Creatures of all sorts are stirring in the marsh now that the weather has warmed up, including this particularly fierce-looking one with amazing eyes. What is it? It’s an Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina), a species that is pretty common in my local marsh.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
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Cool shot, usually they are at the bottom and exlellent detail of the eyes.. 🙂
Thanks, Ed. After a winter spend on the bottom of the pond, the snapping turtles may be a bit more sluggish than usual, but that could change quickly.
Well I would’nt want to go bare footing in the marsh, thats for sure.. 🙂
Terrific shot of this cool subject – and what an excellent low POV.
Thanks. I did make an effort to get as low as I could for the shot.
As long as you weren’t in the water with him – yikes!
Hungry, I’d bet. I hope no ducks or geese decide to have little ones near him.
In some past years, survival was really tough for Hooded Merganser babies, because of the large population of snapping turtles.
That first shot really made me look to see what it was. Great work.
Thanks, Lyle. This was one of those nice cases in which my approach for the posting and the photos themselves worked well together.
I like my posts a lot better when it does come together like that. But some days …
The bejeweled eyes of the snapping turtles are so fascinating! I usually see the alligator snappers in Minnesota at least once each year. In the canals and lakes of the American southeast, they can live for 100 years and grow to a rather frightening size, the record being around 220 lbs.
Correction: The snapping turtles in minnesota are not alligator snappers (Macrochelys temminckii, which are found in the southeastern states), but rather common snapping turtles, Chelydra serpentina. Sorry for the misinformation.
No problem. I’ve heard about the alligator snappers and it would be cool to see them sometime. I’ll have to check out their territorial range.