Turtle Soup

Having lived here for seven entire months, and with wall to wall windows in just about every room in the house I was confident that I had seen all the local wildlife nature had to offer, both indoors and out: deer, wild turkeys, heron, egrets, rabbits, ducks, geese, lizards, snakes, stink bugs, mice, not to mention mosquitoes, cockroaches and ghosts.

But I was wrong. This morning, while quietly watching the vacationing boaters bobbing up and down in the cove, I noticed something else bobbing up and down in the newly weeded garden plot. A turtle! Now that was enough to give me pause, and (after squealing to Scott like a precious three year old), I realized the turtle was trying to climb the fresh little mound of freshly dug earth that will soon sprout freshly planted flower seeds. It’s spring; everything is fresh. Then I noticed that it was digging only with its hind legs. Still a mystery; was it trying to gain traction to make it up the hill; why not go around. There was quite a pile of dirt behind it so the digging must have been going on for some time. The little turtle looked very determined, brow furrowed, mouth sealed, staring straight ahead. Clearly, this was a turtle on a mission, grunt grunt, breathing hard, and then it stopped. Half of its body was below ground and the facial expression vacillated between eyes shut tight and eyes wide open. It finally dawned on me; the turtle was laying its eggs.  My grand maternal instincts kicked in (as evidenced by my many offspring), and I wondered aloud to Scott about helping to preserve the eggs after mom turtle left the scene. After all, turtles gave us turtleneck pullovers, ought we not to give something in return? Scott gave the idea some cursory thought, then said not to worry, the raccoons would get them; so much for the circle of life.

While I watched, I did a little research. The adult turtle lives nearby. Turtles do not venture far from their birthplace and always return to their ancestral land to lay their eggs. They will eat anything that can fit into their mouth, starting out as carnivors and becoming more vegan as they age. (Note to self: watch out for baby turtles snapping at my ankles, as they may be trying to eat my ankles.) The underground gestation period from laying to hatching is about 8-10 weeks, which means that this fall we will watch a half dozen baby turtles running for their lives as they try to make it to the safety of the forest or the water. They will live in either environment, in the reeds by the water edge or under the fallen leaves in the forest, if their predators don’t get them first, including anyone in my immediate family who desires turtle soup or wants to find out if turtles taste like chicken.