Sorry to have been away from this blog for so long; check back weekly from here on for more  regular updates.  I sometimes forget the important presence of the Shiawassee and our natural world, but then something usually reminds me, sometimes sharply, of where I live.   I was walking along the banks of the River the other morning lost in a reverie of thoughts not related to my surroundings when I came up short. There, right beside the trail, an ancient reptile was digging in and gave me a wary look.

 

Snapping turtles (chelydra serpentina) reside with some frequency in  the Shiawassee River, though their secretive ways keep us from seeing them often.  It’s dark color and rough shell, which is often algae covered, also camouflage its appearance.  Once, when wrangling a canoe through some shallow waters north of Owosso I almost stepped on a big snapper that looked just like one of the surrounding rocks.

 

The snapper I saw in Harmon Patridge (aka Green Meadows) Park had left the river to lay her eggs in the soft soil about 10 feet from the River.  Females lay their eggs in late May through early June, though she may have mated much earlier; female turtles remain fertile for years at a time, and reproduce only when they feel conditions right.  She would have layed between 10 and 96 eggs which will hatch later this summer or fall.  Because of heavy predation of the eggs and young, only a few new turtles will result from the hard work I saw this mom undertake to pull herself out of the river and dig out a nest.