SNAPPING TURTLE LAYING EGGS

Wow.  I wanted to enjoy watching nature by being home during the day this year; spring is always especially busy in a school and I never saw anything. I've known that the snapping turtle comes up and lays her eggs in our backyard, but have never seen her myself. My mother was visiting one time and saw the snapper laying her eggs, but I never did. 

Today, there she is in the backyard. She stood quite a deep hole. She has mud on her nose. Her shell is starting to get dry on the top so she's probably been here for a while. It seems to be a fairly slow process, as is most of a turtle's life when on land!  When I first looked at her she was laying eggs, I assume she was anyway, she was just sitting in the hole and being very still. 

Snapping Turtle laying eggs

 Then she got up and turned around and stuck her head way down in under the mind and under the rocks. This is a very rocky area there are lots of small stones that the former owner put down for some reason. Anyway, she stuck her head under ground, either another making the hole deeper, or possibly covering the eggs, I'm not sure which. Nice thing about trying to take pictures of turtle, is that they don't move very fast! 

The snappers looks so prehistoric so long scaly tail. Her legs look powerful; that makes me want to try to get another picture of those back legs.

She sticks her back leg way down deep into this hole, maybe 6 inches down. (You can see that in the picture - her right hind leg is in the hole she has made) I wonder if that's where she just actually lays the egs. I'll have to do some research and see how many legs they lay at one time. As I recall it's quite a few because of predation. Most of the eggs don't hatch they get eaten by coons and such, before they can become ready and hatch or the little turtles get eaten as they try to get to the pond.

(I have an awfully busy morning and I really don't have time to watch this, but I can't tear myself away. I'm using the Dragon software on my iPhone to dictate this entry as I watch the turtle. Some times technology is pretty cool.)

I wonder if she is tamping the egg down as she sticks her foot in the hole or if she's using her toes and covering the egg or exactly what's going on down there. Certainly can't tell from this distance.

Let's hear it for iPhones. I asked Siri to find information for me on snapping turtles laying their eggs and here's what she came up with from: http://www.naturealmanac.com/archive/snappers/snappers.html

Female snapping turtles have the ability (as do most turtles) to plan their pregnancies. Sperm cells from the male survive in the female's reproductive tract for up to three years in a specialized duct so that when food is plentiful and life is good she can fertilize any eggs she happens to be carrying. When the eggs ripen (usually in mid June in our area) she develops a wanderlust and leaves the water (one of the few times these turtles willingly leave the water) to search for a suitable location to lay her eggs.

Snapping Turtles will sometimes lay their eggs considerable distances from the water - up to a quarter mile away has been recorded. Once the site is chosen she digs a bottle-shaped hole with her hind feet as deep as she can reach - which can be up to eight inches. She then lays from ten to thirty ping pong ball sized eggs and covers them with the previously excavated soil grading it smooth with her lower shell and tail. Depending on the temperature, rainfall and moisture content of the nest the eggs the eggs hatch in from 55 to125 days after laying. In northern climes some nests overwinter with hatching occurring in the spring of the following year. Around here most nests have hatched by the end of September.

The hatchling baby snappers (assuming the nest isn't discovered and eaten by a passing skunk or raccoon) burrow up through the covering soil and then seek the nearest body of water. In practical terms this means moving downhill until water is encountered. It's during this over- land migration that the young turtles are most vulnerable. Even though most of the migrations occur at night wandering raccoons, skunks and even owls pick off as many hatchlings as they can detect for a tasty meal. Those that actually make it to water are still not safe. Snakes, turtles, herons and other snapping turtles all find the youngsters a tasty treat and make the most of any encounter. Perhaps one turtle hatchling in twenty will live to see its second year.

I have GOT to get packed up for tonight's gig before I leave for the stable -- I'll edit this tomorrow.  Very cool....

RED-TAILED HAWK CAM UPDATE

Well, the Red-tailed hawklets featured on the Cornell webcam (see April 6 blog entry) are a bit over a month old (34 days, I think) and have changed beyond imagining!  Birds grow so fast.  Compare the picture of day 2 with today's pictures! (All pictures were captured on my iPhone as screen shots from the live video coverage of Cornell University's Hawk Webcam.) 

Day 34?

Day 2

 

Amazing what mother nature can do!!!  I find it interesting that the chicks look so much like bald eagles; bald eagle young DON'T look like this.

Day 34? Trying out wings (screen shot from Cornell webcam)

It is really windy today, and the bird closest to us (above pix) was flapping its wings - strengthening them in the wind to prepare for fledging.

This next shot is the mother, who is called Big Red, and the three chicks sharing a starling.  It was really interesting, one of the parent birds, I don't remember which, came in with a starling (there is a nest in a pipe right behind where mom is standing) and dropped it. The bird who is furthest away in the top picture clambered over the other two and grabbed the starling.  Mom reached in and took it away and started eating it.  The chastised young-un stood back and waited (reminds me of training our dog... pack leaders eat first!).  Then Big Red started giving the now polite chick some pieces.  The other two stayed in the background.  Eventually the first chick felt satisfied and the other two came forward and in this shot, they are both pulling on what is left of the starling.

Day 34? - mom (Big Red) and the three chicks having a starling lunch (screen shot from Cornell webcam)

If you haven't checked out the incredible work of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and you are interested in birds, you must take a look!  AllAboutBirds.org is an incredible (free) resource, and the Birds of North America website (which you have to pay to have access to) has much more detailed and scientific information.  You can link to the webcams from AllAboutBirds.org and there are webcams for the Red-tails, a Great Blue Heron (whose eggs have started hatching!) and two Ospreys.

Always more fun to see live, but when there isn't a nest in viewing range, the webcams are a terrific alternative!!

THE GOOD, THE BAD and the UGLY

What a spectacular morning for a paddle!  I managed to get out before 6:30 and the sun was shining on the water, well, actually on the pollen on the water!  Many birds flitting in the branches of the trees.  Now that most have leaves, it is harder to find the birds, but there are so many colors and textures!  Look at this picture of maple tree seeds & leaves; what color, and the delicate fringe of the new leaves up above.  Wow.  (Click on the picture to see it full size)

Maple seeds and new leaves

Sometimes I like to just float in my canoe and watch what is under the water - I see fish swim by, painted turtles with noses in the air, darting away when they see me.  I keep looking for the huge snapper that both Suzanne and Ann have seen, but it hasn't showed up yet on my watch.  

Then, however, while looking so closely at the water, one can't help but notice the burgeoning water chestnut plants.  Yes, they are coming up.  I travel with a bucket in the back of my canoe now, and today I pulled a half bucket of water chestnut plants.  

Speaking of invasives, I'm sure you've heard all the hype about the garlic mustard and how quickly it spreads and takes over everything in its path.  Pull it when you see it!  It goes to seed soon and there will be loads of seeds that grow efficiently.  Below is a picture

Garlic Mustard -- PULL when you see it!

And the ugly?  The scum on the pond.  Covers the pond this AM, but upon closer look, a lot of the issue is pollen, and we KNOW that covers EVERYTHING this time of year!  I sat on the porch (my summer office) for a while this morning and it looked like it was snowing.

Still, our pond is a beautiful place and I feel blessed to live on it!

MISCELLANEOUS NOTICINGS

It was all misty on the pond this morning when I went out at 6:20ish.  Temperature was 36, and chilly!  I heard kingfishers, and red-winged blackbirds among the other regular yard birds that we hear in the morning. Watched a grackle gathering little twigs and young leaves, probably for nesting material. Also saw a muskrat. The mist was so think in some places that I could hardly see the other shore. The air is cold, but the water is warm (I've noticed that as I pick Water Chestnut nuts out of the pond!)
 

Sunrise through the mist on Stearns Mill Pond (unretouched photo with a Canon Powershot!)

The pond is getting a little bit scummy at this point; things are starting to grow and to float up from the bottom.  I've pulled out about a half bucketful of Water Chestnut nuts (seeds).  They are floating on top and I just grab them and dump them into the bucket.

Scum on pond

 
From last Friday's paddle:

The trees are blooming and hanging over the shore edge.  Pretty.
Geese are noisy, but I love watching them land in the water so smooth. Uh-oh. Two more geese are flying in and landing where the first one was. They don't seem happy that this first goose is in their territory. There's lots of honking and slapping of wings and flying at the intruder. I wonder if the two have a nest somewhere and are protecting it. I know there's a goose nest further upstream, near the mouth of the brook.

The water is low today that's not good.
Why is there an oil slick on the top of the water at our landing? 

Suzanne reports several sightings of a VERY large snapper near the shore and also some piles of shells.  I've seen both all white shells and the shells with purple, iridescent lining.  I'm not up on my shell animals, so I'm not sure what they are.  Could be piles left by muskrats or otter, or even a coon. 

But our pond is so beautiful!

IT PAYS TO SLOW DOWN AND LOOK...

I'm linking to a wonderful video that a friend just passed on to me.  It is a morning walk, last week, through Memorial Forest, right here in Sudbury, done by Christopher Renna.  Give it a watch, if only for the Barred Owl shots!  But, there is so much more to it and it really shows us why we need to slow down and look!  (Really look at the pictures of the fish eggs and watch the insects on the water! --Later: Mr. Renna said they are likely spotted salamander eggs, as they are in a vernal pool.)

Screen shot of Barred Owl from C.Renna's video

  Here is the link to the video:  http://youtu.be/2yMswp_thqg