Date: 3/13/25 2:11 pm From: ARUNACHALAM RAMANAN <aramanan57...> Subject: Re: [Arlington Birds] Red-Tails in love and war
They are Painted turtles. Ram
On Thu, Mar 13, 2025, 9:18 AM PAUL ROBERTS <phawk254...> wrote:
> Hi Ram, > Neither of the turtles you photographed are snapping turtles. They also > are not babies, but at the very least yearlings. Small, they like to sit in > the sun to recover from their winter hibernation. Look up painted turtles > and similar species. Snapping turtles have a very distinctive shell, and > "giant' mamma snappers emerge from ponds and streams in late spring to lay > eggs that are "incubated" by the warm earth. That is when you see huge > turtles crossing roads everywhere, with many carcasses on Route 2 and other > high-speed 2-4 lane highways. The young hatch in early summer and migrate > to streams to feed and grow. If you see a large snapper and want to remove > it from the road, it must be handled very carefully because they can and do > bite. > > Best, > Paul > > Paul M. Roberts > Medford, MA > <phawk254...> >
