Wood Turtle

After the Earth Day cleanup on Saturday I went over to a location in Central Massachusetts that I had heard has a population of Wood Turtles. I can't disclose the location since I'd be worried that a collector would go to the site. Anyhow, I'd been to this site 8-10 times since I heard the report of the turtle. As hard as I tried, I never found the animal. But I kept trying since I'd never seen a Wood Turtle before.

And my persistence was finally rewarded. I walked down the main road to the sandy bottom stream (which is a favorite habitat of these turtles) and started to scan the area with my binoculars. But, there was no sign of the turtle. Disappointed, I decided to try looking around some more. When I turned to leave I looked down and there was a turtle right at my feet (literally 5-10 feet away). Trying not to overstress it, I kept my distance and watched it for some time. After it got used to me, I sat down in the grass and took tons of photos. After a while it got sick of me and started to slowly walk away. At this point I didn't want to bother it any more so I left it to its travels.

Amazingly, my fantastic day was not over. I continued on to a small pond in the area and noticed a pair of Brown Thrashers. They disappeared into the brush around the pond and I followed. When I got to the banks of the pond I spooked a large bird. Its size, color, and posture gave it away. It was an American Bittern. I took three or four photos before it decided that it was no longer camouflaged and flew into the trees on the opposite bank.

So, I did something good for the earth and I was rewarded with some great animals. Instant karma.