Turtle Time

It is that time of year. The turtles are out, looking for a place to lay their eggs.  The shoulders of the road are very tempting, with their sandy gravel that makes for easy digging.  And that's an issue.

Snapping turtles are endangered.  Having survived for thousands of years, they are finding it hard to cope with modern traffic. And heaven forfend that anyone slow down to avoid a turtle, after all, that might make one two minutes late to get to the nearest TV reality show... said she, with some disgust.

Turtles are time machines, and when we look in their hooded eyes, we are seeing years past. We are also seeing some of the most incredible adaptations around.

In Algonquin Park, turtle fencing has been put up to try to keep the turtles and the traffic separated.  That is good, but turtle fencing can't be everywhere, so when you are driving in turtle territory (anywhere close to water, if you aren't sure) please please please take care.  It is easy enough to help a turtle off the roadway, if you learn how. Keep your fingers well away from the beaks of thes snappers, though. They have the name for a reason.

The gender of the turtles is determined by temperature -- it is easy to remember: Chicks are HOT, Dudes are COOL...

It's worth taking a moment to ponder this... and to admire the turtle. This gal will lay up to 60 eggs in this scraped out nest at the road edge. The turtles will develop under the watchful eye of the red-winged blackbird across the road.

SLOW DOWN... GIVE TURTLES A BRAKE.