Another New Baby at the Pond!

As I was heading toward the treehouse today, a nestful of baby phoebes flushed from beneath the floorboards. This little one perched on a nearby pear tree, and promptly began calling for mom. I hustled away to let the family settle down.

Pond Babies!

Just in time for the release date of Pond Babies:

The wood duck ducklings have hatched on Frog Song Pond! Mama and the kids are rather camera-shy, but here's a glimpse of them shot from a distance. There are at least a dozen--maybe 13. We are thrilled to see them! In the fifteen years we've lived on this pond, this is a first. Many mallard duckling fleets have been raised here, along with a couple of Merganser families, but the elusive wood ducks usually only drop by for a few days. Please wish them well!

UPDATE: Just added another photo, taken by the dock this morning!

Lady's Slipper update

In just a few days time, the faintly blushing green-tinged blossoms of the lady's slipper that appear in my previous post have deepened to a glorious rosy pink. Check out the bullfrog admiring their beauty.

To see him/her up close, check out my Frog Blog.

Morning Close-ups

Busy day ahead, but sunlight on turtle shells, and an eagerness to see if yesterday's chartreuse lady's slippers were blushing pink today, lured me to the pond this morning. Here are some of the wonders that greeted me.

Teeny Tiny Turtles!

From Pond Babies, to be released next week from Down East Books.
The new little Chrysemys picta picta I wrote about a couple of weeks ago apparently has peers!

Look closely at this photo (click to enlarge) and look for THREE baby turtles!

Scoot! StoryTrail

We were dodging raindrops through the gorgeous grounds of the Dawes Arboretum in Newark, Ohio for the opening celebration of their third annual StoryTrail installation. This year's book was one of mine! The pages of Scoot! are laminated onto signs that wind through a trail for kids and their families to follow---skipping, scooting, swinging and zinging.

Like Maine's StoryWalk project, StoryTrail is a great way to combine movement and literacy by getting kids outside to read, run, and have fun.

After following the trail, we had more story time inside, followed by crafts that were provided by the staff of the Licking County Library.

More phots are here: Columbus Dispatch, and on my Flickr site.

The StoryTrail at the Arboretum will be up through October.

First POND BABIES are here!

That's a pine needle across his (or her) shell. See the tadpole?


Here's one of the tree tassels next to a quarter so you can see the size of the tiny hatchling!

After several rainy days, sunshine spilled over the pond today. A tiny ripple near the edge caught my eye.... a turtle hatchling! The first spotting of a pond baby this spring! Then I looked again.....the water was also FULL of tiny tadpoles! You can see one next to the turtle.

My new book, Pond Babies, will be out in June from Down East Books.