Category: Red-eared Slider

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Soakin’ Up the Smoky Sun

With temperatures finally climbing to seasonable levels and with stormy sun filtering through the yellow-brown smoke coming our way courtesy of wildfires in Alberta and other parts of central Canada, we ventured out to see what might be basking in our local star’s refracted rays…

Black Saddlebags
Dragonflies including this Black Saddlebags are now actively patrolling the edges of waterways and wetlands for prey and mates.
Common Green Darners
Here we see a pair of Common Green Darners flying in tandem…
Common Green Darners
…and, having already mated, stopping at a suitable location for the female to oviposit the fertilized eggs onto submerged plant stems.
Painted Turtles
A sunny day almost always brings out the reptiles, including these Painted Turtles…
Red-eared Slider
and the invasive Red-eared Slider, a native transplant from the American midwest.
Snapping Turtle
A really big Snapping Turtle will prey on almost anything, including other Snapping Turtles…
Golden Shiners
…but this one seems to be fascinated by something a lot smaller.  Something like these juvenile Golden Shiners seen here schooling in the sun-drenched shallows.
Northern Water Snakes
Turtles aren’t the only reptiles thriving in the heat.  Northern Water Snakes (Nerodia sipedon sipedon) take full advantage of a sun-drenched rock to warm up after spending time in the chilly water of a stream.
Northern Water Snakes
You know, no one loves a snake like another snake…
Northern Water Snakes
…and when it comes to these two snakes, it looks like love is in the air!
Spicebush Swallowtail
Butterflies like this Spicebush Swallowtail enjoy time in the sun, even while seeking out minerals in a patch of moist soil.
Woodchucks
After its siblings darted into the familial burrow upon our approach, this juvenile Woodchuck instead sought the attention of its nurturing mother.  Unlike its brothers and sisters, perhaps this little groundhog isn’t afraid of its own shadow.  Or does the smoky haze have the youngster all confused about what does and doesn’t constitute as a shadow?  Well, we can’t help you there, but you have a whole eight months to figure it out!
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Photo of the Day

Red-eared Slider
Introduced species often exhibit greater vigor than the plants and animals that are indigenous to an ecosystem.  Today, we found this Red-eared Slider, a native of the lower Mississippi River basin, basking in the intermittent sunshine on the edge of a Susquehanna valley pond still partially covered with ice from the deep freeze earlier this month.  These turtles do not hibernate but instead brumate, remaining motionless on the bottom of the pond or under adjacent embankments.  During brumation, they eat nothing, but will come to the surface to bask on warm winter days.  This ability to be a “light sleeper” gives the invasive Red-eared Slider an advantage over the native turtles in our ponds, lakes, and rivers.  When spring finally does arrive, they’ll be the first to emerge and begin feeding, gaining the vitality they’ll need to start mating and depositing eggs before the local species.  Red-eared Sliders were released into the waters of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed as unwanted pets and are now freely reproducing.  Their growing numbers are displacing some of our native species including several of our uncommon and rare turtles.
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Emergence of the Turtles

Along the lower Susquehanna, an unseasonably mild day in early spring can provide an observer with the opportunity to witness an annual spectacle seldom seen by the average visitor to the river—concentrations of dozens, sometimes hundreds, of turtles as they emerge from their winter slumber to bathe in the year’s first surge of warm air and sunshine.

Reptiles of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed: Snapping Turtle
Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) spend the winter buried in mud along the river shoreline and in nearby Alluvial Terrace Wetlands.  We photographed this one just as it was digging its way out.
Reptiles of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed: Snapping Turtle
A cold and stiff Snapping Turtle crawls away from the shade toward sun-drenched shallows where it will have a chance to limber up.
Reptiles of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed: Snapping Turtle
A cruise in open water loosens up the muscles and gets rid of some of the accumulations of sticky mud and muck.
Reptiles of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed: Painted Turtles
Freshly emerged Painted Turtles clamber onto a log to bask in the cloud-filtered sun.
Reptiles of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed: Painted Turtle atop a Snapping Turtle
A Painted Turtle looking for a place to get out of the chilly water soon discovered the obvious solution.
It’s catching on, more Painted Turtles atop a Snapping Turtle in an Alluvial Terrace Wetland.
Reptiles of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed: Red-eared Slider and Common Map Turtle
The Common Map Turtle (right) is the turtle most frequently observed basking on rocks and logs along the main stem of the Susquehanna.  To the left is a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), an increasingly numerous invasive species.  The first Red-eared Sliders arrived in the river as, you guessed it, unwanted pets.  Editor’s Note: Special thanks to the local North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) for trimming the trees and providing a clear shot for this photograph!
Reptiles of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed: Red-eared Slider and Painted Turtles
And now, a quick quiz.  Name the things that don’t belong in this picture?  Here’s a hint: a non-native Red-eared Slider (left) joins indigenous Painted Turtles atop a discarded tire in an Alluvial Terrace Wetland in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
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