As predicted, the high tide that came with the new moon brought out at least one nesting snapping turtle! Cinnaminson police officer Dennis Vittese was at the door Sunday morning, telling me that he had a turtle in the back of his patrol car. She had been picked up for loitering in front of the police station on Manor Road. She was very calm when we took her out of the car, and stayed mellow while having her picture taken. This usually indicates that the turtle has not laid her eggs yet - once they are done laying, all they want is to get back to the water, and will try to bite your face off if you get near them.
When I took the turtle over to the creek, it was dead low tide, and she didn't head for the water. She decided to hide under our rowboat, either waiting for high tide to go back to the creek or waiting until dusk to try nesting again.
If this turtle is any indication, the distance it had traveled from either the golf course or through the storm drain to get to where the police found her, means that it is going to be a wet summer. The turtles have to lay their eggs above the high water mark, and somehow know ahead of time how far they have to go from the water. The year the dams in Medford gave way after we had close to 13 inches of rain in a day and a half, we had turtles nesting more than 3/4 of a mile from the creek - and that was more than a month before the rains came!
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The best part about this particular turtle showing up is that my family has had to take back some of their comments about my sanity. I kept telling them that I wasn't nuts for sitting next to the marsh in the dark, all the signs were there - I've been seeing large turtles in the creek all week, and while I waited near the creek at high tide in the wee hours of the morning, there were raccoons trying to get to our side of the creek. They are apparently aware of the turtles' schedule like me. Snapping turtles urinate in the nest as they lay their eggs so they can pack the loose dirt around the eggs. Predators like raccoons, oppossums and skunks can smell the nests, and know right where to dig to feast on freshly laid turtle eggs.
Hopefully, this particular turtle will manage to avoid the raccoons, lay her eggs and get back to the water without too much drama and aggravation - I'll let you know!
