so I present to you the little creature that was first mentioned in this post.

I first noticed this little guy just out of the corner of my eye.  A quick movement that you look to see what it was and then think you must have imagined it.  Finally spotting the mouse was fairly easy.  S/he is fun to watch as I think they are cute and OK to have around so long as they stay outside and away from my stuff.... like where I store my bird seed.

For quite some time I only saw one.  Of course it might have not been the same one but I only saw one. 

Yesterday I saw two!

Let me set the scene.  Near Joe's station are a number of flat stones that I use on both sides of the falls.  There are lots of places where mice and other small creatures can live somewhat sheltered from the elements and safe from larger predators.  The area where these mice were pictured has a space under the flat stones and is also one of the places I put bird seed every morning.  The little guys are protected under the stone and peek their heads out to scarf up a few seeds.  They only do this when they feel safe.  If a bird, large or small, comes near they quickly duck under the stone.  Of course most birds around my pond don't care about no stink'n rodent but the mice seem to take the cautious road.  They're still around so I guess it's working.

So now I have two.  I guess another way to say this is: I used to have a mouse and now I have mice.  The pair do the same thing as the single mouse did and they are still cute.  I just wonder how large their family will become.  These guys are worse than rabbits in the multiplication arena.

So by straining your eyes you can view the single mouse in the first picture and the pair in the second.  If you double click on the pictures you can see the larger and more pixelated original (still a poor picture though).

If, on the other hand, you just can't stand poor photography and/or have already strained your eyes beyond reason and still can't see the damn mouse.  Feel free to send me a nice SLR digital camera with a zoom lens and I'll swap out these pictures post-haste.