Tag: Eastern shore

Wildlife at Camp: Go Terps!

Ey, it’s another episode of Wildlife At Camp!

I’ve actually been wanting to write this one for a while, but I didn’t have any good pictures of a snapper at camp, but I was mowing the around septic system today and almost ran over one. Luckily I didn’t, and took a photo instead!

We have three types of Turtle/Tortoise at camp, and they usually start making an appearance about this time of year as the weather starts to be consistently warm.

They’re just friends.

The Eastern Box Turtles are pretty distinctive; they have a high domed shell that is brown with orange or yellow splotches. They look like tortoises, but are actually a member of the Pond Turtle family. Despite that, they are mostly land dwelling.

Usually we find them hanging out in the fields, although occasionally we’ll see them crossing the roads (sometimes a bit too late!)

Waiting for check-in

They mate in the spring when it gets warm, like most Terps, and the eggs hatch in late summer. Typically we won’t see the babies when they hatch, as they are teeny-tiny!

Smol
Smol boi

Found this lil guy one time when we were testing water wells. He’s on the side of a pick-up truck, for reference. A full grown adult only gets up to about 6-8 inches, so they’re pretty small turtles anyway.

Another turtle we have, and are a lot more common, are Painted Turtles.

This Lil badass was laying eggs when I found her. In hindsight, I could have had a bit more discretion.

At camp you are most likely to see these guys basking on a log down in the “swamp”, a section of standing water near the river that’s frequently overgrown with algae. You can see dozens of them fighting for space on a log, or diving below the water when someone drives by.

They also lay eggs in the spring, but for some reason, will travel pretty far from the water to do so. The female in the above photo was nesting up at the top end of camp; some way up a hill from the nearest water source.

They also are known to migrate over land for some distance, but have pretty good homing instincts. Occasionally, when I’m working down by the water, I’ll hear a crashing sound and a Painted Turtle will come falling down the rather steep hill next to the road on their way back to the swamp. This is kinda funny to witness; the turtles typically lay there kind of dazed for a minute before moving on with their journey.

In the Winter they settle down into the mud and hibernate, and can actually go a really long time without oxygen. That’s quite the party trick for an air-breathing animal that lives in water.

The last of the turtles we get on camp are the small dinosaurs that are Snapping Turtles.

The worlds most grouchy rock

Snappers really are like dinosaurs, with long serpentine necks and long thin tails and ridged shells.

Whilst ostensibly docile in the water, they can get awful ornery when you come across them on land. We once found a big fella hiding in the shade underneath the work truck one time, and he was NOT pleased to see us.

Course, that might have had something to do with the fact my colleague at the time had grabbed it by the tail and was trying to drag it away from the Shop area, but, yeah. Cranky.

Not sure what this one was up to. Seemed to be headed toward the river, albeit very slowly.

Snappers can get up to 35 lbs (16 kg), so they’re pretty sizable beasts. They also have powerful beaks used for catching fish, and other small animals, including other turtles. As adults they have few natural predators, thanks to their size and strength, although they are preyed upon as young by a variety of mammals, like raccoons, skunks, weasels and the like, and by some birds like herons.

Excuse me sir, the pool is closed. Nickel for comparison.

We found this lil guy when we were closing the pool last Fall. As you can see, they start off life pretty tiny! This one has a lot of growing to do! Adults mature at about 20 years though, so provided he can avoid getting eaten, he’s got plenty of time to get up to dinosaur size.

Small, but mighty.
We found him in the skimmer, probably got stuck there after we closed the pool.

As someone who grew up in the temperate climes of suburban London, I didn’t really come across turtles at all, so it’s kinda fun and still exciting to encounter these guys in the wild, so to speak. They’re some of the more interesting wild-life we get at camp.

I dunno. I just think they’re neat.

Anyway, till next time!