[obol] (off topic ) turtle question

[Darrel Faxon]

turbolites,
    On Sept. 26 Laura and I were at the end of Royal Avenue at Fern Ridge.  We walked the dike south, looking at shorebirds. We saw a few yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers, but no, no Stilt Sandpiper or Red Knot.  However, we did see a turtle basking on a log, and thought it might be a Snapping Turtle.  Are they known out there?  I know next to nothing about turtles, so my description is probably lacking, but the carapace on this one was about a foot long and six or seven inches wide, brown, and noticeably segmented, each segment separated from the next one by rather deep groove.  The neck was stretched out and upward at about a forty five degree angle.  The snout was noticeably sharp, not blunt, making the head look,  hmm.  .. how to describe this.  Well, ok, shaped kind of like the bill of a Yellow-billed Loon, upturned on the lower portion.  There appeared to be some striping on the sides of the head, but we were not able to see that well, and when we attempted to get closer, the turtle very rapidly scurried off the log and into the water.  It didn't actually slide off the log, like I have seen Pond Turtles do.  I was more like it jumped off, if one can say a turtle jumped. That is the best description this very much amatuer can give.  Anybody out there who knows more that can suggest what kind of turtle it was likely that we saw?

Darrel
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