Pickles was taking the mail to the box and hollered at me to come look at a turtle. It was a pretty big one and was digging a hole at the edge of the gravel driveway. Guessing 8-10" long and 6" wide. Making a spot to lay eggs? It would periodically raise it's back half up and make grunting sounds. We stood a way away so as not to disturb it. After a while I quietly walked around the back of it and saw that the back legs were pulling soil from the sides and back of the hole, then curling the back feet to tamp the soil down with it's knuckles very methodically.


After a while I returned to garden putters and the next time I checked, the turtle was gone. I got an unused tomato cage to set over that spot and strung it with orange plastic tape for visibility. The turtle had covered the hole so nicely you'd hardly see it unless you knew it was there. After doing an internet search I think it might be a Gopher Tortoise, the Georgia state reptile. However the pics I found don't show that square marking at the top of the shell. I've sent the photo to a Georgia wildlife site to see what they say.

You never know what you'll see around here!

Yep, red eared sliders come up into the yard, dig a hole like that and lay their eggs, about this time of year. There’s been some sliders up in the yard recently as they tend to come and dig their nesting holes after a rain.The raccoons and probably foxes find some of the nests, but enough make it to start a new generation.

I hardly ever see any terrestrial types here. About a year ago I saw box turtle at a friend’s nearby land.
https://srelherp.uga.edu/turtles/

The folks I e-mailed the photo to confirmed that it was a gopher tortoise. They said the square marking on the back might just be something random that formed on that one turtle. They can live almost thirty years!

i saw some gopher tortoises while in florida. they are protected there.

couple days ago, i had my own ya never know what you'll see moments.
i checked the chicken coop after work to assess the food feeder, this was in the afternoon.
at the back of the coop on top of a nesting box, i saw a garter snake curled up. now, a snake
inside a chicken coop is not the best place to be, and continue to live. there were a few chickens
in the coop, so i was keenly interested in what was going to happen. i didn't want the snake to be
hurt, so was ready to rescue it if need be. the snake was perfectly still. every so often i would see its
head move just a bit. a couple times, a chicken detected movement, and looked toward the snake, but
the snake would freeze and remain invisible to the chicken. once the chickens moved away from that
part of the coop, the snake ever so slowly started straightening out, and ever so slowly went down the
side of the box to the floor of the coop, and from there went into the space between the box and the
back of the coop. it was one of the most elegant maneuvers i have ever seen.


keith