(Red-eared sliders in Tennessee, Texas Gopher Tortoise, and Loggerhead Sea Turtle in North Carolina)
One of my favorite things about spring is turtles. Turtles! I've always loved them, all of them. I have little notes of when I was a wee child writing about "tretols." Growing up on a small lake, I'd find baby Red-eared Sliders in April and May all over the place. I'd see adults laying eggs and heading back to the lake. I'd go on daily missions (usually several times a day) to look for babies crossing the road and save them. I still do this when I'm home, obviously. I've saved hundreds and hundreds of turtles in the road. I saved my first one this year a couple days ago. So glad the little guy is safe now.
(baby Arizona Mud Turtle and Loggerhead Sea Turtle below)
Anyway. Turtles. I love all of them, even those badass snappers. I've found sliders covered in leeches and picked them off with tweezers for 3 straight hours. Gross. But it was obvious that she was thankful. I saw the look in her eye and I found her again a few days later, sunning herself. And she looked so much happier without the stupid leeches bothering her.
(Me with a Loggerhead who had just finished laying 84 eggs. She had been out of the water for more than 4 hours and started going the wrong way - not towards the ocean. I had to round up some people and help turn her around. Seeing her finally reach the ocean was a pretty cool experience. I had spent almost 5 hours with her at that point. Below is a Snapping Turtle I saw a couple weeks ago in Tennessee)
(Below: Texas Gopher Tortoise at Laguna Atascosa)
In 2005, I got to work with sea turtles (my spirit animal) on the Outer Banks. There were mainly Loggerheads, some Leatherbacks and Hawksbills too. This was my first field gig and I was hooked. I found nests and relocated them to safer places. I got to see the moms digging the nests and laying eggs. The word "amazing" is overused but this...this was pretty amazing stuff. I adore these animals.
(Loggerhead with her crawl above, below Red-eared Slider)
I could talk about my love of all things turtles and tortoises for days, but I'll keep it brief. They're awesome, they just can't help it. I get all giddy and goofy when I find turtles. I advice you to do the same. And help 'em across the road! One of the redeeming things about Mississippi is that there are a ton of different species of turtles. I gotta snap up my identification skills! Weekend Reflections Watery Wednesday Outdoor Wednesday Nature Notes (Below: Me with 2 unidentified turtles in Mississippi, Snapping Turtle in TN and a 3-legged Slider in TN)
Three days in a row? I'm out of control. Quick story for you...last week I was riding my bike up this pretty steep hill,on a dirt road that gets little use. Big hill, therefore I was going slow. I was hugging the right side of the road, near the tall grass when out of nowhere a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake strikes at me. He raises about a foot or so off the ground, goes for my exposed leg and I as I'm looking down just a couple feet from the snake's face, I have a most excellent view of his open mouth and fangs going right for my knee. Holy shit. Yeah, HOLY SHIT. ..While he was in the process of striking (this whole scenario lasts just a few seconds of course), the rest of his body has come out of the grass, and I don't mean to but I have zero reaction time and I run over his tail. I felt bad about that, but in the end I didn't feel sweat it too much since if I hadn't, he for sure woulda sunk those bad boys fangs into my leg. After I hit his tail he got out of my way and seemed to be just fine. A Western Diamondback bit probably would have left me hurting pretty good, especially since the nearest hospital is an hour away...
