 Years ago, when pheasants were abundant, remember whacking a hen, with the mower conditioner in our alfalfa, but saved the chicks and raised them. Machinery is tough on the critters, but I play fair, I'll get out of the seat to move so much as a toad if I see one, I won't go out of my way to hit the target, like some people do when they see a turtle on the road. It's funny while mowing, everything heads for the uncut stuff, get's smaller and smaller as you go around, then everything makes a break for it, rabbits, frogs, mice etc..... then the clean up crew comes by, crows, hawks, darn crow was just tormenting a cornsnake one time, had to go break that one up, they eat a lot of mice. Speaking of those turtles, the commonly found painted turtles here have been a source of an interesting friendship since a kid, we have what was 23 acres of marsh, now a pond, they came out starting May 26th to lay their eggs, and for a few days after, then you might see one or 2. It's funny how I noticed they seem to do this on the exact same day each year, and or darn close, and within feet of the last nest. So you can avoid them for the most part. The photo above is of one that literally came klunking in on the concrete floor around 9:30 P.M. last Sunday night after laying eggs, right up to where I was sitting at my desk in the garage, ( door was up ). Had some mud on the rear fender LOL. Must have been late, she lost her way, needed to stop at the help desk. I'm sitting there, hearing this soft clunking in the dark beyond my desklamp, thinking someone is foolin with me, had no clue what it was. Somehow they know where the best sunny spots are to lay the eggs and certainly know how to get back to the water. A few of us raise them every year as a hobby, and release them after they grow a bit. It's amazing that after the skunks get most of their nests eat their eggs and even if they do make it, they actually make it to the water and don't get eaten up. Long way for a little critter to get to the water. With all the rain, the skunks won't get any this year, the scent is gone. Then the weather gets em, it was so warm this winter, some of them decided to dig out early ( they usually winter over after hatching ) and then got caught in the cold and died. Had it stayed cold, never would have happened, bizzare to find dead hatchlings in January.
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