As regular readers know, I am an avid gardener. Oh, sure, I tend a few flowers and exotic potted plants. Most of my time and energy is spent (some say wasted) maintaining the traditional American lawn. It is not easy.
During one of my recent attacks on Mother Nature’s non-conformity took me to the depths of the “back 40.” Back here, it is shady and heavily forested with mature ash and black walnut trees. I was wielding a weed eater when I spotted something odd nearby.
I killed the engine and walked nearer. There on the sun dappled ground stood a large turtle. She made no effort to move. Behind her rose a small pile of moist earth. The heavy clay that passes for earth in this area can be hard as concrete.
I studied the scene for a long time before I realized I was watching a mother turtle digging a hole in which she could lay her eggs. I backed away slowly. Once I was a good distance away, I ran for the house and grabbed a camera. I snapped half a dozen shots before she moved.
I think she found the earth unsuitable for hatching a family. Maybe she thought I would poach her eggs from the nest. Who knows? She left, returning to the little creek at the end of my property. It a couple minutes, she was gone. I hope she was able to find a safe place, wherever she went.
Here are a couple photos:
Her shell is just over 12" in diameter. I'm guessing.
See, she's been digging with her back legs.
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I am fortunate enough to be the care-taker of two families of lizards in my "back 40". It's intriguing to watch them as they go about their daily business. -RK
ReplyDeleteDid you ask her if she were a turtle??? BR
ReplyDeleteI have a Gecko living in my mailbox. From time to time, he shuffles off his mortal coil when a catalog arrives, but he is replaced by another in a matter of days. Kinda like California real estate.
ReplyDeleteNo need. A turtle is "any reptile of the order Testudines, comprising aquatic and terrestrial species having the trunk enclosed in a shell consisting of a dorsal carapace and a ventral plastron." Per dictionary.com. She seemed to fit the bill.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, we had a turtle named
ReplyDeleteCrudina. She was big and wonderful. One day she
disappeared. Didn't come back for 3 years, and
then, one morning...there she was. But just for
a little bit.
A few months later, Crudina was gone for
good. I love turtles. Why? I don't know.
Crudina? Maybe she felt a sense of low self-esteem due to her name. It is only a thought.
ReplyDeleteWho can possibly know the depths of the turtle's wild heart? :)
I had one in my koi pond for almost a year...then one Spring day heavy rains began, and the next day I went out and discovered that the little critter had floated away, I know not where....never to be seen again.
ReplyDeleteMitch