On Monday morning, as we were getting up to start the rainy holiday morning, Mary happened to look outside and saw something she couldn't quite make out in the front yard. It turned out to be a Snapping Turtle that had crawled up into the yard to lay eggs.
Remembering from my Florida days to be careful not to disturb her, I kept my distance to take a few pictures - here she is while laying, then another photo of her moving back down the hill when she was done.
There may have been a second nesting site, or she may have started in one place and finished in another. We put up wood stakes to keep the mowers out of the area until the little ones are hatched and gone.
A quick look at Wikipedia reveals that her trip up the hill is not unusual for turtles laying eggs - it says they lay from 35 to 80 in a batch, once per year. The incubation runs from 9 to 18 weeks, depending on temperature (I imagine the Virginia summer means a shorter period).
She is of average size (10 t0 18 inch shell diameter). Their lifespan in the wild is around 30 years, although they have been kept up to 47 years in captivity.
Here's a photo looking downhill to Beaver Run - the beaver pond is just to the north across the road. This is a little area of the stream where the water widens out and is fairly placid. Not much sun in there, but that's where I guess she went.
No comments:
Post a Comment