Nature Notes from Earthshine
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Summer 2008
NEW!! Sign up for the Earthshine Nature Notes and Turtle Tracks Newsletter and receive regular email updates on all of the nature related events at Earthshine as well as updates on the status of the turtles in the Turtle Tracks research project...as well as turtle and wildlife news and trivia from around the world! Newsletters will be in the form of a periodic email so sign up now!
Check out this huge hornet nest we found over near the garden! It is one of the largest we have ever seen--about 2 feet long!! Lucky for the inhabitants of the nest it is not in an area frequented by lodge guests so we have decided to leave it so the land can benefit from the beneficial--although well armed--insects that call the nest home.
Gray Foxes Having Fun!
We have had some fox problems for a couple of years due to the chickens and ducks being easy pickins' so the chickens are stuck in the coop until the fox kits go off on their own. The ducks however occasionally loose out to the sly and sneaky foxes. Check out the photos below of a fox family feasting on a duck one of the parents had killed.
Many folks don't like foxes because they kill domestic chickens and ducks but foxes are doing what foxes do best--hunting small game. Domestic chickens and ducks are especially easy to catch because they have lost much of their natural instinct for survival so I ask you, if you were a fox what would you do if someone placed a fat, grain fed, easy to catch chicken or duck meal in front of you? Would you eat it or go try to catch something you had to work hard to hunt for catch and kill? For the predator the easy meal always wins out because it requires less energy and less work for a higher reward--seems like common sense to me.
Steve with a Pawpaw fruit from a friend's tree! The Pawpaw produces the largest edible native fruit in North America and was cultivated by the Cherokee and other Native Americans. Soon, Earthshine will have it's own Pawpaw patch!!
When ripe, the Pawpaw has a custard-like texture and tastes like a cross between Banana and Mango.
They are wonderful straight from the tree but also make great ice cream!
Hopefully in the future you will be able to pick a Pawpaw from the Earthshine Pawpaw patch! Check out this new video of a Pawpaw patch I found!
Nature Notes Page Eight
CLICK HERE FOR HOMEPAGE
Summer 2008
NEW!! Sign up for the Earthshine Nature Notes and Turtle Tracks Newsletter and receive regular email updates on all of the nature related events at Earthshine as well as updates on the status of the turtles in the Turtle Tracks research project...as well as turtle and wildlife news and trivia from around the world! Newsletters will be in the form of a periodic email so sign up now!
Check out this huge hornet nest we found over near the garden! It is one of the largest we have ever seen--about 2 feet long!! Lucky for the inhabitants of the nest it is not in an area frequented by lodge guests so we have decided to leave it so the land can benefit from the beneficial--although well armed--insects that call the nest home.
Gray Foxes Having Fun!
We have had some fox problems for a couple of years due to the chickens and ducks being easy pickins' so the chickens are stuck in the coop until the fox kits go off on their own. The ducks however occasionally loose out to the sly and sneaky foxes. Check out the photos below of a fox family feasting on a duck one of the parents had killed.
Many folks don't like foxes because they kill domestic chickens and ducks but foxes are doing what foxes do best--hunting small game. Domestic chickens and ducks are especially easy to catch because they have lost much of their natural instinct for survival so I ask you, if you were a fox what would you do if someone placed a fat, grain fed, easy to catch chicken or duck meal in front of you? Would you eat it or go try to catch something you had to work hard to hunt for catch and kill? For the predator the easy meal always wins out because it requires less energy and less work for a higher reward--seems like common sense to me.
Steve with a Pawpaw fruit from a friend's tree! The Pawpaw produces the largest edible native fruit in North America and was cultivated by the Cherokee and other Native Americans. Soon, Earthshine will have it's own Pawpaw patch!!
When ripe, the Pawpaw has a custard-like texture and tastes like a cross between Banana and Mango.
They are wonderful straight from the tree but also make great ice cream!
Hopefully in the future you will be able to pick a Pawpaw from the Earthshine Pawpaw patch! Check out this new video of a Pawpaw patch I found!
Nature Notes Page Eight
CLICK HERE FOR HOMEPAGE
Check out this huge hornet nest we found over near the garden! It is one of the largest we have ever seen--about 2 feet long!! Lucky for the inhabitants of the nest it is not in an area frequented by lodge guests so we have decided to leave it so the land can benefit from the beneficial--although well armed--insects that call the nest home.
Gray Foxes Having Fun!
We have had some fox problems for a couple of years due to the chickens and ducks being easy pickins' so the chickens are stuck in the coop until the fox kits go off on their own. The ducks however occasionally loose out to the sly and sneaky foxes. Check out the photos below of a fox family feasting on a duck one of the parents had killed.
Many folks don't like foxes because they kill domestic chickens and ducks but foxes are doing what foxes do best--hunting small game. Domestic chickens and ducks are especially easy to catch because they have lost much of their natural instinct for survival so I ask you, if you were a fox what would you do if someone placed a fat, grain fed, easy to catch chicken or duck meal in front of you? Would you eat it or go try to catch something you had to work hard to hunt for catch and kill? For the predator the easy meal always wins out because it requires less energy and less work for a higher reward--seems like common sense to me.
Steve with a Pawpaw fruit from a friend's tree! The Pawpaw produces the largest edible native fruit in North America and was cultivated by the Cherokee and other Native Americans. Soon, Earthshine will have it's own Pawpaw patch!!
When ripe, the Pawpaw has a custard-like texture and tastes like a cross between Banana and Mango.
They are wonderful straight from the tree but also make great ice cream!
Hopefully in the future you will be able to pick a Pawpaw from the Earthshine Pawpaw patch! Check out this new video of a Pawpaw patch I found!
Nature Notes Page Eight
CLICK HERE FOR HOMEPAGE
We have had some fox problems for a couple of years due to the chickens and ducks being easy pickins' so the chickens are stuck in the coop until the fox kits go off on their own. The ducks however occasionally loose out to the sly and sneaky foxes. Check out the photos below of a fox family feasting on a duck one of the parents had killed.
Many folks don't like foxes because they kill domestic chickens and ducks but foxes are doing what foxes do best--hunting small game. Domestic chickens and ducks are especially easy to catch because they have lost much of their natural instinct for survival so I ask you, if you were a fox what would you do if someone placed a fat, grain fed, easy to catch chicken or duck meal in front of you? Would you eat it or go try to catch something you had to work hard to hunt for catch and kill? For the predator the easy meal always wins out because it requires less energy and less work for a higher reward--seems like common sense to me.
Steve with a Pawpaw fruit from a friend's tree! The Pawpaw produces the largest edible native fruit in North America and was cultivated by the Cherokee and other Native Americans. Soon, Earthshine will have it's own Pawpaw patch!!
When ripe, the Pawpaw has a custard-like texture and tastes like a cross between Banana and Mango.
They are wonderful straight from the tree but also make great ice cream!
Hopefully in the future you will be able to pick a Pawpaw from the Earthshine Pawpaw patch! Check out this new video of a Pawpaw patch I found!
Nature Notes Page Eight
CLICK HERE FOR HOMEPAGE
Steve with a Pawpaw fruit from a friend's tree! The Pawpaw produces the largest edible native fruit in North America and was cultivated by the Cherokee and other Native Americans. Soon, Earthshine will have it's own Pawpaw patch!!
When ripe, the Pawpaw has a custard-like texture and tastes like a cross between Banana and Mango.
They are wonderful straight from the tree but also make great ice cream!
Hopefully in the future you will be able to pick a Pawpaw from the Earthshine Pawpaw patch! Check out this new video of a Pawpaw patch I found!
Nature Notes Page Eight
CLICK HERE FOR HOMEPAGE
They are wonderful straight from the tree but also make great ice cream!
Hopefully in the future you will be able to pick a Pawpaw from the Earthshine Pawpaw patch! Check out this new video of a Pawpaw patch I found!
Nature Notes Page Eight
CLICK HERE FOR HOMEPAGE
Nature Notes Page Eight
CLICK HERE FOR HOMEPAGE