A Midland painted turtle basks at the Brickworks on April 5th. © BCP 2010
What a delight earlier this week to see turtles back in our ponds. With snow swirling in a leaden sky today, it’s hard to believe now that the summer-like temperatures we enjoyed over the Easter weekend really happened. But just as the human members of our great urban colony ditched their down coats and came out to enjoy instant summer — so did the turtles at the Brickworks crawl out of their winter hibernaculums to get in the game of life again.
Three Midland painted turtles soak up the sun. © BCP 2010
I hadn’t had the pleasure of visiting the Brickworks for some months, so I took my time walking around, getting reacquainted with the site. But the second pond I came to on my walk proved fruitful. A giant snapping turtle — and I do mean giant — was submerged and all but invisible under a floating mass of aquatic plants at the edge of the pond. He was in no mood for socializing — or for being photographed, for that matter. He only stayed partially visible for a few minutes until the sounds of kids and dogs and too many humans seemed to spook him. But before he hid completely, I got a good look at his head and the front portion of his shell. Love to see this big turtle again….I’ll check back in a few days to see if I can locate him, and get him to co-operate for his close-up.
A couple of ponds away, I hit pay dirt — photographically speaking — with a bunch of Midland painted turtles (Chrysemys picta marginata).
Unlike birds, which can be fiendishly difficult to photograph well (especially in flight), these turtles were — um — a snap. It’s not like you have to shoot them at 1/1,000 of a second to freeze their motion, or anything. Nope. I found that as long as I was perfectly quiet and ver-r-ry still, a nice leisurely approach with these subjects would get the shot. Of course, the harsh afternoon lighting’s not ideal. Guess I’ll have to find out what time of day the turtles begin their basking…Maybe, if I’m lucky, they will come out early enough in the morning when the light is better for making good photographs.
I’ll keep trying. In the meantime, hope you enjoy these beautiful painted turtles — they made my day.
© BCP 2010
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