Category Archives: Turtles

The Creature From The Green Lagoon

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Thursday, October 31, 2013,

Happy Halloween all. This seems as likely a time to post these pics as any. I got these shots near the start of the month at Avalon. Both of these photographs are lucky captures. I mean that. I visit Avalon on a regular basis but I’m usually a very early bird. Most times, I’m already wrapping things up by 9AM. It’s a quality of light sort of thing.  But I was being interviewed by Sue Wahlert, a reporter for the Times Beacon Record Newspapers and I was out later than usual. The folks at the Times Beacon thought I’d make for a decent human interest story of sorts. I had a camera with me despite thinking I really wouldn’t need it aside from being a prop. Since I was being interviewed (and photographed) for being a photographer, I figured that having a camera with me would be a plus. So there I am, pretending that I’m taking photographs of the local wildlife which was represented primarily by Mallards when this Common Snapping Turtle made its appearance. I was actually taking pictures (hey, I’m a method actor) when this monster came out of seemingly nowhere, rearing its head from the duckweed as went past us. And then it opened its mouth, but without any apparent threat. It swam past a pair of resting ducks without raising any alarms despite its open maw before disappearing beneath the little bridge. This was a pretty amazing thing to see. Trust me on this. I cannot and will not claim to be a Snapping Turtle expert but I have seen more of these beauties in the wild than many other folks and finding one swimming around with its mouth wide open is a very rare and wonderful occurrence. Enjoy the holiday. JK

 


 

A Red-Bellied Turtle Wearing Algae

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Thursday, September 12, 2013,

This is a female Red-bellied Turtle that I saw resting along the Lower Carmans River. Her carapace, (that’s upper shell to folks like you and me), appears to be covered with some sort of algae. I’m not sure if this is a lifestyle comment or a fashion statement. It’s not my place to judge. JK

 

 

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Painted Turtle On A Pond In Maine

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Sunday, September 30, 2012,

Here are two shots of an Eastern Painted Turtle I found on a small pond in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. These turtles are beautiful wherever you find them. Those bright red and yellow stripes are just plain magnificent. Even the shell is “painted” wonderfully. These guys are native to Long Island as well as Maine, but I can never get enough of them. Such beautiful animals. Every time I see one, it’s a treat. JK   

JK

A Backyard Visitor

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Thursday, June 28, 2012,

Four days ago I was looking out my back window, as I am often wont to do, when I spied a dark shape moving rather quickly across the back lawn. This was too fast and determined to be a bird. Birds foraging on the lawn are mostly step, step, stab or hop, hop, poke and stab. There are variations of course, but there are few instances of birds running in straight lines unless there’s a territorial dispute of some kind. Robins are good for that; they’ve got this thing about personal space but they’re not the only ones. Just yesterday I saw a young Grackle shoo off an Eastern Cottontail. 

  Anyways, back to the story at hand. This visitor racing across the yard was moving much too determinedly to be a bird. I had a pretty good guess at what I was seeing but it was too far off for me to be certain. I stood closer to the window. I squinted. No go. I squinted harder. Again, no go. Squinting just doesn’t work as well as it used to. Maybe I need new squinters. So I reached for my binoculars, and yes, there was a Diamondback Terrapin. ‘Tis the time of year when the females come ashore to lay their eggs. Less than a week before I had found one trying to deposit her eggs in the gravel driveway. This is never a good idea. It’s a dangerous place for her to be, let alone the ten or so so hatchlings come September. Not to mention the very real chance of scrambled eggs in the meantime, if someone’s car should roll over the wrong spot. I moved last week’s terrapin to a nice sandy spot in the yard, but there’s no arguing with a woman. She will plant those eggs wherever she sees fit and and there really is no persuading her. Sigh. At least she’s not asking me to move the couch. JK