Midnight visitor

While sitting out on the porch tonight, working on various web things, I heard something moving in the grass near the herb gardens. The city girl in me wondered for a brief moment if I should be worried, but then I realized that there are so many animals out here in the night that it might just be fun to see what it was.

My mother got a flashlight, and we found this creature grazing a few yards from us. I convinced her to brave the mosquitos, the night, and the potentially snapping beak, and she ventured out to take this picture.

The snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) is the largest turtle species to be found in Minnesota, and this one was larger than average. They’re usually 6 to 14 inches long, but this one’s carapace was easily 16 inches from end to end. Snapping turtles are known to be rather aggressive on land, which is why my mother was nervous about approaching it. It may have been a female, come to lay her eggs in the sandy soil near the house; we’ll check tomorrow to see if we can find a place where the sand was disturbed.

In spite of my own astonishment and delight, it’s not surprising to find a snapping turtle in the Land of Lakes; Minnesota, for those of you who are not familiar with it, is almost more water than land in some areas. This animal is listed as being of “special concern” – not quite endangered, but nearly – in Minnesota, as the population may dwindle due to over-trapping. Apparently, the turtle is prized for human consumption.

Yet another animal discovery here at the Ridge. Mr. Turtle goes on my list of local inhabitants, along with the deer, the rabbits, the bears, the wolves, the moose, the ospreys, the eagles, the blackbirds, the woodpeckers, the hummingbirds, and the lovely loons who call out all night long on the lake a few yards away.

XOXOXOXOX

Bonnie