Timber Rattler but No Turtles

The only turtles we saw on our mini-vacation this weekend (aside from a sick turtle we brought with us so we could treat him every day) were at the Minnewaska Wildlife Center as we hiked around the lake. And here they are:




But the real excitement occurred after we'd take about ten steps out of the parking lot. Allen's cousin had just finished saying, "You know, every time I visit this park I see a snake," when we saw a juvenile timber rattler crossing the path. And here he is:









Some park goers wanted to take photos of the snake. Others were scared. I stopped told a man and a woman on bicycles to stop. I didn't want them running over the snake. From the look on the woman's face, she didn't want the snake running over her. But all it wanted to do was get to the other side of the road.

Turtles on Vacation--Arizona

Western Box turtle

Although we saw only one turtle on our recent trip to Sedona, the Western box pictured above at an indoor pet, we did manage to meet a turtle lover on our trip--from Switzerland. Allen and I took a jeep tour (a back country "wildlife safari") to see elk, deer, coyote, hawks.

There was only one other traveler on the trip. He introduced himself (call him “P”), told us he was from Switzerland and had just come from NYC. Hey, we're from NYC we said.

Have you heard of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge out by Kennedy Airport? P. asked. Sure, we go there all the time. P. told us he thought Jamaica Bay was a wonderful birding spot—even better than those in Europe.

We realized that we take Jamaica Bay for granted. It’s four miles from our apartment. We go there a few times a year—just to walk around smell the salt air (the refuge is close to the Atlantic) and to be outside. One or twice, years ago, we helped out on Dr. Russell Burke’s terrapin nesting research project. But we’re not birders, and we are unlikely to see terrapins unless we’re involved in the research project, so we’ve begun to take the place for granted. You never know what’s in your own backyard that you’re overlooking.

Then, when P learned we’re turtle lovers, he told us that not only does he have Greek tortoises, he just hatched a number of babies. Plus, he said he knows a turtle person in Europe who has a house for his family and a second house for his turtles. It really is a small world.

On the tour we saw a rattlesnake and elk (above).

Turtles on Vacation

Over many years of being married to a turtle lover – my husband Allen – I’ve learned that there are, strictly speaking, only two types of vacations:

1. Those undertaken for the express purpose of seeing turtles
2. Those undertaken for simple rest and relaxation – along with the hope that one will see some turtles along the way.

Last week, we vacationed in Connecticut and Rhode Island – a rest and relaxation vacation. Nevertheless, there were turtle sightings, to wit:

We spied Eastern painted turtles at Mystic Aquarium’s wetlands pond.

At Marble House (below), a Gilded Age mansion in Newport, RI (now a museum), we took a self-guided tour. When we arrived in the kitchen, the narrator on the tape mimicked the sound of chopping off a terrapin head in preparation for cooking. (I guess this was a turtle “sounding” rather than a “sighting.”) Across the room, in a glass-fronted cabinet, was a turtle mold, made of what looked like pewter. Not sure what might have been cooked in the mold. Wasn't allowed to take photos in the house, so no picture of said mold.

And in Connecticut, at a Feast of Green Corn, known as Schemitzun, presented by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, we saw rattles, medicine pouches and dream catchers made by tribal artisans from turtle shells and other materials.