While I try to catch up on logging the hundreds of photos that are waiting in a folder on my HD, I thought I’d throw out a quick quiz. The image below was taken in the Wetlands on the pleasantly warm afternoon of 16 June.
A Fabulous Prize could be yours if you’re the first person to correctly identify the subject of the photos!
Thanks to keepers Jill and Mikey I goggled mud and snapper turtle. Does the shape of the turtle’s nose know a hint?
(I’m thinking Jill might win this one!)
OK, the big day is here!
Mikey, you are the winner! It is indeed a Common Snapping Turtle.
I must, however, give credit to Jill, the faces of the musk, mud, and snapper are similar, especially in older individuals, although I’ve not seen a mud turtle in our Wetlands yet, musk yes, mud no. And, it is difficult to judge size if there is nothing to compare with. The leaves that are present in the photo are of smartweed which may help with a size comparison, but that’s sketchy. This individual was large, its head about the size of an entire musk turtle.
That said, musk turtles have two white or yellowish lines that run from the tip of their nose to their neck, one over the eye the other under the eye.
Snappers lack the stripes.
Congratulations Mikey!!!
(Please pick up your fabulous prize when convenient, and thank you for participating)
MIkey says a snapper…We cant decide?!
Sorry Leslie and Sherry, you’re both wrong, but good guess.
To Jill and Mikey, when you make up you’re mind/s let me know, OK? Otherwise, I can’t reveal the true identity of the creature from the swamp, got to give other folks a chance to guess.
mud or musk turtle?
I’m with Leslie, and I am the giver of FABULOUS prizes!
Bullfrog head? That seems too obvious.