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Health & Fitness

Bog Blog 5/23/11

A turtle sighting at last! (and it had a face I had seen before!)

I don't know if anyone else will be as excited as I am about this, but the swamp watch finally paid off!

I was just about to give up for the night, when I heard a sort of a "sploosh" from further down the creek bank. It almost sounded like the beaver, but was just a bit different, and I knew I had heard it before.

I watched the ripples in the water heading toward me, then got distracted when the beaver really did appear. He was swimming away from me, and the ripples were headed my way. I turned around just in time to see a turtle face come peeking out of the water. And not just any turtle! It was the very same turtle that I saw all those years ago, the giant snapper that put me on the road to becoming the  "Turtle Lady!"  

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Snapping turtles have very unique markings on their faces, and this was a turtle face that I have seen almost every year since 2000. In addition to the distinctive white spot next to her right eye, she was huge! (Personally, I think she looked like she recognized me—my kids tell me to stop attributing human characteristics to the creek critters, but I think this time I was correct in doing so.)

To top off the turtle sighting, a bunch of big catfish showed up. I was impressed by the way they swam around and under the turtle—don't know if they were really brave or stupid. I was kind of hoping to see the snapper grab one of them, but she was either full or as stupid as the catfish were.

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I don't know if she had been out of the water to lay eggs, and the sploosh I heard was her return to the creek, or if she was on a scouting mission for the spot where she would come out when she was ready to nest.

I managed to get a couple of photos with my phone (of course I didn't have my camera with me) and will post them after I clean them up a bit.

I'll let you know if the beastie returns tonight.

In other creek-related news, one of the newest members of the PCWA, and a hard-working volunteer, Sam G. took me up on the offer to borrow a kayak and take a tour of the creek. He picked up enough bottles and litter to fill a milk crate.  He didn't see any turtles, but saw a variety of birds. He wanted to look up a couple of them, and then perhaps he'll let us know just what he saw.

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