Snapper

We found this very mature snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) near the top of the sand/silt bank to the smaller channel of the South Branch.  The back of her shell was covered with mud, but otherwise we didn't see evidence of egg-laying nearby. If this turtle was laying eggs, it would be about two to six weeks earlier than predicted. Like many reptiles, snapping turtles can store male sperm for several years, possibly because they may sense when conditions are better.  That may be giving them too much credit. If eggs are incubated from 75-80 F (24-26 C), they are nearly always male; but if the surrounding environment is significantly cooler (20 C) or warmer (30 C), they're nearly always female.

Last year we found a snapping turtle that seemed to be struggling up a steep slope.  I've been handling these turtles comfortably since I was a pup, so I lifted it to the top of the steep slope, immediately discovering that it had just deposited about 12 ping-pong sized eggs.  I tried to put her back, but she wanted nothing to do with the nest.  I felt terrible whenever I thought of it, even though I really don't want a bunch of snapping turtles in our ponds.

Spotted Salamanders

After the last big flood, someone must have decided it was easier to bury flood debris rather than remove it.  I'm told FEMA flood insurance often prescribes that, and some floodplain owners have had to watch dozers bury entire trailers in their lower fields rather than pay for big trucks to remove them.   But there is an upside.  It seems that one of every three or four times I discover buried debris, I find big spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) using it as an underground cavity.  I first learned of these when a good friend and biology major in college had one as a pet, because her father studied the ability of newts and salamanders to regenerate their eyes at the University of Pennsylvania back in the 1980's.

It's Invasive Time! (Already)

Our interns Jamie and Mary pulled lots of invasive cattails (Typha spp.) from the wetland frog pond last year, but they're back.  I can't remember ever seeing new shoots this early in April.   I got a few by the roots, but I'll bet at least two dozen broke off, leaving the rhizome beneath the surface.  I've never done it, but you can grind the rhizomes to make a flour, and eat other parts too.