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Common Snapping Turtle

Chelydra serpentina

Notes:

I saw a rather tense bit of drama today. Three large snapping turtles had noticed these little mallard ducklings and one of them made two separate attempts to capture some food. The mother mallard called her babies away from the water both times.

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12 Comments

ScottRasmussen
ScottRasmussen 9 years ago

Posting a follow-up to this. It's two months later. I was down at the pond yesterday and saw mama, who managed to keep three of her six ducklings. They are quite large and have well developed adult plumage. Their wings are still too small for flight but they try them out frequently and I'm sure they'll be flying soon. It's a tough life for a duckling, even on a protected pond like this one. I'm surprised that even half the ducklings survived this long.

LarryGraziano
LarryGraziano 9 years ago

Wonderful series and moment!

outsidegirl0
outsidegirl0 9 years ago

great spotting! those ducklings are soo cute! :)

Caleb Steindel
Caleb Steindel 9 years ago

excellent series scott!

DanielePralong
DanielePralong 9 years ago

Close shave! Great captures Scott.

SukanyaDatta
SukanyaDatta 9 years ago

Lovely! The happy ending (for the baby birds) was nice too...I am sure the turtles found something else for lunch.

jamiewgoodspeed
jamiewgoodspeed 9 years ago

My goodness!!!! that turtle looks like he's gonna lunge for those baby ducks!

Fantastic spotting. Thank you for sharing, ScottRasmussen.

JenKnight
JenKnight 9 years ago

great series!

hernandezwolf99
hernandezwolf99 9 years ago

Wow! Close one

ScottRasmussen
ScottRasmussen 9 years ago

It was very stressful watching them. I knew if I moved towards the water that the ducks would get nervous and head out into the pond, right into the jaws of the turtle, so I had to trust that mama duck would call her babies away in time. She did, twice, but I'm sure that lots of ducklings fall prey to the snappers every year.

cbenito00
cbenito00 9 years ago

Turn around little ducks!!! Ahhh!!!! Really cute nice job!

ScottRasmussen
Spotted by
ScottRasmussen

Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

Spotted on May 19, 2014
Submitted on May 20, 2014

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