Tuesday, July 30, 2019,
This is another Diamondback Terrapin that I found at West Meadow Creek in Setauket. I realize that from the angle that I took this photo that this turtle may look small but this is a case in which looks are deceiving. This beauty is a full grown female Terrapin and she is returning to the creek after having laid her eggs on shore. JK
Thursday, July 18, 2019,
This is a female Diamondback Terrapin. She’s heading back to the West Meadow Creek after nesting. Terrapins are coastal water turtles and it’s only the females that leave the water. These are not pleasure trips. In fact, it’s all business – the business of continuing the species. The females leave the relative safety of the water to risk predation by animals like foxes and raccoons and many others. They do this in order to find a safe place to lay their eggs so that another generation of Terrapins can follow in her footsteps. JK
JK
Thursday, July 11, 2019,
This is a female Diamondback Terrapin. She’s digging a hole in which she will probably lay her eggs. Sometimes a Terrapin will dig several test holes before deciding that she has found the right place or the proper consistency of sand. Think Goldilocks and porridge. JK
Monday, July 1, 2019,
JK
Tuesday, April 18, 2017,
This is a Diamondback Terrapin. A brand new one. Handsome little beastie, no?
These pics were taken almost a year ago at Sunken Meadow State Park. (Yeah, I’m still behind on my posts). It was the start of a good day. I didn’t know that yet, or rather, I didn’t know how good it was going to to be. I did know that it was a fine morning to be walking the beach and maybe for taking some decent pics. It was late May and I was enjoying a morning before the sweaty days of summer here on Long Island. I couldn’t know it yet, but before my visit was through I’d get some fairly decent shots of a Piping Plover patrolling the beach. Not to mention these pics.
When I came across this little one – (check out the photo below to see how tiny he was) – I was looking to take pics and video of the hundreds, heck, maybe thousands of Fiddler Crabs that inhabit this little spit of land when I noticed this guy booking away right beneath my feet. I very nearly stepped on him. I failed, completely, to get anything useful of the Fiddler Crabs that day, but just look at what I did get. You can never know what you’re going to find when you step out the door.
All we need to do is take that step. Just look and see what’s waiting for us. This and other little wonders are out there every day. JK