We stopped to help this Snapping turtle cross the road today (something I have done numerous times before, very carefully!)
But when we got close to her, we realized she was busy laying eggs in a nest she'd dug in the gravel shoulder of the road. Awwwww! As you can see, she had been digging in another place on the shoulder as well.
Look at those nice round eggs....
I took a few photos and we let her be. It is a quiet road and I think most people around here try to avoid hitting turtles, so I hope she and her unhatched babies will all be okay.
It was really amazing. We were so lucky to come across her right in the process of laying.
Hope you all had a great weekend! Oh, and few more shots of Mama and her chick. I'll take the Nikon down and get some good photos soon...
Naptime! Chick is underneath her.
I wonder if the mother hen will get really protective of the chick since it is the only one? Seems odd.
ReplyDeleteShe's CRAZY protective!! :)
DeleteRegarding the only-child chick, I wonder how all the extra maternal attention will shape him/her as s/he grows?
ReplyDeleteTurtles lay the eggs in the darndest of places. I was surprised to come out of a local nature center one evening, only to find a snapping turtle laying eggs in the mulch. I've never heard of a turtle laying eggs in a road, so those photos were pretty neat!
Ahab, we shall see! :)
DeleteI saw ANOTHER turtle laying eggs on the road shoulder last night, while we were out on our run. Amazing! They do like to lay in sand or gravel, so the shoulders are perfect in that regard!
Cool find on the turtle. Funnily enough, we came across a female just covering eggs at the side of our road yesterday. Doesn't seem like a very comfy spot. Sheri
ReplyDeleteThey seem to be out in force this week!!
DeleteNo turtles here, but plenty of chickless hens. That chick will be spoilt rotten!
ReplyDeleteI hope she doesn't develop an attitude, ha ha.
DeleteThat is one cutie pie chickelie chicketie chick!
ReplyDeleteTHey are so adorable!
Deletepretty neat. And a cute little chick.
ReplyDeleteAmazing shots of the turtle. Seems odd (to me) to see them inland, having only ever come across sea turtles on a beach.
ReplyDeleteSweet chick!
I am often having to help Snapping turtles cross the road around here. They are big, stinky and somewhat dangerous (the big ones could bite off a finger) so you have to be careful. But they need our help. :)
DeleteThe egg laying turtle is fabulous! Thanks for sharing that special moment.
ReplyDeleteJane x
My pleasure. I was amazed to see the eggs.
DeleteWe saw a snapper last week at the side of our quiet road getting ready to lay eggs. Always glad to see that the turtles are still around. Sometimes we see a painted turtle, but usually it's a snapping turtle.
ReplyDeleteI saw one painted turtle last year, but other than that it always seems to be snappers!
DeleteReally cool to see the turtle laying eggs. You have to wonder about the state of the environment when they lay in this location. are there no sandy locations available for them.
ReplyDeleteNow I have a question. How are you making poached eggs these days???
You have a point there, Red. They are listed as a "special concern" under our endangered species act in Ontario. Amazingly, people are still allowed to hunt them here. It's insane!
Deletehttp://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2012/02/18/ontario_snapping_turtle_endangered_yet_hunted.html
Hmm, poached egg? Still duck and chicken! :)
What a place to lay!
ReplyDeleteThat is so awesome that you saw the turtle's eggs! I've never seen that before. I hope she stays safe on the road. Love the hen and her chick :)
ReplyDeleteMe too! The eggs have a 90 day incubation period.
DeleteTwo heart-warming sequences today! That roadside gravel must be a nice warm place to incubate eggs but it must be hard on the hatchlings to push their way out of it. The little chick must surely be a princess having her mother all to herself!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should call her Princess! Although I'd better make sure it's not a rooster first. :)
DeleteHow weird! How far overland do you think she went to lay those eggs? I thought they layed them on the banks of ponds or somewhere like that. I once, 40+ years ago, found a nest of phesant eggs one the edge a gravel road under a few stalks of grass - they never hatched however. I guess the snappers are like sea turtles in that they leave their eggs and the baby's when they hatch must make a run for the nearest water. Bet the crows and other predators know this and keep a look-out for them.
ReplyDeleteStill that chunky gravel looks like it would be hard to scrape out and scrape back over the eggs. You'd think they wouldn't be living where there wasn't any sand or mud to cover their eggs. But they must survive as their doesn't seem to be much of a shortage of Snappers. You sure have some wonderful animal sightings - isn't that such fun?
I had a snapper lay eggs in my boxed-in raised flowerbed once! She was a couple of hundred feet from the lake. The one in the photos above was also within sight of the lake, but they really do get around! I remember finding one in my backyard once and we were quite a ways from any body of water!
DeleteI've seen this behavior with both snapping and painted turtles in our North Country. The do like the gravel which is unfortunate but necessary in some place...
ReplyDeleteMakes you wonder if any of those eggs will survive with the possibility of being squashed by a vehicle.
ReplyDeleteHow touching. I sure hope that turtle makes it.
ReplyDelete