Turtle Troubles #SOL19

We are just a wild kingdom around here these days. My baby robins have successfully fledged, a young garter snake warmed itself in the sun on our patio Saturday, and now we have turtles. Snapping turtles, that is!

Early Saturday morning, a large snapper made it’s way up a steep embankment to our street from the Assabet River below. This happened last year, too. She is looking for a place to lay her clutch of 20-40 eggs. For some reason she, if it’s the same one as last year, loves an awkward section of my neighbor’s garden. It’s really not an obvious choice, and from what my neighbors observed, it took a lot of back and forth before she settled on this one spot. She has now returned to it three days in a row, which leaves me wondering if she is now finished laying. If she is, she won’t return. The eggs will incubate under the earth and hatch at the end of the summer or into the early fall.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The trouble is, we live on a busy one way street that’s often used as a cut through. I worry for her safety now and that of her soon-to-be young when they hatch. Saturday I stood in the middle of the road steering traffic around her, in my pajamas, no less. She was there again this morning as I left for work, but I didn’t have time to see her to safety.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Turtle Troubles!

***********************************************

Many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here each Tuesday and every day in March. Won’t you join us?