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mightyoaks4life

We are professional stewards of nature who are passionate about creatures and their communities. Come enjoy our views of the natural world.

Looking to enjoy and preserve natural places for h

Looking to enjoy and preserve natural places for hiking and wildlife? Start with understanding invasive plants and how to stop them.

This first photo shows a wood’s edge with the invasive oriental bittersweet climbing to the treetops. Gives a whole new meaning to “HIGHLY”invasive!

Once vines were cut, and stumps treated, the suffering trees were more visible.

Third photo shows the same trees a few years later: filling in with branches and photosynthesizing!! 🙌🏼😎
#invasivespeciesremoval
#invasivespecies
#treehuggers
#treemagic
#pennswoods
#walkinnature

The wonder of it all...here is Darrel admiring a g

The wonder of it all...here is Darrel admiring a giant tortoise on Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador.

#protectwildlife
#tortoisegram
#turtlelover
#turtlegram

Captions for this video, anyone? “TURTLE” Tues

Captions for this video, anyone? “TURTLE” Tuesday had me waking up to thoughts of Lonesome George and the tortoises of Galapagos.

Lonesome George lived to be over 100 years old, but very sadly died without a mate. He was the last of his kind. Some say his habitat in Galápagos Islands was destroyed by feral goats.

#protectwildlifehabitat
#protectwildlife
#tortoisegram
#galapogosislands
#turtlegram
#turtlelover

Did you know? Oak trees are superstar life-givers

Did you know? Oak trees are superstar life-givers in the eco-system. They feed over 500 species of moths and butterflies (whose caterpillars in turn feed native baby birds). That’s Quercus Fantasticus! 😁 Seriously, though—that is in addition to all the wildlife that eat their acorns. Pretty impressive.

The Rosy Maple Moth primarily lays eggs on maple trees but occasionally oaks and since I’ve been charmed by this snazzy, pink-footed beauty, I thought I’d share!

#homegrownnationalpark
#mothsmatter
#plantnativeplants
#oaktrees
#nativetreesofnorthamerica
#savepollinators
#keystoneplants
#birdconservation
#mightyoaks
#treemagic

TURTLE TUESDAY: The end of this series of turtle p

TURTLE TUESDAY: The end of this series of turtle posts!

But really the BEGINNING for this hatchling! Let’s all do our part to keep our waterways fresh and clean and our wild creatures healthy. Video clip shows a wee little snapping turtle hatchling entering a creek for the first time. Happy day! #turtletuesdays #turtlegram
#turtlelover
#walkinnature

TURTLE TUESDAY: These snapping turtles were laid i

TURTLE TUESDAY: These snapping turtles were laid in May 2013 and expected to hatch that July or August.

Fifteen of them (each about the size of a quarter) finally hatched in October 2013. Each slowly emerged from the nest, seemed to look around and headed toward the creek, following the previous hatchling at increments of about thirty feet apart. They journeyed about 100 yards from their nest to the creek. #turtletuesdays #turtlegram
#turtlelover
#walkinnature
#pennswoods

What do I do? Oh, I stealthily stalk dinosaur-ish

What do I do? Oh, I stealthily stalk dinosaur-ish mother snapping turtles...she moves. so. slow. but she headed back to creek after laying her eggs in my flowerbed.

#turtletuesday #turtlegram
#turtlelover
#walkinnature
#pennswoods

TURTLE TUESDAY: We had a very special visitor from

TURTLE TUESDAY: We had a very special visitor from our creek in May of 2013. The wonder of watching her lay eggs in a nest she created in the flowerbed was awesome.

We waited with great anticipation for the hatchlings and protected her nest site because we were planning some remodeling on the farmhouse and didn’t want anything to happen to the nest during construction.

Weeks and then months passed...I contacted a wildlife biologist about the delay and sadly he felt the eggs must not be viable as they were far beyond the expected “due” date.

Construction began, but I still kept the wire flags up surrounding her nest...holding out a tiny bit of hope, but very little.

(See my next posts for surprise ending!)

#turtlegram
#turtletuesday
#turtlelover
#gardeningforwildlife

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