Plymouth and Northern Red-Bellied Turtles: Notched Jaws, Striped Faces

Summary: North American red-bellied turtle habitats get crest-to-snout stripes, notch-tipped upper jaws, red bellies, red-barred scutes and webbed hindfeet.

Two adult red-bellied cooters (Pseudemys rubriventris) bask on a log in Federal Pond, Plymouth, southeastern Massachusetts; photo credit Bill Byrne/Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Northeast Region), Public Domain, via Flickr

North American red-bellied turtle habitats accumulate in brackish, fresh and marshy distribution ranges throughout Mid-Atlantic coastal plains from southern New Jersey through northeastern North Carolina and in Plymouth County, Naushon Island, Massachusetts.

Red-bellied turtles bear their common name for red lower-shells (plastrons) that brighten dark-marked scute (plate) seams and black-brown upper-shells (carapaces) that brandish red-barred, rough marginal scutes. Plymouth and northern red-belled turtle subspecies correlate scientifically with Pseudemys rubriventris bangsi for Outram Bangs (Jan. 12, 1863-Sep. 22, 1932) and Pseudemys rubriventris rubriventris (false-turtle red-bellied). Descriptions in 1830 by Joseph Le Conte (Feb. 26, 1823-July 6, 1901) and in 1937 by H.L. Babcock, medical practitioner in Boston Massachusetts, determine scientific designations.

Plymouth and northern red-bellied turtle life cycles expect brackish marshes and deep lakes, ponds, rivers and streams in Mid-Atlantic, New England and Potomac River vegetated wetlands.

March through May, May through July and August through September function as Plymouth and northern North American red-bellied turtle breeding, egg incubation and hatchling emergence months.

Plymouth and northern red-bellied turtles generally go undetected other than after rains and during earlier daytime hours as Emydidae box, marsh and pond turtle family members. They have emydid habits of heading toward sun-warmed grasses, ground-cover, logs, rocks and stumps and of harboring toxins from helping themselves to wild berries and  mushrooms. Plymouth and northern red-bellied turtle subspecies incline toward terrestrial (landed) over aquatic (watery) life cycles even though each hindfoot is untortoise-like in its elongated, flattened webbedness.

Agroindustrialists and predatory bass, crows, foxes, herons, leeches, millipedes, minks, muskrats, opossums, pickerel, raccoons, skunks and snakes jeopardize Plymouth and northern North American red-bellied turtle habitats.

Plymouth and northern red-bellied turtle males keep elongated foreclaws on female heads and necks during elaborate courtships that other box, marsh and pond turtles likewise know.

Females lay 8 to 20 elliptical, 1.375-inch- (3.49-centimeter-) long, thin-shelled eggs in flask-shaped, 4-inch- (10.16-centimeter-) long nest cavities for hatchling emergences 9 to 18 weeks later. Their hindfeet move into their underground incubators eggs whose hatchlings may overwinter in birthing nests before moving into 6.56- to 11.48-foot- (2- to 3.5-meter-) deep water. Berries, crayfish, fish, Myriophyllum, Sagittaria and Utricularia algae, insect larvae, slugs, snails, spiders, tadpoles, water hyacinth and worms nourish omnivorous (everything-eating) Plymouth and northern red-bellied turtles.

North American red-bellied turtle habitats offer season-coldest temperatures, northward to southward, from minus 15 to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 26.11 to minus 12.22 degrees Celsius).

Cranberry ponds, gravelly, sandy coastal plains, human-made reservoirs, pitch pine and scrub oak barrens, rocks, vegetation mats and wood debris promote Plymouth and northern red-bellied turtles.

Ten to 15.75 inches (25.4 to 39.37 centimeters) queue up as total length ranges for upper-shells with 12 flattened, red-barred, rough, semi-concave scutes on each side. Adults reveal a prominently notched tip, amid toothlike cusps, to the upper jaw and an arrow-like stripe from the crest, between the eyes, to the snout. They showcase arrow-shaped, yellow-banded, striped heads, clawed feet, green skin and pink lower-shells if female, gray-bordered red if male and orange on green upper-shells if juvenile.

Black-brown bodies with crest-to-snout facial stripes, flattened, red-barred, rough, semi-concave upper-shell scutes, notch-tipped upper jaws, red bellies and webbed hindfeet traverse North American red-bellied turtle habitats.

Headstart northern red-bellied cooter hatchling is one of over 100 red-bellied hatchlings released into DFW (Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife) Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area in Hanson, Plymouth County, southeastern Massachusetts, during Celebrate Turtles, Friday, May 27, 2011; MassWildlife's Red-bellied Cooter Headstart program, begun in 1984, pairs with foster institutions to care for hatchlings prior to safe release into the wild; photo credit Bill Byrne/MassWildlife: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Northeast Region), Public Domain, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Two adult red-bellied cooters (Pseudemys rubriventris) bask on a log in Federal Pond, Plymouth, southeastern Massachusetts; photo credit Bill Byrne/Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Northeast Region), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsnortheast/5861462496/

Headstart northern red-bellied cooter hatchling is one of over 100 red-bellied hatchlings released into DFW (Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife) Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area in Hanson, Plymouth County, southeastern Massachusetts, during Celebrate Turtles, Friday, May 27, 2011; MassWildlife's Red-bellied Cooter Headstart program, begun in 1984, pairs with foster institutions to care for hatchlings prior to safe release into the wild; photo credit Bill Byrne/MassWildlife: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Northeast Region), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsnortheast/5860912885/

For further information:

Aardema, J.; S. Beam; J. Boner; J. Bussone; C. Ewart; I. Kaplan; K. Kiefer; S. Lindsay; E. Merrill; W. Moretz; J. Roberts; E. Rockwell; M. Reott; J. Willson; A. Pickens; W. Guthrie; A. Young; Y. Kornilev; W. Anderson; G. Connette; E. Eskew; E. Teague; M. Thomas; and A. Tutterow. "Northern Red-bellied Cooter Pseudemys rubriventris." Herps of NC > Amphibians and Reptiles of North Carolina > Turtles.
Available @ https://herpsofnc.org/northern-red-bellied-cooter/

Babcock, H.L. (Harold Lester). 14 July 1937. "A New Subspecies of the Red-Bellied Terrapin Pseudemys rubriventris (Le Conte): Pseudemys rubriventris bangsi, subsp. nov." Occasional Papers of the Boston Society of Natural History, vol. 8: 293-294. Boston MA: Boston Society of Natural History.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/occasionalpapers08bost#page/293/mode/1up

Babcock, Harold L. (Lester). 1919. "Pseudemys rubriventris (Le Conte)." The Turtles of New England; With Sixteen Plates. Monographs on the Natural History of New England; Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, vol. 8, no. 3: 374-377, Plate 24. Boston MA: Boston Society of Natural History.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12636600
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/turtlesofnewengl00babc#page/374/mode/1up

Fuller, Pam. "Pseudemys rubriventris (LeConte, 1830)." USGS NAS -- Nonindigenous Aquatic Species: Reptiles-Turtles.
Available @ https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=1255

Holbrook, John Edwards. 1838. "Emys Rubriventris -- Leconte." North American Herpetology; Or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Vol. II: 37-40. Philadelphia PA: J. Dobson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3688332

Le Conte, Major J. (John Eatton). 1830. "Description of the Species of North American Tortoises. Read December 7, 1829.: 3. Testudo rubriventris, L.C." Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, vol. III: 101-102. New York NY: Printed for The Lyceum by G.P. Scott & Co., 1828-1836.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16077212

"New World pond turtles (Emydidae)." Pages 105-107. In: Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 7, Reptiles, edited by Michael Hutchins, James B. Murphy, and Neil Schlager. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Uetz, Peter. "Pseudemys rubriventris (Le Conte, 1830)." Reptile Database.
Available @ http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Pseudemys&species=rubriventris&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27pseudemys+rubriventris%27%29%29

Ward, Joseph P. 1984. "Relationships of the Chrysemyd Turtles of North America (Testudiies: Emydidae): Pseudemys (Ptychemys) rubriventris." Special Publications The Museum Texas Tech University, no. 21: 46. Lubbock TX: Texas Tech Press.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/55023536

Rubus phoenicolasius: Luscious and Mellow Sweetness of Wineberries

Summary: Rubus phoenicolasius is an Old World shrub that thrives in temperate zones. As a raspberry species, wineberries have a luscious mellow taste.

fruits and leaves of Rubus phoenicolasius: Wouter Hagens, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Rubus phoenicolasius (ROO-bus fee nee KO las see us) is an Old World raspberry shrub native to temperate East Asia.

Homelands in China especially are concentrated in the provinces of Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, and Sichuan.

Homelands in Japan encompass the four largest islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku.

Rubus phoenicolasius is also native to Korea.

Rubus phoenicolasius has expanded globally beyond its native range via introductions as an ornamental plant and as breeding stock for bramble cultivars such as blackberries and other raspberries. Since introduction in the United States around 1890, Rubus phoenicolasius has established a wide distribution range centered in eastern Canada and the eastern United States.

Rubus phoenicolasius is known commonly in English as Japanese wineberry, wineberry or wine raspberry.

Despite preferences for sunny sites with moist soil, wineberries tolerate a wide range of habitats. Variations in light and moisture levels as well as elevational and soil differences occur throughout Rubus phoenicolasius’ widely divergent distribution range.

The beguiling taste of wineberries belies the shrub's undesirable talent for opportunistic invasions. Due to versatility in accommodating ecosystems and ecotones, wineberry shrubs easily may alter habitat structures through displacement of native species, especially by way of the shrub's facility in forming dense, shady thickets.

Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia number among south central and Mid-Atlantic states listing Rubus phoenicolasius as an invasive species. In New England, statutes enacted by the state of Connecticut and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts identify Rubus phoenicolasius as an invasive plant as well as prohibit the shrub's cultivation, distribution, importation, movement, purchase or sale.

Native plant alternatives, which offer different tastes and textures, include blackberries and cultivated raspberries.

As a member of the bramble genus (Rubus), wineberries grow in thickets as deciduous (Latin: deciduus, “that which falls off”), multi-stemmed shrubs.

Arching stems, known as canes, average lengths of 2 to 6 feet (0.6 to 1.8 meters) and maximize at 9 feet (2.7 meters).

Canes bristle with a distinctive indumentum (Latin: indumentum, “garment”; from induere, “to clothe, cover”), or covering, of trichomes (Ancient Greek: τρίχωμα, trikhōma, “hair”) in the form of purplish red glandular hairs, from which the species name derives (Latin: phoeniceus, “deep red” from Ancient Greek: φοινός, phoinós, "blood red" + Latin lasius from Ancient Greek: λάσιος, lasios, “shaggy”).

Trios of blunt-tipped, serrated leaflets flash green uppersides and silvery white, hairy undersides. The heart-shaped leaflets form alternate, rather than paired, arrangements along the stem.

Clusters of small, greenish white, five-petalled flowers open in late spring to early summer. Buds and stems bristle with reddish-purple hairs.

Juicy orange-red fruits ripen in June and July. As aggregate fruits, the distinctive shape of such bramble fruits as blackberries, raspberries and wineberries is formed by small, individual drupes known as drupelets.

Each fruit contains many seeds, each 0.1 to 0.2 inches (2 to 4 millimeters) in length, that facilitate expansion of the shrub’s range as seeds are dispersed through preferential patronage by birds. New World native birds favoring raspberry fruit species include Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), grey catbird (Dumetella carolinensis), ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), American robin (Turdus migratorius), wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) and American woodcock (Scolopax minor).

Wineberries grow sparsely amid blackberries (Rubus fruticosus) in the sunny meadow fringing the southern extent of my yard and make sparse appearances in the shady willow grove (Salix spp.) along my yard’s western perimeter.

In 2015 fruits seem less abundant but nevertheless taste delicious, with a distinctly luscious and mellow sweetness.

closeup of wineberry flowers and red-haired calyces (leafy coverings) protecting developing berries; Thursday, June 7, 2007, 12:41: Wouter Hagens, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

fruits and leaves of Rubus phoenicolasius: Wouter Hagens, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rubus_phoenicolasius_B.jpg

closeup of wineberry flowers and red-haired calyces (leafy coverings) protecting developing berries; Thursday, June 7, 2007, 12:41: Wouter Hagens, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rubus_phoenicolasius_C.jpg

For further information:

Barrat, John. "Falling Trees Help Invasive Wineberry Move Into Deciduous Forests in North America." 2011. Smithsonian Science News > Conservation Biology. May 3, 2011.
Available @ http://smithsonianscience.si.edu/2011/05/falling-trees-help-invasive-wineberry-move-into-deciduous-forests-in-north-america/

Innes, Robin J. 2009. “Rubus phoenicolasius.” In: Fire Effects Information System [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer).
Available @ http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/rubpho/all.html

Meredith, Leda. 2014. Northeast Foraging: 120 Wild and Flavorful Edibles from Beach Plums to Wineberries. Portland OR and London UK: Timber Press, Inc.

"Rubus phoenicolasius." US Forest Service > Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) Database > Plants > Shrub.
Available @ http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/rubpho/all.html

Swearingen, Jil; Britt Slattery; Kathryn Reshetiloff; Susan Zwicker. 2010. Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas. 4th ed. National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, DC.
Available @ http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/midatlantic.pdf

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. “Taxon: Rubus phoenicolasius Maxim.” Germplasm Resources Information Network – (GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
Available @ http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?32416

“Wine raspberry Rosaceae Rubus phoenicolasius Maxim.” Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation > Forest Biology and Dendrology Education > Dendrology Factsheets.
Available @ http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=319

Mud Maid of Heligan: Sleeping Beauty Garden Sculpture in Lost Gardens

Summary: Mud Maid of Heligan is a gigantic natural sculpture created by sibling artists Pete and Sue Hill for the Lost Gardens of Heligan near Megavissey, Cornwall.

"The view from Heligan looking towards the sea"; Cornwall, South West England: roger geach, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the ancestral homes of the landed Cornish family of Tremayne, Heligan estate is located in south central Cornwall. The county encompasses the traditional homeland of the Cornish people in the westernmost segment of England’s southwestern peninsula.

Lying on steep slopes on the eastern edge of the civil parish of St Ewe, Heligan (Cornish: helygen, “willow tree”) overlooks the adjoining civil parish, fishing port and village of Mevagissey, known as Lannvorek in Cornish.

The first known mention of Heligan occurs in the 12th century as an estate connected with the prominent Arundel family. Heligan estate entered into the Tremayne family holdings as a purchase in 1569 from Richard Grenville (ca. 1524–ca. 1577/1578), Member of Parliament, by Sampson Tremayne (ca. 1528–April 1593).

Two manor homes were built in the 17th century as Heligan passed down Sampson's line: Sampson's son William Tremayne (ca. 1558/1561-February 1614); William's son John Tremayne (1581–1665); John’s son Colonel Lewis Tremayne (ca. 1619/1620–1685); Colonel Lewis’ son Sir John Tremayne (1647–Feb. 20, 1694).

Around 1603 Sampson’s son William (ca. 1558/1561–February 1614) built a manor house in the Jacobean style associated with the reign of James (June 19, 1566–March 27, 1625) as King James I of England and Ireland (March 26, 1603, to his death).

In 1692, apart from the basement, William’s building was extensively rebuilt by his great grandson Sir John Tremayne (1647–Feb. 20, 1694) in the Dutch- and Huguenot-influenced William and Mary architectural style. The style was associated with William Henry of Orange (Nov. 4, 1650–March 8, 1702) as King William III of England, Ireland and Scotland (Feb. 13, 1689, to his death) and his co-regnant spouse, Mary (April 30, 1662–Dec. 28, 1694) as Queen Mary II.

Heligan’s 1,000 acres include gardens that owe their creation to Reverend Henry Hawkins Tremayne (July 27, 1741–Feb. 10, 1829). To achieve his dream of great, themed gardens in the 19th century Gardenesque style, Reverend Hawkins drew inspiration from touring such grand gardens in his homeland: Blenheim Palace’s English landscape park designed by Capability Brown (Aug. 30, 1716–Feb. 6, 1783) in Oxfordshire; Park Place’s Ragged Arch, also known as Conway’s Bridge, designed by Humphrey Gainsborough (1718–Aug. 23, 1776) in Berkshire; and Stowe House’s landscape garden, with Palladian style temples by William Kent (ca. 1685–April 12, 1748) and naturalizing elements by Capability Brown, in Buckinghamshire.

Among Reverend Tremayne’s timeless contributions was a pineapple pit, which now remains as Europe’s only extant, working Georgian exemplar. Pineapple pits hearken to the Victorian era as a method for cultivating pineapples in cold climates.

Heligan’s gardens flourished until World War I (July 28, 1914–Nov. 11, 1918). With the wartime demise of many in the estate’s workforce and with changing priorities in the war's aftermath, Heligan’s gardens deteriorated, hiding under brambles, ivy, laurel and fallen timber for almost seven decades.

Restoration projects envisioned with the gardens' rediscovery in 1990 have succeeded in transforming Heligan’s secret gardens into thriving landscapes known as the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

Among a bevy of accolades bestowed upon the time-capsule gardens is recognition of the gardeners' lavatory and storeroom, known as the Thunderbox Room, by the Imperial War Museums as a living memorial in 2013.

Giant's Head with montbretia (Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora) in bloom: Giant's Head; Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007, 12:33:26: Gemma Louise Lowe, CC BY ND 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

In 1998 Cornwall-based sibling artists Pete and Sue Hill were commissioned to create two giant, natural sculptures for Heligan. The imaginative sculptures are sited along the Woodland Walk, which links the ticket office to the section named the Jungle, a south-facing, steep-sided valley garden of four linked ponds rimmed with the British Isles’ largest collection of palms and tree ferns.

Giant’s Head is the first of the Hills’ creations to greet visitors embarking on the scenic Woodland Walk. A gigantic tree stump exposed by northwestern Europe’s great windstorm of Jan. 25–26, 1990, serves as an enormous skull blanketed with mind-your-own-business (Soleirolia soleirolii) as green-hued skin and plumed with montbretia (Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora) for spiky hair. The giant’s eyes represent glass and pottery chips retrieved on site.

The Mud Maid emerges realistically from the ground as a sleeping beauty. Timber and windbreak netting comprise the hollow framework that, coated with sticky mud and clothed in ivy, shapes her somnolent outline. A mixture of cement, mud and stone forms her face and hands. Montbretia and woodsedge (Carex spp.) serve as the Mud Maid’s hair.

The Giant’s Head and the Mud Maid continue in the 21st century as two of many popular attractions at Heligan.

Lost Gardens of Heligan: if you go
Apart from being closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the Lost Gardens are open every day.

Schedule of annual opening hours:
spring/early summer (April 1-July 24): 10 a.m.-6 p.m.;
Theatre Month (July 25-Aug. 23): Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Sunday through Monday, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m.;
late summer (Aug. 24-Sept. 30): 10 a.m.-6 p.m.;
autumn/winter (Oct. 1-March 31): 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Contact information
address: The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Pentewan, St.Austell, Cornwall, PL26 6EN
phone: +44(0)1726 845100
email: info@heligan.com

Mud Maid, Sleeping Beauty at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall, South West England; Tuesday, June 30, 2015, 12:12:17: Tony Hisgett (ahisgett), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

"The view from Heligan looking towards the sea"; Cornwall, South West England: roger geach, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_view_from_Heligan_looking_towards_the_sea._-_geograph.org.uk_-_735827.jpg;
roger geach, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Geograph Britain and Ireland @ https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/735827

Giant's Head with montbretia (Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora) in bloom: Giant's Head; Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007, 12:33:26: Gemma Louise Lowe, CC BY ND 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/gemmalouiselowe/4596769992/

Mud Maid, Sleeping Beauty at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall, South West England; Tuesday, June 30, 2015, 12:12:17: Tony Hisgett (ahisgett), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/hisgett/19198097959/

For further information:

Burke, John, and John Bernard Burke. A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. II: M to Z. Henry Colburn, MDCCCXLVII (1847).
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/08/cape-henry-lighthouse-lit-1792-on.html

House, Christian. "The Lost Gardeners of Heligan." The Telegraph > History > World War One. Aug. 2, 2014.
Available @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/11007666/The-lost-gardeners-of-Heligan.html

Polsue, Joseph. The Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, Compiled From the Best Authorities & Corrected and Improved From Actual Survey. Vol. I. Truro: William Lake; London: John Camden Hotten, 1867.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b2928597

Smit, Tim. The Lost Gardens of Heligan. A Channel Four Book. London UK: Victor Gollancz, 1997.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/08/cape-henry-lighthouse-lit-1792-on.html

"Timeline." The Lost Gardens of Heligan > The Story > Introduction.
Available @ http://heligan.com/the-story/heligan-timeline/

Map Turtles: Green-Brown Upper-, Pale Lower-Shell, Green-Yellow Skin

Summary: North American map turtle habitats get green-yellow skin, pale uppers, semi-flat and ridged green-brown uppers, webbed hindfeet and yellow-garnished eyes.

Northern map turtle hatchlings emerge from eggs with white protuberance, known as egg tooth, for breaking through eggshell; yellow lines on skin, which are reminiscent of topographical maps, account for Graptemys geographica's common name: Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre @OntarioTurtleCC, via Twitter March 25, 2013

North American map turtle habitats accept distribution ranges from Lakes Champlain, George and Ontario through Lake Superior, through the St. Lawrence River to the Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee Rivers and everywhere in-between.

Isolated populations in the Delaware and Susquehanna River drainage systems belong to the map turtle species whose common name bestows juvenile and mature male patterned shells. They carry the scientific name Graptemys geographica for "written (pattern upon) freshwater turtle (species that contain shell patterns like charted) earth (canals and waterways and) writing." Descriptions in 1817 by Charles Alexandre Lesueur (Jan. 1, 1778-Dec. 12, 1846), only known sketcher of extinct King Island emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae minor), drive scientific designations.

Map turtle life cycles expect brackish and freshwater lakes and rivers with abundant aquatic vegetation, log jams, muddy bottoms, slow currents and sun-warmed exposures for basking.

March through May, May through July and August through November flourish as southern and northern North American map turtle breeding, egg incubation and hatchling emergence months.

Map turtles generally go about secretively and undetected except when they get into great stack-ups of one atop or near another on favorite sun-warmed basking logs. They have emydid habits of harboring toxins in their flesh from harvesting pesticide-harmed invertebrates and heading toward sun-warmed waterside grasses, groundcovers, logs, rocks, soils and stumps. Southern and northern map turtle life cycles incline more toward waters than toward landed itineraries as their elongated, flattened hindfeet involving aquatic-friendly, terrestrial-unfriendly, untortoise-like webbing indicates.

Agroindustrialists, breeders, collectors, polluters and predatory coyotes, crows, foxes, gulls, herons, opossums, raccoons, skunks, snakes and weasels jeopardize southern and northern North American map turtle habitats.

Southern and northern map turtles keep their elongated, straightened foreclaws keen for elaborate courtship patterns like those that other, related box, marsh and pond turtles know.

Females lay two clutches of 12 to 14 ellipsoidal, 1.25-inch (3.18-centimeter) long, thin-shelled eggs in flask-shaped nest cavities where the last hatchlings sometimes linger until spring. The season's last hatchlings may not move away from mother-made nests that sometimes maintain the year's last eggs for hatch times the following May and June. Algae, carrion, clams, crayfish, dead fish, emergent, floating and submerged aquatic plants, insect larvae, slugs, snails and worms nourish omnivorous (everything-eating) southern and northern map turtles.

North American map turtle habitats offer season-coldest coastal temperature ranges, northward to southward, from minus 45 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.78 to minus 6.66 degrees Celsius).

Cooler and warmer sandbars and sandy beaches in more open than vegetated wetland habitat niches respectively produce male and female hatchlings since temperature predicts turtle gender.

Four to 6.25 inches (10.16 to 15.88 centimeters) and 7 to 10.75 inches (17.78 to 27.31 centimeters) queue up as female and male upper-shell (carapace) lengths. Adults reveal narrow-, yellow-striped green skin, one yellow rectangle or spot behind the eyes, semi-flattened, semi-keeled (ridged) green to olive-brown upper-shells, webbed hindfeet and yellow lower-shells. Adult female upper-shell patterns seem obscured and juvenile lower- and upper-shells respectively show dainty spines and dark-seamed scutes whereas adult male upper-shells suggest orange-yellow meshed networks.

Green and yellow-striped skin, semi-flat, semi-ridged green-olive-brown upper-shells, yellow lower-shells, yellow rectangle- or spot-tethered eyes and webbed hindfeet turn up in North American map turtle habitats.

Five northern map turtles (Graptemys geographica) bask with a midland painted turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata); Petrie Island, eastern Ottawa, southeastern Ontario, east central Canada; Wednesday, May 12, 2010, 13:21: D. Gordon E. Robertson (Dger), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Northern map turtle hatchlings emerge from eggs with white protuberance, known as egg tooth, for breaking through eggshell; yellow lines on skin, which are reminiscent of topographical maps, account for Graptemys geographica's common name: Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre @OntarioTurtleCC, via Twitter March 25, 2013, @ https://twitter.com/OntarioTurtleCC/status/316264061996244992

Five northern map turtles (Graptemys geographica) bask with a midland painted turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata); Petrie Island, eastern Ottawa, southeastern Ontario, east central Canada; Wednesday, May 12, 2010, 13:21: D. Gordon E. Robertson (Dger), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northern_Map_Turtles.jpg

For further information:

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Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12636604
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/turtlesofnewengl00babc#page/378/mode/1up

"Barbour's Map Turtle Graptemys barbouri." Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission > How Can We Help You? > Discover Wildlife > Wildlife Viewing > Additional Wildlife Viewing Resources > Species Profiles > Showing All 406 Species.
Available @ https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/reptiles/freshwater-turtles/barbours-map-turtle/

Baur, G. (George). 7 November 1890. "Two New Species of Tortoises From the South: 2. Malacoclemmys  Kohnii (sp. nov.)." Science, vol. XVI, no. 405: 263.
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Beane, Jeffrey C.; Alvin L. Braswell; Joseph C. Mitchell; William M. Palmer; and Julian R. Harrison III. 2010. "Common Map Turtle Graptemys geographica." Page 169. In: Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia. With contributions by Bernard S. Martof and Joseph R. Bailey. Second Edition, Revised and Updated. Chapel Hill NC: The University of North Carolina.

Brown, Ashley D.; Kathleen Temple-Miller; Willem M. Roosenburg; Matthew M. White. 27 June 2012. "Mitochondrial DNA Variation in the Ouachita Map Turtle." Copeia 2012(2): 301-306. https://doi.org/10.1643/CH-11-009
Available via BioOne @ https://bioone.org/journals/copeia/volume-2012/issue-2/CH-11-009/Mitochondrial-DNA-Variation-in-the-Ouachita-Map-Turtle/10.1643/CH-11-009.short

Cagle, Fred F. 1953. "Two New Subspecies of Graptemys Pseudogeographica: Graptemys pseudogeographica ouachitensis, new subspecies." Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, no. 546 (June 12, 1953): 10-17. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Press.
Available via Deep Blue - University of Michigan Library @ https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/56984/OP546.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Cagle, Fred F. 1953. "Two New Subspecies of Graptemys Pseudogeographica: Graptemys pseudogeographica sabinensis, new subspecies." Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, no. 546 (June 12, 1953): 2-10. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Press.
Available via Deep Blue - University of Michigan Library @ https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/56984/OP546.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

"Common Map Turtle Graptemys geographica." Excerpted from Animal Diversity. Wisconsin Pollinators > Publications > Articles > Wisconsin Pollinators Reference Articles > Native Species Profiles > Wisconsin Native Turtles.
Available @ https://wisconsinpollinators.com/Articles/T_Map.aspx

Coy, Thomas. "Alabama Map Turtle." Austins Turtle Page > Turtle Care > Care Sheets > U.S. Turtles > Map Turtles > Select.
Available @ http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-alabamamap.htm

Coy, Thomas. "Barbour's Map Turtle." Austins Turtle Page > Turtle Care > Care Sheets > U.S. Turtles > Map Turtles > Select.
Available @ http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-barmap.htm

Coy, Thomas. "False Map Turtle." Austins Turtle Page > Turtle Care > Care Sheets > U.S. Turtles > Map Turtles > Select.
Available @ http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-falmap.htm

Coy, Thomas. "Northern (a.k.a. Common) Map Turtle Graptemys geographica." Austins Turtle Page > Turtle Care > Care Sheets > U.S. Turtles > Map Turtles > Select.
Available @ http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-northern_map.htm

Coy, Thomas. "Ouachita Map Turtle." Austins Turtle Page > Turtle Care > Care Sheets > U.S. Turtles > Map Turtles > Select.
Available @ http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-ouamap.htm

Donato, Melissa. 2000. "Graptemys geographica Common Map Turtle, Northern Map Turtle" (On-line). Animal Diversity Web. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
Available @ https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Graptemys_geographica/

Edwards, Kaitlyn. 2022. "Graptemys ouachitensis Ouachita Map Turtle" (On-line). Animal Diversity Web. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
Available @ https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Graptemys_ouachitensis/#lifespan_longevity

"False Map Turtle, Graptemys pseudogeographica." Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency > Wildlife/Biodiversity > Reptiles > Turtles in Tennessee.
Available @ https://www.tn.gov/twra/wildlife/reptiles/turtle/false-map-turtle.html

"False Map Turtle Graptemys pseudogeographica." Indiana Herp Atlas > Turtles.
Available @ https://inherpatlas.org/species/graptemys_pseudogeographica

Fuller, Pam. "Graptemys geographica (LeSueur, 1817)." USGS NAS -- Nonindigenous Aquatic Species: Reptiles-Turtles.
Available @ https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=1240

Gray, John Edward. 1831. "27. Emys Lesueurii (Lesueur's Terrapin)." Synopsis Reptilium; Or Short Descriptions of the Species of Reptiles. Part I -- Cataphracta. Tortoises, Crocodiles, and Enaliosaurians: 31. London, England: Treuttel, Wurtz, and Co.; G.B. Sowerby; W. Wood.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33482420

Gregoire, D.R. 2022. "Graptemys ouachitensis Cagle, 1953." USGS > NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species > Database & Queries > NAS Database > Database Search > All of Our Species Profiles > Page 28 > Group Reptiles-Turtles Family Emydidae Scientific Name. Gainesville FL: U.S. Geological Survey, Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database. Species ID 1242. Revision Date 10/28/2009.
Available @ https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=1242

Hammerson, G. 30 January 2002. "Graptemys ouachitensis Ouachita Map Turtle." NatureServe Explorer > Search for species and ecosystems. NatureServe Conservation Status Factors Edition Date 2 May 2005.
Available @ https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102685/Graptemys_ouachitensis

Holbrook, John Edwards. 1840. "Emys Pseudo-Geographica -- Lesueur." North American Herpetology; Or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Vol. IV: 59-62. Philadelphia PA: J. Dobson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3682756

Le Conte, Major J. (John Eatton). 1830. "Description of the Species of North American Tortoises. Read December 7, 1829.: 7. Testudo geographica." Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, vol. III: 108-111. New York NY: Printed for The Lyceum by G.P. Scott & Co., 1828-1836.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16077219

LeClere, Jeff. "False Map Turtle (Graptemys pseudogeographica)." Amphibians and Reptiles of Iowa > Turtles > Turtles of Iowa.
Available @ http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/reptiles/turtles/false-map-turtle-graptemys-pseudogeographica/

LeClere, Jeff. "Northern Map Turtle (Glyptemys geographica)." Amphibians and Reptiles of Iowa > Turtles > Turtles of Iowa.
Available @ http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/reptiles/turtles/northern-map-turtle-graptemys-geographica/

LeClere, Jeff. "Ouachita Map Turtle (Graptemys ouachitensis)." Amphibians and Reptiles of Iowa > Turtles > Turtles of Iowa.
Available @ http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/reptiles/turtles/ouachita-map-turtle-graptemys-ouachitensis/

LeSueur, C.A. (Charles Alexandre). September 1817. "An Account of an American Species of Tortoise, Not Noticed in the Systems. Read September 23, 1817." Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. I, part I, no. 5: 86-88. Philadelphia PA: Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24680314

Meadows, Austin. "Alabama Map Turtle (Graptemys pulchra)." Edited by J.D. Willson. University of Georgia > Savannah River Ecology Laboratory > Herpetology at SREL > Reptiles and Amphibians of SC and GA > Turtles of SC and GA.
Available @ https://srelherp.uga.edu/turtles/grapul.htm

"New World pond turtles (Emydidae)." Pages 105-107. In: Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 7, Reptiles, edited by Michael Hutchins, James B. Murphy, and Neil Schlager. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

"Northern Map Turtle, Graptemys geographica." Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency > Wildlife/Biodiversity > Reptiles > Turtles in Tennessee.
Available @ https://www.tn.gov/twra/wildlife/reptiles/turtle/northern-map-turtle.html

"Northern Map Turtle Graptemys geographica." Indiana Herp Atlas > Turtles.
Available @ https://inherpatlas.org/species/graptemys_geographica

Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre ‏@OntarioTurtleCC. 25 March 2013. "Northern Map #turtle hatchling. Notice the egg tooth?" Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/OntarioTurtleCC/status/316264061996244992

Partymiller, Lindsay. "Barbour's Map Turtle (Graptemys barbouri)." Edited by J.D. Willson. University of Georgia > Savannah River Ecology Laboratory > Herpetology at SREL > Reptiles and Amphibians of SC and GA > Turtles of SC and GA.
Available @ https://srelherp.uga.edu/turtles/grabar.htm

Partymiller, Lindsay. "Common Map Turtle (Graptemys geographica)." Edited by J.D. Willson. University of Georgia > Savannah River Ecology Laboratory > Herpetology at SREL > Reptiles and Amphibians of SC and GA > Turtles of SC and GA.
Available @ https://srelherp.uga.edu/turtles/grageo.htm

SEA LIFE Aquarium (Kansas City) @SEALIFEKansasCity. 17 May 2013. "This next Turtle Spotlight of the Ouachita Map Turtle! We will have a few of these inside our new Turtle Shelter Exhibit!" Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SEALIFEKansasCity/photos/a.145685512188672.32749.130159500407940/467401673350386/

SEA LIFE Kansas City ‏@SEALIFEKC. 19 May 2013. "This next Turtle Spotlight of the Ouachita Map Turtle! We will have a few of these inside our new Turtle Shelter . . . http://fb.me/1vRX1chim." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/SEALIFEKC/status/336285172955770880

Sowerby, James De Carle; Edward Lear. 1872. "Emys geographica." Tortoises, Terrapins, and Turtles Drawn From Life: Plate XXXVII-XXXVIII. London, England; Paris, France; Frankfort, Germany: Henry Sotheran, Joseph Baer & Co.
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"The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
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Uetz, Peter. "Graptemys geographica (Le Sueur, 1817)." Reptile Database.
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Uetz, Peter. "Graptemys ouachitensis Cagle, 1953." Reptile Database.
Available @ http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Graptemys&species=ouachitensis&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27Graptemys+ouachitensis%27%29%29

Uetz, Peter. "Graptemys ouachitensis Cagle, 1953." Reptile Database.
Available @ http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Graptemys&species=ouachitensis&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27Graptemys+ouachitensis%27%29%29

Uetz, Peter. "Graptemys pseudogeographica (Gray, 1831)." Reptile Database.
Available @ http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Graptemys&species=pseudogeographica&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27graptemys+pseudogeographica%27%29%29

Uetz, Peter. "Graptemys sabinensis Cagle, 1953." Reptile Database.
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van Dijk, P.P. 2011. "Ouachita Map Turtle Graptemys ouachitensis (errata version published in 2016)." The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
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Blue Moon Month July 2015 Opens With Full Moon Red From Wildfire Smoke

Summary: Blue moon month July 2015 opens with a full moon reddened from wildfire smoke in Earth's atmosphere.

full moon reddened by Alaska and Canada's wildfires, Friday, July 3, 2015, 06:59:46: Andrea Vail (avail), CC BY ND 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

July 2015 exhibits lunar symmetry by opening Wednesday, July 1, and closing Friday, July 31, with full moons. The full moon phase signifies complete illumination of the lunar disk as viewed by Earthlings and as occasioned by the sun/Earth/moon sandwich, with the sun and moon aligned on opposite sides of the Earth.

A second full moon within the same month tends to be known popularly, because of its infrequent occurrence, as a blue moon.

Wednesday’s and Thursday’s full moons on the first two evenings of July draw attention with unexpected hazy, orange redness over the central and eastern United States. The Northern Hemisphere’s polar jet stream is transporting smoke from wildfires raging in Alaska and Canada across most of the eastern United States. A trough in the jet stream is directing smoke-laced winds in a southeastward dip and northeastward upturn covering about 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) from the Upper Midwest through the Southeast to the Mid-Atlantic seaboard.

The United States averages about 100,000 wildland fires annually during the late spring-to-summer wildfire season. Droughts, increased lightning strikes and above-average temperatures in 2015 have jumpstarted the wildfire season in Alaska as well as in California and the Pacific northwestern states of Washington and Oregon. As of July 2015’s first full moon, over 600 wildfires have already burned more than 1.88 million acres in Alaska, where the season now runs from May to August.

Canada averages 8,000-plus wildfires annually. Western Canada typically experiences a brief wildfire season, often occurring only in July and August, thanks to spring snowmelt and cool temperatures.

As of July 2015’s full moon, western provinces from British Columbia to Saskatchewan and territories of Yukon and Northwest Territory, are experiencing an early start to the wildfire season, thanks to an extremely thin snowpack, a persistent heat wave, dry thunderstorm-sparked lightning strikes and accidental or intentional human-started fires. July 1, Canada’s national day known as Canada Day, features unprecedented campfire bans, declarations of states of emergency, and evacuations in British Columbia and northern Saskatchewan.

The custom of naming the second full moon in a month as a blue moon traces back to “Once in a Blue Moon,” an article by University of Oregon Extension professor of astronomy James Hugh Pruett (June 20, 1886–Sept. 25, 1955) published in the March 1946 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine. Professor Pruett defined a blue moon as the second full moon within the same month, based on a misinterpretation of information presented in Maine Farmers’ Almanac, published by Charles E. Nash and Sons of Augusta, Maine.

As the exception to the seasonal quarter’s norm of three full moons, Maine Farmers’ Almanac dubbed the third of four full moons in a quarter as a blue moon. According to the Almanac's actual definition, blue moon designates the month's first, not second, full moon crowded within the same month.

How will July’s second full moon be colored? Will wildfire smoke continue to redden and smudge July’s blue moon?

Or will July’s second full moon actually be blue? Dust and smoke sourced from forest fires or volcanic eruptions sometimes contain particles that are sized, at 1 micrometer, or 0.025 inch, as slightly larger than the wavelength of light. These tiny particles scatter red light but allow passage of blue light, which may give a bluish cast to the moon.

Alaskan and Canadian wildfire smoke dives southward into the contiguous United States, obscuring much of Lake Michigan (lower right); image Sunday, June 28, 2015, via Suomi NPP (Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite's VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) sensor; image credit NOAA/NASA GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) Project : NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA Goddard Photo and Video), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

full moon reddened by Alaska and Canada's wildfires, Friday, July 3, 2015, 06:59:46: Andrea Vail (avail), CC BY ND 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/avail/19362610245/

Alaskan and Canadian wildfire smoke dives southward into the contiguous United States, obscuring much of Lake Michigan (lower right); image Sunday, June 28, 2015, via Suomi NPP (Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite's VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) sensor; image credit NOAA/NASA GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) Project : NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA Goddard Photo and Video), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/19144008350/

For further information:

“Alaska wildfire season worst on record so far.” GISuser > Press > Environment. July 6, 2015.
Available @ http://gisuser.com/2015/07/alaska-wildfire-season-worst-on-record-so-far/

Bowling, Sue Ann. “Blue Moons and Lavender Suns.” University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute > Alaska Science Forum. Feb. 22, 1988.
Available @ http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF8/861.html

Dvorsky, George. “Smoke From Canadian Wildfires Is Pouring Into the US Like a River.” io9 > Earth Sciences. July 1, 2015.
Available @ http://io9.com/smoke-from-canadian-wildfires-is-pouring-into-the-us-li-1715133672

Freedman, Andrew. “Alaska wildfires char nearly 2 million acres, send smoke to South Carolina.” Mashable. July 1, 2015.
Available @ http://mashable.com/2015/07/01/alaska-wildfires-smoke/

Freedman, Andrew. “Hundreds of wildfires scorch Canada as extreme heat spreads.” Mashable. July 6, 2015.
Available @ http://mashable.com/2015/07/06/canada-wildfires-burn/

Fritz, Angela. “Smoke from ‘enormous amount’ of Canada wildfires filters into Mid-Atlantic.” The Washington Post > Blogs > Capital Weather Gang. July 20, 2015.
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“Hazy Skies & Orange Tinted Moon Locally Caused by Canadian Wildfires.” Watauga County Roads and Weather Conditions. July 1, 2015.
Available @ http://wataugaroads.com/hazy-skies-orange-tinted-moon-locally-caused-by-canadian-wildfires/

“NASA image: Canadian wildfires continue.” Phys.org > Earth > Earth Sciences. July 2, 2015.
Available @ http://phys.org/news/2015-07-nasa-image-canadian-wildfires.html “National Wildland Fire Situation Report.” Natural Resources Canada > Canadian Wildland Fire Information System > Forests > Forest Topics > Fire > Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS). July 1, 2015.
Available @ http://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/report

“Once in a Blue Moon.” Farmers’ Almanac > Astronomy. Aug. 20, 2012.
Available @ http://farmersalmanac.com/astronomy/2012/08/20/once-in-a-blue-moon/

Sanford, Todd, Regina Wang, and Alyson Kenward. The Age of Alaskan Wildfires. Princeton NJ: Climate Central, 2015.
Available @ http://assets.climatecentral.org/pdfs/AgeofAlaskanWildfires.pdf