Way back on June 26th I was photographing dragonflies along the edge of a wetland near Mattawa. This bad-ass black and yellow dragonfly caught my eye (it ended up being a Dragonhunter), and as I was watching it chase after other dragonflies and trying to photograph it, the glint of a turtle shell made me look twice at the pile of sticks and debris along the edge of the stream connecting two larger wetlands.
It was a yearling Painted Turtle.
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| Midland Painted Turtle - Mattawa, ON (June 26, 2013) |
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| Midland Painted Turtle - Mattawa, ON (June 26, 2013) |
Turtles have very low recruitment rates mainly due to high nest predation. Dozens of eggs are laid each season by gravid females, yet some turtles will go their entire lives without producing any offspring. It's always a nice sign to see a baby turtle, even if it is a Painted Turtle, the only non Species at Risk turtle in Ontario.
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| Midland Painted Turtle - Mattawa, ON (June 26, 2013) |
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