Walking along a drainage ditch with the dogs, Gretchen saw this interesting turtle:
John S. Quarterman, Gretchen Quarterman,
Brown Dog, Yellow Dog,
Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 June 2012.
Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms.
We think it’s probably a slider turtle, Trachemys scripta, but it’s hard to be sure. We didn’t pick it up, because it appeared to be laying eggs.
The dogs alerted us to something in the woods near the house. Here it was, climbing a branch:
Big slider turtle, Okra Paradise Farms, 10 June 2012
John S. Quarterman, Gretchen Quarterman,
Brown Dog, Yellow Dog,
Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms.
It's a slider turtle, Trachemys scripta. Here it is in corn silk (we'd just been shucking corn):
Continue readingThese are the same longleaf planted in 2008, blogged 10 October 2010, burned a second time 
16 December 2011, and greening and candling again February 2012.
Pictures of Gretchen Quarterman with the planted longleaf (Pinus palustris)
by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 April 2012.
Almost all of them survived the prescribed burn, and many of them are quite tall. The planted little bluestem and big bluestem are also thriving, along with native verbena, and some less savory invasive exotics, including trash along the road. Plus Gretchen’s favorite: dog fennel! And along the fence row cedars, pecans, plums, grapes, wild cherry, and a gopher tortoise. Here’s a flickr slideshow:
Yes, Brown Dog and Yellow Dog found another hog-nosed snake. Hiding:
Boxed:
In hand:
On ground:
Yellow Dog and Brown Dog pointing:
Can you see it there, between the wiregrass and the oak log?
Pictures of a dried lizard by John S. Quarterman, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 September 2011.
-jsq
I pick it up on a hoe. Most snakes it’s more like raking them into the box with the hoe, but this one’s playing dead: Continue reading
Why did the gopher tortoise
cross the road?
Video by John S. Quarterman, Coppage Road, Lowndes County, Georgia, 18 August 2011.
To find a way through the fence.
-jsq
Let’s open it up and see: Continue reading