Turtles

Female Snapping Turtle

While I started this blog primarily thinking about the avian life around Newton, this snapping turtle compelled me to expand my subject matter.

I was recently walking near a shallow muddy pool and was completely taken aback by seeing this large dug up patch of earth whose center resolved to be this female snapping turtle. I am calling her a female because it appears as though she was digging a nest to lay her eggs. She seemed so out of place, the most dinosaur like turtle I have ever seen. While this particular turtle was not in Newton, I learned that June and July is peak egg laying season for them and they prefer shallow ponds, lakes, and streams, of which Newton has plenty of. So it seemed likely that others might encounter them in Newton. Snapping turtles also have long flexible necks that do not fully retract into their shells, so they have developed a snapping bite for defense. One word of caution is that while they tend to shy from humans, their bite can be quite enough to liberate fingers from hands, so please give them a wide berth.

Painted Turtle

Thinking about this snapping turtle reminded me that last year I also found a painted turtle on the sidewalk a block or so away from Houghton Gardens! So I decided I'd include a picture of our own Newton turtle as well. The painted turtle is one of the most common turtles in our area and easily found sunning themselves on logs.  This one was walking down the sidewalk (Where was he going?) and withdrew into his shell when I approached.

While reading up on these turtles, I remembered another Newton blog, Natural Newton, where the author knows much more about the diversity of our flora and fauna than I do. So check out an article about the turtles of Newton if you are interested in knowing what types of turtles you might find here. Also there is a nice article with pictures of snapping and painted turtles found in Nahanton park.