We live in a rural area and enjoy the variety of wildlife that we frequently see, but our favorite outdoor “friends” are the large snapping turtles that use our yard as their crossroad.
Each spring and autumn, we have a ringside seat to watch the turtles as they migrate between a small pond across the street to another one in our back yard.
They spend the winter with us and then travel back across the street for the summer.
We get such a kick out of seeing them slowly creep across our yard on their seasonal journey.
Snapping turtles are quite large and have a lifespan of at least 47 years.
With their prehistoric look, it’s easy to believe turtles have been around for over 200 million years and were roaming New England’s landscape even before the dinosaurs!
I love these pics. Wonder what kind of turtles they are. We have a lot of box turtles and snappers around here. You’re right. They look prehistoric. I love to look at reptiles.
As you know, I especially love frogs.
I have a wonderful frog pin given to me by a friend that I love to attach to the shoulder strap of tank tops. I get so many compliments. I also used it in the winter on the band on a felt brimmed hat.
Ooohhh, it looks so cute! Old-age cuteness! Sometimes, we do find a tortoise crawling slowly across our garden. We can’t figure out where he’s from because there aren’t any pond or lakes nearby. My sister will always keep it ‘imprisoned’ for a few hours to examine the tortoise shell before ‘letting it back into the wild’.
I love these pix but i wish you had put something near by so I could tell how large (or small) the turtle is. Thanks
Crystal says: I’m afraid it’s up to the turtle how we photograph him! If we get too close, he gets nervous and might just go inside his shell. Since we don’t want to bother him by trying to stage a picture, we are dependant on whatever happens to be nearby, to get a sense of his size. If you click on the first photo, you’ll notice a dried maple leaf near his head, which gives us an idea of how many maple leaves it would take to equal his length/width. He’s a big fella!! 🙂 Snapping turtles can grow to 18″ – 20″ with a total weight of 45 pounds.
Man – I love turtles. I would say they’re cute…but they’re really not. Except the little tiny ones. Cause they’re tiny.
You’re so very lucky to have this view! Thanks for sharing it with us!
Wow – you are so lucky to witness these guys up close! I still can’t believe they’re real.
We see Land Turtles here in the Midwest! Many times, they are trapped in the middle of the road and we try and move them to the way they were headed. Cindi