Female western
pond turtles plod away from their ponds, marshes, and streams
sometime between May and July to lay clutches of 1 to 13 eggs.
Although she may wander more than a mile in search of a suitable
nest site, a female typically buries her eggs in well-drained soil
close to the water's edge.
When the young hatch three to four months later, they head back to the water, where they often end up as snacks for bullfrogs and bass, introduced species whose appetites are tipping various natives toward extinction. Once found throughout most of the state, the turtles are rapidly losing ground to alien species and habitat destruction. A pond turtle spends much of the day basking in the sun and maintaining its body temperature. But the moment it senses a predator coming, the canny creature drops from its log or pondweed perch and disappears under the water. If you hope to see a pond turtle in the wild, get in the habit of sneaking up on bodies of water. Watch for western pond turtles perched on logs in the water in the ponds and channels of the laguna.
Monterey north,
California dutchman's pipe is displaying its odd,
pipe-shaped, cream-colored flowers. It then grows many large
heart-shaped leaves, the exclusive food of
pipevine swallowtail larvae.
Be alert for a glimpse of the stunning, purplish-black adult butterfly. Another striking dark butterfly and one of the earliest to appear in spring is the common mourning cloak, with its dark brown wings edged in yellow. Known as the Camberwell beauty in England, this butterfly relies on cotton-woods, willows, and elms for food.
Dusky-footed
woodrats give birth to litters of one to four young during
winter and spring. Until they are weaned at three weeks, baby
woodrats keep their mouths clamped tightly around their mother's
teats when she's in the nest. That way, if mom needs to make an
emergency exit, she drags the little ones with her. The ranges of
California's four woodrat species virtually blanket the state.
These gentle rodents build large, conical nests of sticks, leaves,
paper, and any other debris they can pull across the ground.
Beneath the sticks, woodrats construct separate chambers for
living, rearing young, storage, and waste. Succeeding generations
of woodrats keep adding to their quarters, which can grow to eight
feet in diameter and the height of an adult. Have you spied a wood
rat nest in the Laguna? According to some, if you've never
seen one of these nests, you haven't been looking. Next time you're
in the hills or woods, peer into the brush and blackberry patches
or around the bases of lightning-hollowed trees for these messy
piles of sticks and twigs.
From Joseph Cornell's Sharing Nature with Children: Flow Learning: making it work for you. "When you introduce people to nature with playful activities that energize body and mind, the high energy that the games develop washes away personal problems and moods. Freed from personal worries, their enthusiasm and attention can flow into new and fascinating experiences."
As docents, the gift we can bring to the children is our questioning, explorative nature and our pure enthusiasm for the discoveries we make together.