A little natural joy on the bricks

We had a surprise visitor today.  I went outside to see what was new in the garden. Not even ten feet from the kitchen door I met up with my unexpected visitor. I was about to take a step when I looked down and saw the tiny critter. In front of me was a baby diamondback terrapin turtle.  It was quite small, about the size of a silver dollar, and it was covered with dirt. I didn't immediately recognize what type of turtle it was because of the dirt all over it, that was hiding the signature diamondback designs on its shell.  Its tail is quite long and its feet are webbed. As soon as he realized he was in my hand he withdrew his head and did not bring it back out for most of his visit.

He was stranded on the bricks of the walkway.  There are large gaps inbetween the bricks and the little guy was hung up on the crevice that created. I could tell he wasn't a box turtle, but he did resemble a snapping turtle. After a little research and a lot of photograph taking, it was established that indeed he had a diamondback and was a terrapin hatchling. He could have come from anywhere in the neighborhood. Often neighbors report a terrrapin up on their property looking to lay eggs. The general opinion is that they are not the brightest light in the chandelier, but he we might as well be talking dinosaur level of development here. Last week we had a baby terp on the beach during our Easter celebration here. It created quite a stir with the family and was left in place to go on with its journey. This little guy or gal had another 100 feet before it came within distance of the water so its journey was not near an end. It still had some crawling to do before hitting the bay. Last year we had a full size female terp on the lane in front of the house looking to lay eggs, or on her way back to the water after laying...don't know which. Anyway we moved it off of the driving lane and it headed back to the water eventually bouncing down the ten foot drop like a bowling ball falling off a cliff. I guess they are made for that sort of encounter.

Well I photographed my little guy, who was not a willing model, and I took him back out to the grassy shoreline for him to decide where he needed to go, but not before I had a good look at him or her. As he dried I realized just how mud covered he was,when the mud started to fall off as it dried. That made me realize that immediately before I found him, he had just broken out of his egg and dug himself out of the earth his egg was buried in! No wonder he seemed lathargic, he was exhausted!

He was pretty fascinating considering I have never seen a terp baby before. Its belly is speckled. It had what I think is a naval. His back had diamond patterning. He hid inside his "turtle neck" which was a great foil to protect him. Take a look at my photos and maybe you will enjoy him too. I think you can click them to get larger for a better look. Somewhere in the photos I will include my photo of a full grown terrpin we found in the yard a few years back. This terrapin was my smile for the day,