Nature Walks – Magpies, Turtles and More

In my little neck of the woods, I have a wide variety of landscapes all in one, which means there is a wide variety of wildlife as well.  I have the lakes, which gives us all the ducks, geese, and various other aquatic birds, turtles and fish.  After the 4th lake, depending on what direction we go, we either venture into the open space, giving us the prairie dogs and non-aquatic birds or back around through the marshy areas and more lakes.  The open space flows directly into open “prairie land”, that then takes us into the creeks, giving us more ducks and geese.  And all of this is right in my backyard too.  All of this makes it sound like we live out in the “whoop whoops” as my dad used to say, but we are really right off a major street that is a heavily traveled route, taking people north and south.

Today, I give you some of the other critters that also call our beautiful area home.

The Magpies.  Magpies are seen everywhere here in Colorado.  I think they are just so beautiful.  They are beautiful scavengers.

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I have seen two types of turtles in our lakes.  We have seen more turtles this year than ever before.  Yesterday, I saw at least 5.  In years past, we were lucky to see 5 all season.

This is the smaller of our two turtles.  It is a red-eared slider.

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Our other turtle is a common snapping turtle.  He is a lot larger than the red-eared slider.  Our snapping turtles seem to be a lot more camera shy too.  I have had a difficult time getting good shots of our snapping turtles.  Most of the time, just as I am about ready to click the camera, they dive deeper underwater, making it very difficult to get good shots.  But every now and then I get lucky.

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And of course we have tons of rabbits and squirrels too.  Although, this year I haven’t seen near as many rabbits as usual.  I haven’t seen any of the baby bunnies this year either.  The tiny babies are so darn cute.  We used to have a nest right under our house, so we would see the babies all the time, but once we had our cement and paths redone, we lost that nest.

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We have lots of squirrels too.  They love driving the dogs nuts.

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Stay safe and stay well Everyone.  ‘Til next time.

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Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

I have worked in the restaurant and catering industry for over 35 years. I attended 2 culinary schools in Southern California, and have a degree in culinary arts from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, as well as a few other degrees in other areas. I love to cook and I love to feed people.

140 thoughts on “Nature Walks – Magpies, Turtles and More”

      4. Larry got me a nice camera a few years ago, and I have taken 1000’s of pictures with it. I would like to upgrade and get an even better camera at some point, but Larry is so cheap, that won’t happen anytime soon. 🙂

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  6. I had a red-eared slider as a pet when I was a child. (Technically, he made it until I left for college.) They are surprisingly intelligent creatures. My turtle *loved* music, and the song “Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera in particular. When I would play it, he would swim to the side of the tank my stereo was on and put his head up against the glass. Then he would launch into what my family called his “turtle ballet.” He’d stretch his legs and neck out as far as they could go while swimming back and forth in his tank. It truly was graceful, like ballet. I’d never seen anything like it. I’d read him poetry too and he’d climb up on his rock and listen, neck stretched way out. He was a hoot. Animals are so much more complicated than we give them credit for!

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    1. Very cool! Yes they are. I used to have a parakeet that would dance to the music all the time too. He loved to dance. He was more of a rocker than you turtle though. He would rock out to Styx and Van Halen all the time. 🙂 Animals are way smarter than most people give them credit for. I think if more people had animals and really loved them like we do, they would understand them better and there would be less violence towards them.

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  7. Some very nice shots Jeanne! The nature walks are opening up to a whole new perspective of what’s going on right under our noses; if we slow down and take it all in, just like a big deep breath of fresh air!
    Enjoy!
    Lawrence

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      7. So true and like striking gold eureka!!! Even a cup of cold water in the face, either way gives one a much better outlook for sure! I just thought of a tune from a movie I like from the past, To Live and Die in LA! I moved away from there long ago and good I did! Wang Chung _Wake up stop dreaming
        Wake up, stop dreaming
        The sun is in the sky again
        There’s a hole in the ocean
        And water’s pouring through.

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      9. Hey there shipmate! Been juggling here today, so only spurts of opportunity to make some comments but no blogging for now. I have to get back to giving another try to save a mourning dove with an injured wing. Hopefully this technique will allow it to mend well enough. Glad you like that tune it’s one of my favs of theirs and yea the flick was fair to midland. So that was cool to see them in concert, but I would have felt the same way leaving that one song out of the concert! I was mostly around Burbank but it’s a long story for another time perhaps. Isn’t that nifty you being from out there and I bet you don’t miss it too much! 😉 👍

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      10. WOW!!!! Burbank is just a hop, skip and a jump away from Pasadena. The first culinary school I went to was at the Equestrian Center in Burbank – the Los Angeles School of Culinary Arts. Small world. You’re right! I don”t miss it out there one bit! Although I do miss my ocean. 🙂

        Good luck with the dove. I’ll send some good loving and healing thoughts and prayers.

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