Harbingers of Summer

No, not tourists. There haven't been so many of them around recently. I'm talking about birds, toads, and turtles.

Several days ago I noticed a house wren pair building their nest between the rafters on my new back porch. I hated to disrupt their endeavors, but the porch will be screened in before their chicks would fledge, so I reluctantly removed their nascent home. They will rebuild in a more appropriate place, I'm sure.

Last night, as I rode my bike down Howard Street, I noticed the first toad of the season hopping across the lane. Before long a number of them will be foraging in my back yard each night. And it's only a matter of time until the bright green tree frogs once again take up residence in my outdoor shower.

The most impressive critter that I have encountered lately, however, was a medium-sized snapping turtle ambling along the loop road "down point" past the lighthouse. He was easily a foot long and in no hurry to get out of the road. I stood by and watched him until a pickup truck approached.

Not wanting to get my fingers anywhere near this fellow, I picked up a short 2 X 4 that was lying nearby, and gently prodded him. Unfortunately, he was quite recalcitrant. In the end I was forced to be more aggressive. He eventually got my message and, in his turtle kind of way, quickly made his way under a nearby porch.

I suppose he thought I was engaged in turtle harassment. But I just might have saved him from becoming another road statistic.

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