Turtles, Wet Weekend, Backyard Photography, Heavenly Bodies

It was, indeed, a wet weekend. We needed the rain, and we got quite a bit. Our weather guys, who keep up with stuff like that, say we need more, that there is a deficit. I'm not sure how much we got. Checking out the radar Saturday and Sunday showed some pretty intense stuff, at times. And, there was the steady, soaking rain, at least at our home. Good for the grass. And, the weeds. Yuchh. Good for the forest fires. The winds, unfortunately, were bad for a lot of crops in this part of the state.

Dancing around, now.

Robie, my wife, thinks that a turtle from her childhood has found her. After quite a few years. Might be a birthday gift from the past (she celebrated hers Sunday). The turtle has been hanging around our yard since we rescued it from the street a few months ago. Keeps coming back. Her dad, a retired marine captain, had brought a turtle home one day, back in the 1960's. They turned it loose, but the turtle, we think, keeps returning.

Nothing else to do but give it a name. She chose Mac, after her dad. Works for me. Mac really enjoyed the weekend. Lotsa rain, lotsa puddles. He paid no attention to our dogs. And, they just took a sniff or two, and let him be.

I've seen turtles all my life. Box turtles, in the woods where we played and later hunted and explored.

On logs along the creeks where we fish.

Always a curious and interesting creature, hiding out in their rugged shells, safe from most critters in the woods. You could buy tiny varieties in stores, those meant to be kept as pets, either in a box or in a waterless aquarium. Never did that. Just enjoyed them in the wild. As it was intended.

Mac makes for some interesting pictures. Sticking his head out to pose for the camera.

A little info on box turtles. There are six subspecies. Four are found in the United States, a couple more are down Mexico way.

Terrapene carolina triunguis (three-toed box turtle)
Terrapene carolina carolina (eastern box turtle)

Mac is likely one of these, though I haven't been able to count his toes, yet. I'll try that next time. I never thought about turtles having toes.

This is from the Smithsonian, National Zoological Park web site.

All T. carolina have a bilobed, hinged plastron that allows the box turtle to close its shell almost completely. They have a steep-margined, keeled, high-domed, rounded carapace with variable markings. Concentric growth furrows can be seen on the carapace, although in some older individuals they become very difficult to see. The upper jaw is slightly hooked. The toes are only slightly webbed.

Males are slightly larger on average than females, the posterior lobe of their plastron is concave, and the claws on their hind legs are short, thick, and curved. Males also have thicker and longer tails. Females' rear claws are longer, straighter, and more slender, and the posterior lobe of their plastron is flat or slightly convex. Males have red irises and females have yellowish-brown irises.

Environmental temperature determines activity rate. Preferred body temperature is between 84 and 100° F (37.8° C). In the heat of the summer, box turtles largely restrict their activity to mornings and after rain. When it gets too hot, they hide under decaying logs and leaves, crawl into mammal burrows, or into mud. When it is really hot, they go into shady pools and puddles to cool off. In the spring and fall, they may be out foraging during all daylight hours, and they sometimes bask in the sun to get warm. Box turtles are diurnal and scoop out a shallow indentation in which to spend the night.

In the northern regions, box turtles go into hibernation in October or November, but farther south they remain active later in the year. To hibernate, they burrow as far as two-feet deep into loose earth, mud, stream bottoms, old stump holes, or mammal burrows. They may return to the same place to hibernate in successive years and sometimes more than one turtle hibernates in the same hibernacula. They usually emerge from hibernation in April. They sometimes wake up and find a new hibernacula on warm days in the winter.

These turtles usually have a home range with a diameter of 750 feet (230 m) or less in which they normally stay. Occasionally, for unknown reasons, they journey out from their home range. Home ranges of different individuals overlap frequently, regardless of age or sex. The turtles are often found together and show no antagonism towards each other.

Exclusively North American, box turtles occupy the eastern United States ranging from southern Maine to Florida along the East Coast, and west to Michigan, Illinois, eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Due to their popularity as household pets, box turtles are sometimes found far outside their normal geographic range.

Robie thinks Mac looks a little like that general cartoon character on the insurance commercial on TV when he retreats nto his shell.

She might have something there.

The moral of my story is...well, there really isn't one. Except, as I have said many times, one need not venture far from home to get to some pretty cool pictures. Open your eyes, and let your shutters do the walking.

A final pic, speaking of that, and it has nothing to do with turtles. Did you notice the moon Saturday night? In Jacksonville, it looked pretty bewitching as the clouds moved across our nearest heavenly neighbor.