As I was tiptoeing my way along a tree that had fallen across a flooded area of my local marsh, I glanced down and caught sight of this turtle, submerged in the shallow water. I am no expert in identifying turtles, but it was pretty easy to identify this as a Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata), a species that I don’t see very often.
According to Wikipedia, the spotted turtle is federally endangered in Canada and in the United States it is considered to be vulnerable to extinction in the wild in the medium-term future, or threatened in most of its habituating states. Within Virginia, the state in which I live, the Herpetological Society is pretty grim in its prognosis, “Extinction or extirpation is possible. Populations of these species are in decline or have declined to low levels or are in a restricted range. Management action is needed to stabilize or increase populations.”
It was a bit of a challenge getting a shot of this turtle. I was standing on the trunk of a tree, so my footing was a bit precarious. The water was probably only a few inches deep, but it seemed to defeat my auto-focusing system, so I ended up focusing manually. Finally, there was a bit of glare coming off of the surface of the water, so I had to bend down to search for an angle that allowed me to minimize the glare.
I am hoping that I will see these turtles often and that Huntley Meadows Park, the place where I take a lot of my wildlife photographs, will continue to be a refuge for this species and for many other ones.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Thought that was a spotted turtle. We see lots of painted turtles and snapping turtles in a local marsh we like to paddle in but we’ve only ever seen one spotted turtle.
It could be interesting you having a photographer following you and taking pictures of you.
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
How big is that turtle?
Spotted Turtles are pretty small. I think this one was about 4 or 5 inches (maybe 10-12 cm) in size. Check out this webpage for a few more details (http://wildlifepreservation.ca/species-in-need/canadian-species/fresh-water-turtles/spotted-turtle/).
Nice shot, Mike. I know how difficult it is to focus through the water!
Thanks, Sue. Fortunately the water was pretty clear and relatively shallow.
What an incredible find! Good thing you spent the time and energy to photograph him, you may not see one again, though I’m hoping you will….
Thanks. Although there are really concerns about their long term survival, as I understand it, the spotted turtles are not quite on the brink of extinction. Still, I was happy that I had the chance to see this one.
Your state Herpetological Society might be interested in seeing your photos and hearing about where you saw this one. Here in New Hampshire we have a natural heritage department that tracks rare finds like yours.
Beautiful shot.