Snapper!

A couple of years ago, I went on an excursion with a lady I know to a local park. We were hoping to see and film wood ducks and this spot was suppose to be one of the pre-eminent places in the county to find them. The location entailed a steadily descending, long trail walk to finally arrive at the swamp on the edge of the Chesapeake. As it turned out, we didn't see wood duck one that day - but I did see three other fascinating species that I don't normally see. 

As we stood on the edge of the swamp scanning the area for wood ducks, my attention was drawn to a commotion in the water just a few feet to the right of where I was standing among the lily pads. I realized it was a snapping turtle and, from it's struggles, I wondered if it had gotten entangled in the lily stems. At least for a few seconds I thought that might be what I was seeing out in front of me.

I may have posted this photo before. After so many blogs, I kind of forget what I may have written about before. This is the same photo as the last, but zoomed in a little so you can see the turtle a little better. This was just happenstance, but I don't know that I could have lit the turtle any better if I had control over the lighting. The sun filtering through the trees lights up the underside of it's chin beautifully and the glint in the eye is just the touch that is needed to bring it to life. I love this photo.

As it turned out, there were actually two snapping turtles there and I'm pretty sure one was a male and the other was a female - if you catch my drift. Have you ever seen two snapping turtles mating? I can think of a lot of jokes about this...  But, we're in mixed company. One thing I did come away with, though, was the realization that mating for a snapper is not easy.

There was a whole lot of thrashing going on and once in a while you would see two heads. I had the impression they didn't know what position would work best.

I wasn't really keeping track of the time, but it seemed to me the entire event went on for a good ten to fifteen minutes. It was a privilege to see something which I don't think too many people have witnessed before.

I had kind of forgotten about these photos. I'm glad I came across them. I had a hard time choosing which ones to show you and I still have six more that I will post tomorrow. I don't think we were there more than an hour, but it turned out to be an incredible day and profitable picture-wise. We also saw a red-headed woodpecker (the only one I have ever seen) going back and forth to it's new family in a dead tree standing out in the swamp. It was a very memorable morning.