I don’t know how to begin to describe the scene I saw this evening at the pond, and I’m at a loss to find a way to explain how it impacted me mentally and emotionally. I think the photo above might capture the unsettling feeling I still have, hours later.
(Please click on any of the photos to enlarge for better viewing. Use your back arrow key to return to the post.)
Chronologically: I saw something in the water that I couldn’t identify. I stayed behind a shrub (hence the green in the foreground of the photo above) and took a picture. All I could think of was an stingray. But there couldn’t be a stingray in this pond. I could see that there were two parts to it, and it looked as if it were torn almost in half. It was moving in shallow water, about two feet deep.
I came from around the shrub just as it broke through the surface of the water. I thought it must be the muskrat. But I couldn’t understand why the water was churning in a six-foot diameter fury all around it. I worried a snapper had it by the tail.
It fell back into the water.
More bubbling and churning followed – below. I was mesmerized, confused, a little scared, and worried for what might be being harmed. There was something intense happening under the water.
It quieted – photo below – and I struggled to make out what was under the still surface. I couldn’t.
It riled up again and
the nose of a turtle came through the surface. I was overcome with sadness. I knew it was injured and must be dying. I felt guilty taking photos, and kept moving the camera away from my eye. I’d watch it a bit, feel sad, then take pictures again.
There was further struggle and I imagined it suffocating under water, unable to surface again for air.
But it did surface again, and it made a loud, deep, bellowing, belching noise. I was overcome, caught in a moment of death, as I witnessed the dying struggle for a breath.
Like something out of the Odyssey, this enormous turtle, or enormous two turtles, came up out of the water to its/their shoulders. The telltale clawed paw I’ve seen on the big snappers was visible. But my mind was stuck on the size of the head – which had to be eight inches, nose to shell. (O.K. it’s just come to me that this head looks like something out of the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies. An Orc?)
My eyes have never seen this site in real life. And my brain had no place to put the information. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I will admit, I was wigged out, totally. And I know that’s not scientific observation terminology. But I’m not a trained naturalist. I lost my power of pure observation and wigged!
Click on either of the two images above, and you might get a sense of all the unfamiliar things I was trying to interpret and understand. At this point, I had decided that something was trying to kill something and (if there were in fact two things) one was going to die. See that claw?
It/they splashed back down and submerged. All went still till some part of something surfaced slowly. Again, see the claw, just under the water?
Then, as if nothing at all were amiss, in a moment, two huge turtles swam off along the shoreline, one trailing the other. I wanted to throttle the pair of them for the scare they gave me. 
I’d never seen the wiles of May’s mating below the surface of the water, though I’ve seen plenty above the surface – with the birds and the insects. When all was done, I looked around for anyone who might have seen this too. I wanted to ask, “Did that really just happen?” But no-one was there! 
SilverLining 
Very cool pictures! We have a pond behind our house, and the first time I saw this happening I had no idea what was going on until I went out for a closer look.Last week we watched a pair of snappers mating in our pond.
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Hi Dan,Thanks so much for your comment. It confirms that what I thought I saw was probably correct! Also, that your snappers were mating last week means that this must be the season for it. More good info for me. I'm winging it in this blog when I see something for the first time and speculate on what it might be! Thanks for visiting the blog. Mary
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