The Friendly Neighborhood Snapper Turtle

Posted Apr 4, 2007 by Vidisha Priyanka

Updated Apr 4, 2007 at 05:03 PM

A week ago, my path crossed a snapper turtle’s. She was on the side of the road, all curious, adventurous and ready to cross the mighty road in front of her.

Her curiosity, unlike that of a cat, probably saved her life. She paused to look at my car, hurrying down the same road she was just about to cross.

I stopped too, alerted by her big head peeking out of the shell. I got our of my car to see if I could do anything to lure her back to the pond that she came from, to prevent her from getting crushed by an oncoming vehicle like mine.

She was huge and frankly, I was scared. So I waited on the side of the street with her for a braver driver to come our way. She waited with me.

So when that brave driver drove by and stopped, I was thrilled. She was just perplexed and a little annoyed by the delay.

I explained the situation to the driver, admitted I didn’t want to be bitten by her and I would rather he put himself at risk than I. A tad selfish, but hey, I was protecting the environment.

So he tried to pick up the turtle by the sides of the shell and she didn’t like it.  She reared and snapped at him and the poor brave soul had to take a step back. He then proceeded with caution and had to shove the animal with his foot into the grass and away from the road.

She didn’t disappear even then. She stood her ground, disgruntled and menacing. We shoved her as far as we could and then drove off.

One good deed of the day done.

Recently the log for backyard bird counting broke records in number of observations.

Although the snapper is not a bird, that was my backyard animal, and I haven’t stopped counting. I do get a red cardinal, or I think it is the red cardinal, pecking at the bird feeder outside my home. Keep counting.