Well Met, Ancient Reptile / "Two Bits" the Turtle

And this is me, at turtle time, just slammin' through all of my extra photos for the year! *sigh*   :-)

So of course, after Sunday night's big storms, I had to go to the Barrens the next morning to see if my favorite pond had actually flooded out over the path. The news from the Barrens is that it did not. However, my favorite pond - along with all of the others - stands as full of water as I've ever seen it!

On the way into the woods, there is a small turtle pond under the power lines. It's way high right now and flooded too, but I spotted our pal Fifty Cents (whom we all met yesterday) pretty easily. 

And then I looked around, and there were at least TWO more small turtles. One was about the size of Fifty Cents, and the other was somewhat smaller. So say hello to Fifty Cents' younger sibling, "Two Bits," who appears in the extras. It almost looks like that tiny turtle is sticking its tongue out at me, but I think that's just a foot. Do ALL young turtles do yoga?

So I visited my favorite pond, and then I headed for the second pond. But I stopped on the path to take a selfie, because I was wearing one of my dad's shirts, and I wanted a picture. The shirt says, The Mountains Are Calling And I Must Go. (And yes, I AM my father's daughter!)

As I was finishing up with that, I looked down at my feet, and I spotted an ancient reptile! Snapping turtles have been around on this planet for 90 million years! (And yes, we're ALL lucky I didn't step on it by accident!) This snapping turtle is the first I think I've ever seen in the Barrens, in the 20 years I've been going there!

It wasn't far uphill from the second pond, and so I figured that was where it came from. If you find a snapping turtle wandering around outside of a pond in late springtime, there is a chance that it is a female looking for a spot to lay eggs. I wondered if it isn't a little bit early for that, but everything seems to be happening earlier and earlier these days.

I got out the small ruler I keep in my camera bag and measured its shell, simply by sitting the ruler BESIDE the turtle. The shell turned out to be about six inches long. Add a few inches for head and tail, and this little specimen is about ten or eleven inches in total.

The snapping turtle did not seem to be in distress. It did not seem to need any help at all. My only concern was that it was a little closer to the trail than I would have liked (about a foot off it, but not in the middle of it). Oh, and if you MUST ever move a turtle for its own safety, move it into the direction in which it was heading.

While I have handled snappers before, and actually rescued a really big one off the road I used to travel to work, there didn't seem to be any good reason to touch it. So after I measured it and took my photos, I said, "Well met, ancient reptile!" And I went on my merry way. No touchie the ancient reptiles, kthx!

I've got two photos so here are two songs. First, for my itty bitty new little friend in the extras, here is Alan Jackson, with Little Bitty. And second, for my ancient reptile friend, who is probably a female on walkabout looking for a nesting spot, here are the Turtles, with Let Me Be.