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Posts Tagged ‘snapping turtle’

Snapping Turtle at trail’s edge

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, turtle, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 20, 2019| 12 Comments »

I spotted this large Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) in the grassy vegetation at the edge of one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Monday. The turtle seemed to notice me as I bent down to take the shot, but made no attempt to move away (or to snap at me). Still. I decided to play it safe, kept a healthy distance from the turtle, and departed from the turtle without disturbing it from its comfortable resting spot.

In the past I have seen snapping turtles out of the water only in the spring, when they emerge from the muddy pond bottoms where they spend their winters, and when they are laying their eggs. I am not at all sure why this one decided to spend some time on dry land.

snapping turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Snapping Turtle Crossing

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, turtle, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on March 23, 2019| 5 Comments »

Why did the Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) cross the road? It sounds like the opening line of a joke, but I asked myself that question yesterday when I spotted a snapping turtle lumbering its way across one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The turtle’s back was covered with mud, suggesting it had only recently emerged from its winter sleep. In the past I have sometimes seen snapping turtles out of the water when they were getting ready to lay eggs, though it seems a little early for that to be taking place.

I have always thought that snapping turtle look like dinosaurs. What do you think?

Snapping Turtle

Snapping Turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Portrait of a snapping turtle

Posted in Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 28, 2018| 7 Comments »

This must be egg-laying season for Eastern Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina serpentina) for I have seen them on multiple occasions this past week far away from the water that is their normal habitat. I spotted this venerable one in a grassy field at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

I am happy that I was able to capture some of the turtle’s wonderful skin texture  and serious expression in this head-and-shoulders portrait. I do realize, of course, that turtles do not really have shoulders—I used a bit of artistic license in characterizing the portrait with those words (and in calling myself an “artist”).

Many people say that snapping turtles look prehistoric to them, but I tend to think of Yoda every time that I see one. In my mind, I imagine a snapping turtle speaking with Yoda’s wisdom and unusual grammar structure with expressions like, “Named must your fear be before banish it you can.” (Lots of wonderful Yoda quotes like this one can be found at yodaquotes.net.)

Snapping Turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Muddy snapping turtle

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 20, 2018| 11 Comments »

When I spotted this Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina) from a distance yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I thought it might be a fox, because of its reddish-brown color. It was only when I got closer that I realized that it was a snapping turtle covered with mud—I suspect that she had recently been digging a nest to bury eggs. I got low trying to do an eye-level shot and am pleased with the expression that I was able to capture.

snapping turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Snap

Posted in Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 8, 2018| 11 Comments »

I never know what I will see when I visit Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I encountered this large Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina) right in the middle of one of the paths at the refuge last Friday. I generally see snapping turtles in the water or sunning themselves at the water’s edge. I only recall a single instance when I have seen a snapping turtle this far out of the water and on that occasion it was digging a hole and getting ready to lay eggs. I wonder if that was why this one was on dry land.

The turtle looked like it was relaxing, but I gave it a wide berth after I snapped its photo, wanting to make sure that I was the only one snapping.

Snapping Turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

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Too big for its shell

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , on May 20, 2016| 9 Comments »

As a child, I remember thinking that turtles could all pull their bodies inside of their shells for protection. Clearly that is not the case with this prehistoric-looking Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) that I spotted last week lounging on a fallen tree at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia.

We kept little turtles as pets several times in my family as I was growing up and I remember the clear flat plastic habitat that we used that had a small plastic palm tree. As a product of the suburbs of Boston, I didn’t have a whole lot of experience with wildlife, though I was Boy Scout for a while.

To this day I am amazed by the size and apparent power of snapping turtles, which are pretty common in my favorite marshland park. Most of the time I see them moving slowly in the water and only occasionally do I see one sunning itself on a log as the smaller turtles regularly are wont to do—I imagine that it is quite a chore to haul that massive body out of the water.

snapping turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Camouflaged snapping turtle

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, tagged , , , , , , on March 14, 2016| 5 Comments »

I was a little surprised when an unusually shaped mound of dirt slowly began to move in the shallow waters of a muddy pond at Huntley Meadows Park. When it raised its massive head, I realized it was an Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina) newly arisen from the bottom of the pond.

The extra weight of the mud on its back didn’t seem to affect the turtle’s swimming ability—it must be nice to be so big and strong.

Snapping Turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Demise of a snapping turtle

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 26, 2016| 11 Comments »

As I was wandering about Huntley Meadows Park this morning, I came upon the remains of an Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) that quite obviously did not survive the winter. It looks to have been in place for quite some time not far from the water’s edge of a stream in a remote area of the park.

I don’t know if a predator consumed its flesh, but it looks like a lot of the bones were scattered around the skull of the turtle, as you can see in the first photo. I move the shell to nearby location to get shots of the the top and underside and also took a close-up shot of the skull.

Snapping Turtle

Snapping Turtle remains in situ

Snapping Turtle

Detailed view of the top of the shell

Snapping Turtle

Detailed view of the underside of the shell

Snapping Turtle

Detailed view of the skull

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Snapping turtle love

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 17, 2015| 8 Comments »

It’s springtime. Love is in the air and mating is on the mind of many marsh creatures, including these Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina). The first image makes it look like love is a tender affair for these turtles, but the reality seems to be that mating is brutal and violent.

Most of the activity takes place underwater so it is hard to know what is going on, but it looks like the male jumps the female and essentially tries to drown her. Periodically she is able to struggle to the surface to grab a breath of air before the weight of the male forces her underwater. After a half hour or so, the female managed to decouple and to swim away, leaving the male, as you can see in the final shot,with a look of satisfaction on his face.

snapping turtlesnapping turtlesnapping turtlesnapping turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Creature of the marsh

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 6, 2015| 14 Comments »

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.

snapping turtlesnapping turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Baby snapping turtle

Posted in Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 26, 2013| 12 Comments »

Far away from any adult supervision, this baby snapping turtle seemed to be having trouble figuring out how to forage for food on his own.  He stretched out his neck as far as it would go, but was still not within reach of the plants that he was eying. The realization had not yet struck him that was going to have to move his body closer. Just above him you can see a little fish that was monitoring his progress, but staying beyond the reach of those jaws, in case the turtle decides he needs a little protein in his diet.

baby_snapper_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Adopted turtle

Posted in Humor, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 26, 2013| 8 Comments »

When the family of Red-eared Slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) adopted an orphaned turtle, they had no idea that the baby would grow so big. Despite his disproportionate size, the larger turtle, an Eastern Snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina), likes to participate in all family activities and doesn’t seem to realize that he is different from the other members of his adopted family.

I chose a natural setting for this family portrait and managed to catch almost everyone in a good pose—unfortunately, one of them had an attitude and refused to look directly at the camera and smile. Most of us have similar informal family portraits with the same problem. I don’t know how professional portrait photographers get everyone to cooperate.

co-existence_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Upward mobility

Posted in Humor, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 29, 2013| 10 Comments »

It may be hard for this snapping turtle to climb the ladder of success, when he had such difficulties merely getting himself onto a floating log. It would be understatement to note that Eastern Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina serpentina) are not exactly graceful when they pull themselves out of the water (and even in the water, they seem a bit clumsy).

I read somewhere on-line that snapping turtles—unlike most other turtles—generally do not bask in the sun out of the water. Therefore, I was a little surprised when this turtle swam up to the log and began his attempt to climb onto it. It was like watching a movie in slow motion as he struggled and strained to pull his body up out of the water.

The first image shows him taking a break after making it halfway to his goal. I love the details of his visible front leg and all of his wrinkles. In the second shot, he has achieved his objective and seems to be settling in for an afternoon nap in the sun.

I noted that the log is no longer floating out of the water as it was at the start.—apparently success weighs heavy on the victor.

snapper2_blogsnapper3_blog

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Staredown on the log

Posted in Humor, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 26, 2013| 10 Comments »

Yesterday, when an Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina) crawled onto a floating log, where a much smaller Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) was already basking in the sun, it looked like there might be a showdown.

The two faced off, staring at each other. Despite the size difference, the small turtle did not appear to be intimidated and refused to back off at all. Eventually they both relaxed and decided that peaceful co-existence was the best option.

It turned out that both the log and the sun were big enough to share.

turtles_blog

Click on the photo to see a higher resolution view.

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Mating snapping turtles

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 19, 2013| 6 Comments »

Last weekend I kept seeing snapping turtles in the water with their shells at an angle to the surface. Initially I couldn’t figure out what was going on, until a helpful fellow photographer explained that the turtles were mating.

Mating? That sort of made sense, but I was a little confused, because in each case I could see only a single turtle. Doesn’t it take two to tango? I kept watching and eventually I was able to see that there were two turtles, but one of them was being held underwater most of the time. It seemed pretty violent. On the positive side, it seems that the female did not bite off the male’s head in the process, as praying mantises are said to do while mating.

As I look the photos below, I have trouble identifying body parts and determining which ones belong to which turtle. I don’t understand the anatomy of the Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina) and will leave that to the experts.

turtles2_edited-1_blogturtle1_edited-1_blog

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Return of the snapping turtles

Posted in Humor, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 9, 2013| 5 Comments »

Like prehistoric beasts from another era, the snapping turtles have finally emerged from the mud and the slime of my local marsh.

Painted turtles and Red-eared Sliders have been basking in the sun for weeks now, but it seems like the Eastern Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina serpentina) like for it to be a bit warmer before they start moving. This past weekend I saw quite a few snapping turtles in the marsh, most of them with a lot of mud still piled on the top of their shells, including some pretty big ones. Some of them were floating on the surface of the water, but they don’t appear to bask on land like their smaller counterparts.

I would hesitate to call any of them beautiful or even ruggedly handsome—scarey seems a more appropriate adjective. After reading that snapping turtles are omnivores, I have reconfirmed my desire to keep my distance from these creatures. Thankfully, I have a long telephoto lens.

snapping_blogsnapping2_blog

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Snapping turtle on dry land

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 4, 2012| 7 Comments »

This summer has been a dry one and the recent fall rains have not done much to replenish the water in the local marshes. Recently I came across this snapping turtle in a sunny area relatively far from the water. The turtle looked like he was starting to dry out a little and I feared that he might be trouble. Fortunately, when I came back a little later, he had disappeared, presumably to another location with water, or at least shade.

I love the amazing texture of the neck area and even the head of the snapping turtle. I considered doing this photo in black and white to emphasize that texture, but would have lost the beautiful gold circles in his eyes and the green of the plants that make a semi-circle around his face.

When I gaze into the eyes of this snapping turtle, I am reminded of Yoda, the wizened sage of Star Wars, who had seen a lot during his nine hundred years. The turtle also seems to have the bemused, yet sad expression on his face that Yoda displayed when he was trying to train the young, impatient Luke Skywalker and said these words:

“Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless.”  (quote from imbd.com)

Snapping turtle on dry land

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Confrontation Between Snapping Turtle and Great Blue Heron

Posted in Birds, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 31, 2012| 6 Comments »

The water level in the marsh at Huntley Meadow Gardens here in Alexandria, VA has been getting lower and lower as the summer has progressed. I suspect that the situation had made it more difficult for some of the inhabitants to find food and may have increased competition for the available food.

Previously I posted photos of a Great Blue Heron catching a fish in the remaining water of the pond of the marsh. Last week I had the chance to watch a series of confrontations between a Great Blue Heron and a snapping turtle. It seemed to start when the  heron grabbed a fish out of the water just as the turtle was approaching him. I had the impression that the turtle might have been pursuing that same fish. The snapping turtle made a series of aggressive runs at the heron, getting really close to the heron’s legs. I have seen pictures on-line of a snapping turtle pulling down a Great Blue Heron, so I waited with fear and anticipation to see what would happen. The heron left the water this time without any bodily injury. (I have some photos of this initial confrontation that I might post later, but their quality is not as good as those of the second round of confrontations.)

The heron eventually went back into the water and it wasn’t long before the snapping turtle came at him again. (I could almost hear the music of the movie “Jaws” in my head as the turtle made a run at the heron.) Like a matador side-stepping a charging bull, the heron awkwardly avoided the turtle who was approaching him faster than I’ve ever seen a turtle move. The heron then turned his back on the turtle and started walking away, perhaps feeling the hot breath of the turtle who continued to pursue him. Finally, the heron took to the air, deciding that he had had enough of the persistent turtle.

I managed to capture the highlights of the confrontation with my camera. I continue to marvel at the wonders of nature as I observe new creatures and see familiar ones act and interact in new ways.

Snapping turtle approaches Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron steps to the side as snapping turtle gets aggressive

Great Blue Heron walks away with snapping turtle in pursuit

Great Blue Heron decides to leave his problems behind

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Snapping Turtle Camouflage

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, tagged , , , , , , , on July 15, 2012| 2 Comments »

After some thunderstorms yesterday evening I went a local garden with a pond (Green Spring Gardens) and encountered this very large snapping turtle (at least that is what I think he is). He was just lying there on the grass.

I started creeping up on him with one eye in the viewfinder and the other on him. I was pretty cautious because previously I had read what Wikipedia says about snapping turtles, “Common snappers are noted for their belligerent disposition when out of the water, their powerful beak-like jaws, and their highly mobile head and neck.” There were a few blades of grass in front of part of his face and I would have liked to remove them to improve the shot, but there was no way I was going to risk my fingers for a mere photo.

I decided to share this medium range shot because it shows the mud and dried grass that made up his “camouflage.” It reminds me a little of the ghillie suits that snipers wear to blend in with nature. Eventually I hope to do another blog posting showing the progression of my shots as I got closer and closer to him, ending up with shots in which his face alone fills the frame.

Stay tuned for coming attractions!

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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