For Love of Turtles

Lots of people love turtles, and I am one of them.  I am happy to report that this past week for me was quite turtle-ly.  My husband and I spent the week in south Texas, thanks to air mile vouchers for our flights.   We timed our trip for what we hoped would be good birding there during spring migration, and we planned to visit some famous birding spots.  We did see lots of birds, but we also saw quite a few turtles.  I'll tell you more about the birds later, but in this post, the turtles get the spotlight.

The first place we went was Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.  There in the cypress bog were lots of Red-eared Sliders of all sizes.  The one above was about 5" long.

This log seemed to be the spot for the smaller ones (with the exception of the larger one in the back, being used as a perch for a little guy).

A nearby log was the hang-out for most of the larger ones.

The next turtles were at Paradise Pond in Port Aransas.  I didn't notice them right away, they were so well camouflaged with duckweed.

When we were at Padre Island, we saw this sign.  It was the time of year for Green Sea Turtles to come onto the beach to lay their eggs.  We did walk the beach awhile, but we didn't see any turtles. 

But, it just happened we were there for a turtle release!  The local  rehab center was going to release healed Green Sea Turtles back into the ocean.  When we checked into our motel, the friendly clerk told me about it. What luck that we were there at the right time!

We got a good spot along the taped off section of beach to watch.  First, they brought all the turtles out in plastic containers.

The turtle they set down right in front of us was named Lester.
I guess it can be hard to tell sea turtles apart, because they all had their names on post-it notes!

A huge crowd had gathered to see the turtles released, so even though several of the ladies who volunteer at the Texas Sealife Center talked to us about the turtles, I couldn't hear all of what was said.  I believe there were 17 turtles.  

They had all been living at the center until they were well enough to live back in the ocean.  Some of them had tumors removed, like this guy.

You can see on his foreleg where he has a scar from the surgery.

The next turtle lost one front leg in an accident, but had healed and will be able to survive nicely without it, according to the lady who carried it back to the sea.

Many of the turtles looked perfect... and they may have been ones that were rescued by boat when the water in the area got below 40 degrees.  At that temperature, they basically can't function well and float along on top of the water.  They might wash up on shore where they would be vulnerable to predators or simply die in the cold water.

As they were being shown to the crowd, most of the turtles were flapping their flippers excitedly... they could smell the ocean and they were ready to go!

The volunteers from the Sealife Center carried them, one by one, into the water.

Off they went...

... until there was only one left!  The biggest one of all.

It took two guys to lift it out of the back of the truck.

It was flapping, ready to swim!

What a joyful moment to see each turtle returned to where it belonged. 

The next turtles of my week are from back home today in PA!  They are Painted Turtles, sunning themselves on a log in our beaver swamp.  (You can read more about our turtles in this post called "Why did the turtle cross the road?") 

I like to do a 'turtle count' on sunny days like today, and I was happy to see 10 on one log.

There were two more on another log.

I was glad to see they made it through the extremely cold winter we had.  An added bonus while I was counting turtles was seeing a pair of Hooded Mergansers.  You can easily see the male just behind the turtles in the above photo.  The female is not so easy to see.  She is to the left of him on the other side of the reeds.  

I'm not sure why so many people love turtles, but if you weren't one of them before, I hope you are now!