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Daily Bucket: A Florida Turtle Nesting [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-04
The Daily Bucket is a regular series from the Backyard Science group. Here we talk about Mother Nature in all her glory, especially the parts that live nearby. So let us know (as close as you are comfortable) where you are and what's going on around you. What's the weather like? Seen any interesting plants, bugs or critters? Are there birds at your feeders? Deer, foxes or snakies in your yard? Seen any cool rocks or geological features? Post your observations and notes here. And photos. We like photos. :)
A few days ago I was walking through the Largo Central Park Nature Preserve when I happened to see a Peninsula Cooter turtle in the grass. It is currently nesting season, so I figured it must be a female looking to lay eggs, and stopped to take a look.
She has not picked a particularly good spot—this area gets a lot of foot traffic and also gets mown regularly
I stayed far away so I would not disturb her—I have a really long zoom lens
She noticed me immediately, but after examining me for a couple minutes she decided that I was not a threat and went back to digging
The back legs do all the work
Turtles do not do anything rapidly, so digging a nest can take a few hours. She would stop every so often for a rest.
I could not see how deep the hole was, and could not tell how close she was to laying. So I did a few laps around the park for a couple hours and checked in on her whenever I passed.
On my last lap I saw she was gone and thought she might have abandoned the spot. But getting closer, I saw that she had, in my absence, already laid her clutch and covered it over. So, alas, I missed the best part of the show.
I’ll check on the nest whenever I go to the park, to see if it goes through OK or if it gets wrecked by something. It takes about 10-12 weeks for them to hatch, depending on the weather.
And now it’s your turn: what’s laying eggs in your neck of the woods?
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