Helen Carlson Wildlife Santuary: Portland, CT (4/12)

That same afternoon, I picked up Shannon and the two of us headed out to Helen Carlson Wildlife Sanctuary in Portland. It was a cool but sunny afternoon and I was hoping to relocate some Spotted Turtles. I actually found these guys at this same place last year and I thought that the conditions would be right to see them again.

When we got to the sanctuary, I brought Shannon down the trail where I had seen the turtles before. Surprisingly there weren't any to be found. But I did spy a Northern Water Snake coiled up on some debris and basking in the afternoon sun. He stayed put for the entire time we were there even when I crept up to take his picture.

I was a little dejected as we headed back to the road. But, only a few minutes later Shannon actually discovered what she thought was a turtle. After taking a few minutes to describe where he was siting, I was able to find it too and confirm that it was a Spotted Turtle. We had really great looks at this guy and he didn't even dive for cover when I inched close enough to take a nice picture.

We were both really happy at this point. But, that wasn't the last turtle that we found. Shannon found one more and I discovered one too. In total, we had three Spotted and a few Painted. After a short hike thru the woods we headed back to the car and on the return trip I had my first butterfly of the year; a Spring Azure.

Postscript: When we got back to my house that day, we started a Garter Snake which was soaking up the heat on my driveway. It was a great herp day.