[obol] Re: (off topic ) turtle question

[Elaine Stewart]

Hi Darrel,

I work with painted turtles quite a bit up here in the Portland area. 
I'm afraid I can't tell from your description which species you saw, but
I can tell you that there are snapping turtles popping up here and there
in the Portland area as people dump them in the wild.  There are also a
lot of other non-native turtles being dumped in Portland-area wetlands
and riparian areas, from Chinese box turtles to who knows what else.

Fern Ridge is near Eugene, right?  You may be able to get some help
from the Springfield office of Oregon Dept. Fish and Wildlife.  The
wildlife biologist may already be familiar with the site and its
reptilian inhabitants.

Hope that helps,
Elaine

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elaine Stewart
Natural Resources Scientist
Metro
600 NE Grand Avenue
Portland, OR  97232-2736

Tel 503.797.1515
Fax 503.797.1849
stewarte at metro.dst.or.us
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>>> obol-request at lists.oregonstate.edu 10/04/06 12:00 PM >>>
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Message: 18
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2006 21:26:48 -0700
From: "Darrel Faxon" <5hats at peak.org>
Subject: [obol] (off topic ) turtle question
To: "Obol" <obol at lists.oregonstate.edu>
Message-ID: <000801c6e76d$53d33540$0000a398 at your5rlp3a9516>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

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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