Itty Bitty Baby Dragon . . . or Dinosaur?

My husband had a car appointment for his Chevy Impala's inspection at 1 p.m. He dropped me off at nearby Soaring Eagle Wetland, where I would spend the next hour walking along Bald Eagle Creek and playing with dragons and/or dinosaurs. Or ancient reptiles. Whatever.  :-)

Meet the itty bitty baby common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) that I found at the wetland. It was in the main pathway, and so I picked it up and moved it back to a safer spot by the marsh, lest it be stepped on or somehow harmed. I grabbed it firmly but gently on either side of its shell. It was in my hand for 9 seconds, tops. As always, wash your hands thoroughly after handling any wild creature, kthx.

Its body was about two and a half inches; its tail another inch and a half. What a cutie-pie. Even its tiny nostrils are adorable. :-) Note that moving a significantly LARGER snapper requires a bit more skill and strategy! See also tips (short video) for helping to safely move a snapping turtle off the road.

The critter was perfectly quiet and immobile. It did not exhibit any signs of aggression at all, but was in fact quite docile. (This is not always the case with snappers, and let me tell that - not unlike Linda Blair in the Exorcist - you might be surprised to discover that their heads can reach around much further than you might suspect.) Note that its head and front feet do not retract all the way back up into its shell.

In my visit to the wetland, I also came across a small common water snake, a pair of common mergansers, and a rather large spider on the rocks. The sky grew increasingly threatening, with huge, dramatic, dark clouds overhead. When I finished my walk, I sat in a small pavilion with a bench, and shortly after I arrived there, it began to rain. I enjoyed the soothing pitter-patter of rain on a metal roof. . . . yes, I was feeling kind of smug. I had a roof over my head and could enjoy the wetlands, even in the rain.

My husband met me there and we sat and read our books for a while before taking advantage of a break in the rain to walk back to the car and drive into town for a steak dinner. While we were in the restaurant, the sky opened up and it poured and poured. As we ate, the sky flashed and thunder rattled the windows.

"What if the power goes out?" asked my husband. "I think I can find my steak and eat it, even in the darkness," I said back; "also, I have a flashlight in my purse." The waitress also offered to bring us flashlights if the lights went out, but fortunately, none of that happened. And we ate our steak dinners with glee and gusto, and we lived happily ever after! The End.

I wanted to include more photos from my big adventure at the wetland, but I am zipping through my extra photos for the year with an alarming speed. So I'm going to start linking to postings on Instagram. Please let me know if you have difficulty accessing them. You should not need to have Instagram to see them. Additional photo sets on Instagram:

The entire photo set for the itty bitty snapper, including its butt.*
Railroad tracks and clouds; a storm is coming!
Meet the mergansers!
Green scenes at Soaring Eagle Wetland, along Bald Eagle Creek.

It is my custom to include a soundtrack song, and so here is one for this adorable, beautiful wild baby. With something as cute as this, I can see how someone might be tempted to tuck it into a pocket, name it George, and take it along home. Please leave wild creatures be, and only pick them up to help them, if they require assistance. They were BORN wild and they should STAY wild. Our soundtrack song is Steppenwolf, with Born to Be Wild.

*Itty-bitty baby turtle: "I can't believe you photographed my butt and put it on the Internet!"
Me: "Butt it's so cute. I HAD to do it. I just couldn't resist!"