The Daily Bucket is a place where we post and exchange our observations about what is happening in the natural world in our neighborhood. Each note about the bugs, buds, and birds around us is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns of nature that are quietly unwinding around us.
Gooseville, WI
June 13, 2012
Wisconsin has 11 native turtle species and I am blessed each summer to welcome the largest, grumpiest and heaviest of them all into my yard. It's nesting time and egg laden Common Snapping Turtles Chelydra serpentina, leave the shelter of the river to crawl heavily onto my front yard and along the roadside to dig nests to lay their eggs.
Sometimes they just take the shortcut across the front porch. Snappers are very vulnerable while landbound and nesting females are short tempered and 'badass' aggressive if threatened, approached or handled.
A Snapping turtle's 'hiss' is more than a warning.
Snappers lay between 30-80 eggs depending on the size of the female. Incubation typically lasts between 60 to 90 days depending on the temperature.
Incubation temperatures determine the sex of the hatchlings. A warmer incubation will produce more females, while a cooler nest temperature will promote males.
Today, I checked on her neatly covered nest hole. Everything is in order and tidy.
I've decided to call this turtle site 'Ruby's nest'.
Just a few feet to the north there is fresh predator devastation. A skunk or raccoon visited last night and the empty leathery egg shells are strewn everywhere.
Over the years my neighbors have watched as I frantically ran up and down the road with a plastic bucket gathering up tiny hatchlings the size of fifty-cent pieces heading for the river, before a car came over the hill. If I notice a Great Blue Heron stalking in the backyard near the garden fence, he's not there for a bite of tomato, it's a siren signal for another baby turtle rescue.
I have yard turtles. Do you?
That's the ebb and flow of life on the river and in my yard in season. Fossil records suggest turtles have been present for 200 million years with little change in their structures. Their future is tangled together with our choices for today and tomorrow.
Note: I'll update as nesting season continues. Snappers begin nesting in the yard June 11, 2012.
Update: June 15, 2012 Two new nests found in the yard this morning.
What's flying, blooming, crawling, buzzing or coming into the world, in your yard or neighborhood lately. Drop a note in the bucket of your news or a surprise, with a hint of your location. Everyone is welcome here.
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