 |
| Click here for Great River Road News Article |
A few weeks ago, Little Brother and his friend accompanied me to Emiquon for our morning walk... but we did not walk very far that day as we stumbled upon a female painted turtle acting oddly. We soon realized that she was digging a hole with her back... flippers. We watched for half an hour as she scooped up dirt with surprisingly agile back feet until the hole was exactly the right depth. Then she laid a dozen soft, leathery eggs as we quietly looked on. Just amazing to see. She buried the nest with her flippers again, grabbing wet dirt in her clawed feet as though she was grasping little baseballs. Each 'baseball' of dirt was placed exactingly back into the nest and packed down.
Of course, I lamented not bring my camera several times, but then decided to sit back and allow myself to experience this event with my wholeness of being, rather than peering through a digital lens. After an hour, and at the last moments of this event, a news car pulled up. With a camera.
The news reporter missed the egg laying but he was able to capture our little homeschool gang, and several other nature loves in the area. We are so fortunate to have the Emiquon nature preserve along this stretch of the Illinois River.
No comments:
Post a Comment