Macro Monday

Eye to eye
and nose to nose
with a turtle.

When the photo session was finished this little lady went gladly back to her woodland surroundings.

(click to enlarge photos for a really close look)

For more Macro Monday join Lisa here.

Camera Critters: The Box Turtle

I'm A Little Shy

Sitting at the computer one day in July I looked out my window and saw something move in the grass. I was so excited about my luck when I saw this turtle moseying beside the oak tree. I grabbed the camera and went out to the yard. Of course his neck had been fully extended but on my approach he started easing it back inside his shell. I watched him for a good fifteen minutes walking away and coming back to him. This is the best I could get of his head.

I have always enjoyed looking at the shell of a turtle. The design always reminds me of Native American weaving patterns. The patterns on top remind of a Phoneix. The creases on this little guy are filled with the red clay mud we have in our soil. I so wanted to scrub him and make him clean!

A couple of weeks before this I had run across a turtle out back in the woods. I believe this is the same turtle. An article in our local paper recently noted that box turtles spend their entire lives, which may span 60 or 70 years, on just a few acres. There they know where to hide and where to find food. If moved to an unfamiliar area they're likely to starve or be eaten by predators. It stated that you should go ahead and move one from traffic; but place it out of harm headed the way it was going. Females were making nests and laying eggs in July that will hatch sometime around October and overwinter in the nest. Their first few years of life will be spent nearby.

I went out a little later after downloading the photos I had taken and couldn't find him anywhere. I even walked to the woods. When they want to go they can GO!


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