The town has been digging up and replacing sewer and water lines along Rt 149 (200 feet from my house). This has been going on for several weeks, but apparently Tuesday they disturbed this guy/gal. I had let Rita out and she was intent on a spot behind the middle section of fence. When I looked, my first thought was "how in the heck did that large, flat rock suddenly appear in my backyard?". Since it was resting and mud covered, you'll have to forgive my mistaken identity. Once I realized it was a large turtle, my next thought was to grab my phone and take pictures.
The turtle rested for about 10 minutes in the shade
Then continued his journey (toward the swamp)
He did burrow in below that evergreen shrub and rest for a while more
A while later I looked out and saw he was heading toard the clothes line
Close up while still approaching clothes line
He got past the clothes line and entered the shade garden, where I quit watching figuring he was done for the evening.
I don't know where he ended up as I haven't seen him since. For all I know he has set up shop in the shade garden under the crabapple tree since that is very dense so I couldn't tell if a large pig or dog were in there. I'm guessing he found the swamp.
Cute! Turtles are slow, but they can make epic journeys. Thanks for letting us follow along, Bogie! Happy to hear that Rita made the find, without getting snapped at.
Your dad pointed out a turtle in our driveway the other day. I don't know much about turtles, but it wasn't a snapping turtle. Last we saw it, it was between the crepe myrtles and our house. Perhaps it found a hidden corner behind hollies that grow next to our foundation.
Posted by: Cop Car | September 02, 2018 at 11:13 AM
I am facinated by turtles but snappers are nothing to mess with - even smaller ones. This one was not as big as the one we had one year at the other house. I've seen huge snappers crossing rout 202/9 before. You would not want to hit it with a car :O
I would say this one was a "teenager" in turtle years.
Posted by: bogie | September 09, 2018 at 07:10 AM
I agree that snappers are nothing to mess with. In fact, my folks and grandfolks were careful to instill a healthy respect for snapping turtles in us kids. We ran across them, on occasion, in the cow pastures or back by Grma H's pond.
Posted by: Cop Car | September 09, 2018 at 11:02 AM