snapping turtle – SilverLining

Mother Nature Pulls Out the Stops

March 22, 2012April 11, 2019Tagged American Robin, morning dove, muskrat, painted turtle, pond life, reflection on water, snapping turtle, tree budsLeave a comment

Today was the first full day of spring and today was my birthday. Mother Nature pulled out all the stops and gave me a glorious day at the pond. It was so beautiful, I went for two walks. If you follow SilverLining you might recall that when I posted about my last birthday it was a snowy and dismal day. I wrote last year about the extremes in weather that have occurred on my birthday through the years. If you look at last year’s photos and the photos in this post, my point is made!

I marvel each year at the buds on the trees and wonder as I look at them how they will unfurl and become leaves.

The bottom of the pond is already showing signs of things growing and the soil beneath the water looks rich and ready for the myriad life forms that rely on it.

Birds have begun nesting, as the morning dove below shows. It holds a stick in its beak, one of many it will use to assemble its home for the season.

While the male red-winged blackbird has been here for over a week, the females have just arrived. This flock of females made a constant cacophony, sure to draw the attention of the males.

This dangling left-over from last season always makes me think of native girls who must have used them as earrings and necklaces.

Fish by the scores are swimming about – so early in the season! And in the photo below, you can see what I imagine to be the rich film of whatever it is that floats atop a pond and provides sustenance for the soon-to-hatch bugs of all manner.

While the picture below won’t make you feel the heat of the day,

I can tell you it was a hot one!

The muskrat is luxuriating in the heat of the sun, submerging only when it decides I’m too close to it. It leaves a splash behind but no other sign that it’s below the surface.

Now, before the leaves block my view, I can see into the tangle of branches and take pictures of the birds that are gathering to make their home for the summer.

It’s always a happy day in spring for me when I first see a turtle! So, I considered it a special birthday gift that I saw my first turtles of the year on my birthday!

First, a painted turtle, and minutes later a snapper!

Below, a fish lazily moves along, as if it were a long summer afternoon. It is remarkable to me that these scenes are all from March 21st.

I’ve come to see the American robin in a whole new way. Because the bird is so common, I’ve never given it much of a look. But it has lovely lines in its tail, a distinctive ring around its eye, and the color if its beak in contrast to its body color is outstanding!

And it cooperates for photo-shoots!

I believe the posture above is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a bird – the swivel of the head fully around.

Notice the eye in the photo above. It has a film over it. I wonder if this is the bird blinking. Is that film the eyelid?

While the reflection of trees in the image above might make you think it’s a mirroring of birches, actually the trees are all grey colored. But the light of the sun – on the trees themselves or on the water’s surface (I’m not sure which) – create this lovely bit of art.

Sometimes the camera captures what I see. Sometimes not. My eyes were drawn to the intertwining trunks of these young trees and the play of light upon them. I hope you can see it as I did.

Happy spring!

(Click on the first image in the post and scroll through the collection of photos.)

A Stork Visits the Pond

May 16, 2008April 11, 2019Tagged picture of turtle, pictures of Canada Geese chicks, pictures of Great Blue Heron, snapping turtleLeave a comment

Happiness and joy – fluffy little goslings have made their debut!

My neighbors tell me that it’s been years since the geese have attempted to raise a family at the pond. In past years, when they did, the snapping turtles (or the Heron?) would snatch the babies from the water. They have described to me the daily diminishing of a family as the chicks, one by one, disappeared.

As if to prove them right, yesterday when I first saw the goslings, so too was a turtle hanging in the surface light. Here’s a picture I took from the high bank of the pond. The turtle was midway, shore to shore. I guess it was about 12 inches in diameter.

Today, the Heron perched at the top of a low pine, surveying the pond. Click on the picture to see it landing in the pine. Use your arrow key to return to the post.

As the photo below shows, however, all was harmony later on, when the family passed by the Heron as it paroled the shore of the island. You can see the Heron just above the tail of the parent in the rear, not seven feet from the family.

Although it may seem that I’m approaching too close for comfort, I am actually about 20 feet away. And, as the adults are not honking, there was no alarm. Actually, they are quite used to me and never honk anymore when I pass by. Still Mama or Papa is watchful!

How Do I Love Thee?!

April 18, 2008April 11, 2019Tagged dandelion, fall photos, leaf buds, mallard, snapping turtleLeave a comment

If ever I wonder, and sometimes I do, will the pond someday bore me – a day such as today sets me straight. As the pond is ever-changing, it is not likely that I will take for granted its presentations.

With the temperature in the 70’s and sandals finally on my feet, I walked the dog one time around the pond. I took shots of the emerging leaf buds, schools of fish, the first dandelion flowers, and, what you see here – a mallard and a turtle. In no more than 30 seconds a series of twelve photos captured this scene of harmony between two beautiful creatures. While the mallard is immediately seen, the large turtle hangs just below the surface in the foreground. Enjoy these five photos.

Click on the photos to enlarge. Use back arrow to
return to the post.

Here, the turtle comes up for a look about!

As the mallard circles back, they spook, and in the blink of an eye, they are gone!

Moving my eyes from the view-finder, I saw the mallard alighting some twenty feet to the left. As I am get quicker on the draw with my camera and settings, I was able to catch it as it landed.

I will devote my next post to my faithful and patient companion!

The Turtle

August 18, 2007April 11, 2019Tagged pond life, snapping turtle, turtlesLeave a comment

Twice I’ve seen now-a-day creatures that turn the pond into something akin to a scene in Jurassic Park. They are a turtle and a blue heron. Here I share about the turtle. My next post will be about the heron.

On an otherwise nondescript day in early spring, while I was still enjoying seeing the fish nests for what they actually were (see Craters posts), I nonchalantly registered with mild interest that a shadow in one of the larger nests resembled a turtle, a huge turtle. Just as I got that far in my thinking, the shadow moved, like a turtle. Truly, I think my jaw dropped. It was an astounding site. The shell of this particular reptile was the size of my torso. I’m sure I startled him from his rest, and with lumbering motion he rotated his enormous self and plodded away from where I stood in a stupor – wondering if time were playing a trick on me, and if I had been transported to another age, a prehistoric age. After taking ten or so turtle steps he surfaced and stuck his craggy nostrils out of the water and remained still for about twenty seconds, I imagine to get air. Then he went under water and as he swam or walked away (I could no longer see him) he left a trail of small bubbles on the water’s surface for some distance, probably fifteen feet.

I have watched in vain since then to spy him again. I’ve had to settle for smaller turtle sightings, those with fourteen inch shells, or somewhat smaller. And, I have attempted to take their pictures, but, so far, reflections in the water hide them from photo view. But I can see and capture the digital image of their nose and the telltale bubble trail as they sneak away. (There is a turtle in the photo above, but I seem to be the only one able to see it! Please comment below and let me know if you see it in this shot. The turtle had about a twelve inch shell. And, here are photos of the same turtle’s nostrils and then the trail of bubbles.)

No other creature of the pond has enchanted me as much as the large turtle. It’s to the point that my eyes are so trained to the water for any hint of his presence that I have to remind myself the turtle might just decide to meander up shore where I’m likely to trip over him as I eye the water. And, I have had to on occasion, reverse my circular direction around the pond, as my neck stiffens in my intense watchfulness!

A fisherman tells me it’s a snapper and that it’s been seen a long time at the pond. Another fisherman shared that he brought his toddler granddaughter to accompany him one afternoon. She had a child’s pole with a toy lobster at the end of a string, which she dangled in the water. The big turtle came right up and snapped the lobster from her rod. The story teller was most impressed by his granddaughter’s indignation, which she bellowed for all to hear, especially the turtle.

Today, determined to get a quality turtle photo for this post, I walked the perimeter of the pond. As I studied the shallow water at the shoreline, I was startled to see in my peripheral vision, the blue heron make her cumbersome lift off from the far shore and soar over the water to awkwardly alight about sixty feet in front of me. I’ll write about her next.