eggs

Cardinals Nesting in the Blueberries /  by Todd Henson

Male northern cardinal and blueberries

My folks have several blueberry bushes that some years provide great tasting blueberries and other years are almost completely eaten by wildlife before they’re fully ripe. The best blueberry years are those when there’s netting over the bushes, but sometimes there’s just not enough time to deal with new netting. This year we were trying to put up some make-shift netting, hoping to get some berries, when my father discovered a nest in one of the bushes, which turned out to be the nest of a pair of northern cardinals. And it contained at least three small blue eggs with brown spots, so it was an active nest. Pretty exciting, but also a little disappointing, as we wouldn’t be able to put up netting on that particular bush.

Northern cardinal eggs in a nest

While working around the bushes I took the opportunity to briefly photograph the nest and the eggs, as I’d never seen an active cardinal nest before. But I tried, as much as possible, to stay away from the nest, both so I didn’t disturb it and so I didn’t attract attention to it.

Female northern cardinal reaching for blueberries

Later, after we were finished with the netting, I setup at a distance and photographed some of the activity in the blueberry bushes. Many of the local birds are somewhat used to the presence of people, which makes photographing them much easier. And most years my folks have bird feeders, though this year they don’t as local authorities have recommended taking down all bird feeders because of a bird illness sweeping through the region that they think might be spread faster when birds congregate at feeders. Thankfully, I didn’t see evidence of this illness with these birds.

The female northern cardinal flying between branches

Mmmm, mmmm good! The female northern cardinal feasting on a blueberry

But being used to people, and having such a great food source as a blueberry bush with ripening berries, it was fairly easy to get some interesting photographs of the pair of cardinals. I setup at a bit of a distance from the bushes, right between some raised garden beds where my folks grow vegetables. I watched as the male cardinal sometimes turned to look at me as he heard the camera’s shutter click. And I watched as the female pulled down and ate several blueberries.

Though somewhat exposed up top, from the side the female northern cardinal is difficult to see in her nest

If you’re curious how to tell the male and female apart, look closely at the coloration. The male is a brighter red, whereas the female has some reddish tones to her feathers but is otherwise a duller color, more tan or brown. The dark feathers around the beak of the male are black, but on the female they are closer to gray.

Are you still there? One final look at the male northern cardinal peeking around some branches at me

We were hopeful this might turn into a productive nest but also concerned the cardinals had chosen a poor location. The nest was somewhat exposed up top. And the blueberry bushes, though containing plenty of food for the cardinals, also attracted many other birds and critters. I don’t know that building a nest right in the middle of a local food source for other animals was a good idea. Unfortunately, this did prove true, as several days later my father found the nest empty. I’m hopeful this was early enough in the season that the pair of cardinals found a better location to try again and that perhaps this story, even with the initial losses, had a happy ending.

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Snapping Turtle Hatchling /  by Todd Henson

The first look down on the little Snapping Turtle hatchling.

Snapping Turtles in Virginia dig a nest and lay their eggs in the May to June time frame. Hatchlings emerge from these nests in late August. This year my father and I were very fortunate to stumble upon a lone hatchling at a local park.

We were on our way out of the park, walking along a paved section of trail when we both saw something small on the pavement. It looked like a tiny turtle. I started leaning forward and questioned if it was real. I’d been fooled in the past by little toy animals left on the trail. But this ones eyes occasionally blinked, so we quickly realized it wasn’t a toy.

I only had my wide angle zoom lens (16-35 mm) with me so I bent down very close to the turtle to create a photo from above. Then I got down on my hands and knees to get closer to the turtle’s perspective, which was difficult considering how small it was. At first I placed the lens right in front of the hatchling. All this time it just sat there, only blinking. But after I set the lens in its face it began quickly moving forward, right towards me and the camera. Maybe it saw itself in the lens? Maybe it was just the movement or close proximity that spurred it on.

Good morning, little hatchling. As I lay down in front of the Snapping Turtle it began moving quickly towards me.

I moved beside it then and began creating some profile shots. It was a fairly cloudless day, so the sun was creating strong shadows, as you can see in the first couple photographs. I asked my father to try standing in front of the sun, casting a little shade on the hatchling. This helped eliminate the extreme contrast of sun and shadow, as can be seen in the next couple photos. And who knows, perhaps it also gave this tiny turtle a little respite from the blazing sun.

A profile look at the baby Snapping Turtle as it quickly moved along the pavement. We shaded it from the sun for a bit.

We encountered the Snapping Turtle on pavement, but it was very close to the edge of the wetlands. So my father and I stayed with the turtle, letting it move on its own, but walking beside it until it left the pavement and moved past a small fence line closer to the water. There were a number of folks walking the trail, some with pets, some jogging, others with baby strollers. We didn’t want anyone to inadvertently crush the baby turtle. Hatchlings odds of survival are fairly low, but hopefully we increased its chances just a bit that day.

I created my favorite photograph of the Snapping Turtle hatchling after it left the pavement and rested in a more natural environment.

After escorting the hatchling off the trail we started looking around for other hatchlings. We didn’t see any, but very close by we did find the remains of one or more nests with scattered egg fragments. It appeared at least one of these nests had been dug up by something, perhaps a fox, coyote, or raccoon. There was an interesting smell right at the nest site, but I’ve no clue if that was turtle, predator, or something else entirely.

A look at a Snapping Turtle nest with shell fragments scattered around. It appears something may have dug up the nest.

Another look at the Snapping Turtle nest area, where a hole has been dug in the upper right, likely by a predator. Egg shell fragments are scattered about in front of the hole.

The nests were located in a very small stretch of land between the pavement (newly laid) and a black fabric fence to separate the construction area from the woods beyond. A thin layer of straw had been laid on the ground to encourage grass to grow. The nests appear to have hatched after this. I’m curious when the nests were dug, whether construction had yet begun or had it already completed?

A wider view of what might be multiple Snapping Turtle nests. You can see holes and shells at the bottom, around the middle, and again near the top.

This photo shows the interesting location of the Snapping Turtle nests. The paved trails is on the left. On the right is a fabric construction tarp separating the trail construction area from the woods beyond. Straw has been laid on the ground to encourage grass to grow. The nests in this photo extend from the middle towards the upper right of the image.

Finding this little Snapping Turtle hatchling brought back memories of growing up in Massachusetts near a river where each year we’d find lots of baby turtles crossing the road between the housing area and the hill leading down to the river. I very much enjoyed getting to see this sight again, even if it was just a single hatchling. Who knows, perhaps we’ll see more next year. I’ll certainly keep my eyes open for them.

To learn more about Snapping Turtles, especially in Virginia, head over to the Virginia Herpetological Society. They have lots of great info on all sorts of reptiles and amphibians in Virginia.

Photography Prints by Todd Henson

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