I don't know why the chicken crossed the road, but I do know why the turtles do. They come out of the swamp and cross our road to lay their eggs.
On good turtle-sunning days like the April day in this photo, I like to count how many I can see. The most I've counted at one time was 18. How many can you see in this photo? Also, can you identify the two flying birds?
Beginning around the end of May and going thru June, we frequently see lady Painted Turtles on land, looking for a place to lay their eggs. If we see them in the road, we move them to the side in the direction they are heading.
Thursday was a busy turtle day. A four turtle day, in fact! The first turtle was in the road when we were heading out our driveway to go somewhere, so I don't have a photo of her. My husband waited in the car while I put her across.
Turtle number two was in the ditch by our driveway when we first encountered her - more on her later.
Here is turtle number three:
She was laying her eggs very close to the road... she had not crossed it.
You can see how close she was to the road in the next photo.
That's the turtle, right in the center of the photo.
Turtle number 4 also did not cross the road. She did not come very far out of the swamp. I've read that older turtles will go farther from the water to lay their eggs, so maybe this is a young turtle. They can live anywhere from 20 to 50 some years, also from what I've read!
In this photo you can see how close she was to the water.
That would sure make it easier for the little ones to get to the swamp after they hatch.
We have found newly hatched Painted Turtles in our yard and they are quite tiny, but they can move pretty fast, too!
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| Baby Painted Turtle on May 27th |
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| We always carry the babies down to the water when we find them. |
Now we come back to what I think is turtle number 2 again, because she was near where we saw the one in the ditch.
She had crossed the road, but not very far. She had tried to dig a nest in some very hard dirt in our lawn. As you can see she was not successful in digging and her eggs were laying on top of the ground.
I decided to leave them alone that night and see what would happen. They were still there... intact, the next morning! Quite often, racoons or other predators eat turtle eggs so I was surprised. I decided to move them (especially because they were in an area where I mow and I was planning to mow that day).
I dug a shallow hole for them in a protected spot nearby in my flowerbed and covered them up. Two days later they have not been dug up by any predators, so maybe they have a chance.
Speaking of having a chance... every year, it saddens me to see a turtle or two hit in the road by our house. This year there has already been one mature and one hatchling turtle killed. So, if you are driving by... please slow down and watch for our turtles! Thank you.
