Crazy About Birds

By Kimb

Snapping Turtle?

We have a small unkempt frog pond. We created it at least 20 years ago, probably, and it has been pretty much ignored since I at one point put some plants in it. At first we had a pump and filter set up, but it kept getting clogged up so we gave up. Every year there are a variety of things that lay eggs in it, even though it now leaks so the water level doesn't stay as high as it should be. I do put a heater in it every winter in order to keep it from freezing solid, and from time to time I reach in and try to remove a lot of the leaves and other stuff that falls in there. But suffice it to say, I don't pay much attention to it in general.

So today I was up where the pond is - eating a few wineberries that are ripe up there - and I glanced at the pond and saw a sort of dark lump in the middle of all the waterlily leaves. Huh? I went closer and discovered it was a turtle! It looked about the size, but not the color, of a painted turtle. I tried to get closer to take a shot of it with my camera but it immediately ducked down under the water. So I went back into the house and then a bit later I decided to go see if it had resurfaced. It had its head up - and I got this shot of it. It looks to me for all the world like a snapping turtle! A young one, given its size. Probably only four or five years old? I have no idea how fast they grow, but when they're hatched they're only about an inch and a half, maybe two inches in diameter. This one was more like 6 inches across. But the thing that says "snapping turtle" to me is that its back was just plain drab and dark, and its EYE looks like a snapping turtle eye. Plus that beak...

So there I was thinking "Cool! A snapping turtle!" when I glanced just about four inches to the right of it and there was an enormous bullfrog sitting on a rock. I hadn't even seen it! Hello! I think a female. She seemed quite happy to have her photo taken. Never moved. See the extra.

I did go back a couple of times and found they had both vanished. Maybe underwater, maybe gone altogether. I can say this though: it'll be a good while before I dare put my bare hands in there and dredge out leaf gunk! Yikes!

Is all of this silly enough for Silly Saturday? Maybe!

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