A Six Month Recap Reflection

January - Finished

February - In Process

March - Finished

April - In Process

May - Not Started

June - Not Started

July - Not Started

That is the harsh if honest recap of my 2011 Stitching Goals Effort.  I'm mostly stymied with "Over One"...turning out to be not my cup of tea.  Rather than throw up my hands and give up entirely, I will continue on...if only to see what the next six months bring!

Earlier this week I managed to creep up on three Western Pond Turtles (Actinemys marmorata) basking on a log.

Western Pond Turtles are an endangered species in Oregon.  The turtles inhabit a variety of aquatic habitats including; ponds, rivers, reservoirs, streams, seasonal wetlands, and flooded gravel pits.  This pond is a flooded gravel pit from a small abandoned quarry.

Not fully aquatic; the turtles may spend part of the year in upland forests.  They prefer to live in areas with large rocks and boulders, and use them to bask in the sun.  This is an important behavior and is crucial for thermal regulation, digestion and other life requirements.  The turtles eat mainly insects, larvae of caddis flies, dragonflies and nymphs.  

They live up to 40 years in the wild, breeding from mid-May to late July with a clutch size of from 1-13 eggs.  The females nest around 50 meters away from the water in short grassy or weedy areas of hard, compacted, clay soil on south or southwest-facing slopes.

Here's a unique photograph!
Two Hummers sitting (almost) side-by-side and not fighting!