Let's Count Turtles - And a Reminder

It's that time of year when so many things are happening in the natural world that I'm sure I could write a post a day... except that would take time away from me being outside watching it happen! More birds are arriving back (or at least passing thru) every day, and wildflowers are going crazy now that we've had a little rain and warmth.  But I'm not going to write about either of those things today.

No, today we are going to count turtles!  It's sunny and warm, so let's go down by the swamp and see what we can find!

Right across from our driveway is the best viewing spot, because this log seems to be the favorite turtle hangout.  I counted 14 Painted Turtles here.

 Just in front and to the left of that log is the next best location.

There were eight there, after one climbed out of the water while I watched.  14 + 8 = 22 

Standing in the same spot, I looked around with my binoculars for more.

This loner was right in front of me.  14 + 8 + 1 = 23

Now, we're going to walk down the path along the swamp a little ways.

I momentarily got distracted by this male Yellow Warbler, which was singing away.

Along with him, I could hear a Warbling Vireo and Common Yellowthroat.  Not to mention all the Red-winged Blackbirds!

Back to the turtles...

Three here.  They had their heads up because a Grackle had just landed and run across the log behind them.

There were several more turtles nearby.  Two here...

and now a series of singles:

Whoops, another distraction... a female Hooded Merganser went swimming by. 

And, finally, the last two turtles I could see.

Some of them were pretty far away from me, so sorry for the grainy photos. 

Have you been keeping track?  

14 + 8 + 1 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1+ 1 + 1+1 = 34 !

That's the most turtles I've counted in one day in our swamp.  That makes me very happy, because last year I thought their numbers were down.  Apparently the 17" of ice we had 2 winters ago didn't bother them.   (We didn't measure it this past winter, I'm sure it was that much or more again.)

Something that does bother them... more than bothers; it's a real danger-- is the time coming soon when the females will leave the swamp to lay their eggs.  Our road runs parallel with the swamp.  While this is nice for viewing things, it's not so great for the turtles that try to cross it.  

Every year it makes me very sad to see a few turtles get crushed by cars.  Please slow down and avoid them.  Better yet, if you can safely stop, pick them up and carry them across in the direction they are heading.  I will appreciate it and so will the turtles.  (You can read more about turtle egg-laying time in a post I wrote back in June 2013.  Click here.)

If you slow down while driving by not only can you avoid killing a turtle, you might see something interesting like this:

Yesterday afternoon there were 4 Great-blue Herons in the old nesting tree (you can see 2 of them in this photo).  I don't know what they were up to, but I'm planning to keep an eye on them!