How Does the Turtle Cross the Road?

                                                    There was a little turtle.

                                                    He lived in a box.

                                                    He swam in a puddle.

                                                    He climbed up on the rocks.

                                                    He snapped at a mosquito.

                                                    He snapped at a flea.

                                                    He snapped at a minnow.

                                                    He snapped at me.

                                                    He caught the mosquito.

                                                    He caught the flea.

                                                    He caught the minnow.

                                                    But he didn't catch me.

                                                    ~ Vachel Lindsay*

It's a Red-eared Slider (Common Slider, but nothing common about this guy).
[The answer to the question posed in the title? "Very Carefully!"]

Out to the pond we went - lured by the birds seen and reported by some folks yesterday. Zelda just "rolled her eyes" and settled in for a nap. No sprinkling rain coming in the window today so she snoozed - until I got out of the car. What!?! She was up like a shot. Where you going Mom?

Let me explain. On the bird crawl I DO NOT get out of the car. I take photos out the windows. I take really bad photos through the windshield. But I only get out of the car if I am with someone or see someone I know who is stopped or wants me to stop.

But then again...milkweed and turtles can authorize breaking a rule or two.

While squinting to see birds at the far ponds I almost missed 7 +/- Zizotes Milkweed plants at the edge of the lane - some coming up through loose gravel. I couldn't believe the blooms I thought I'd seen and so I backed up a car-length. There it was.

I love the name - Zizotes! 

I did not see any eggs or caterpillars, but hopefully the milkweed will be there to host the butterflies in migration.

I jumped out of the car (Zelda woke up, jumped up too, and watched me out the window). I took photos and checked some tiny seed pods. And I wondered if these plants would be mowed down the next time someone cleaned up the grassy border. In some places the ground drops away. Some spots have a bit of a ditch. Other places, like this spot, are nice and level - good places to pull off the road. Whatever. I'll keep an eye on the milkweed.

A large group of Pied-billed Grebes were populating a couple of ponds. I love those goofy little grebes. The egrets were everywhere. And Ibis (probably white-faced) were feeding.

Snowy Egrets feeding in one of the far ponds.

And as I type this it is raining again on the ponds (Oh, thunder just now!). All of this weather is perfect timing as many birds will start their migration in the next few weeks. The water-filled ponds will make good stop-overs. And maybe those in migration will stay long enough for us to get a look.

Four Spotted Pennant

A variety of Umbrella Paper Wasps (right outside Zelda's window - she didn't flinch).

Roseate Skimmer (this dragonfly looked pretty ragged and worn, but the color is stunning)

"But what about the turtle," you ask.

Well, it's a sad and happy and magic little story. First, I came upon a small turtle newly crushed on the roadway. It's hard to know if folks hit them for sport or just don't pay attention. I guess it is a little of both. So I documented the crushed slider and noticed there was second turtle in the road about 150 feet further down the way. This one was alive, but wouldn't be alive very long as school traffic and then the end of day rush would be starting soon.** I pulled over and jumped out with a couple of napkins (I never have gloves when I need them - and the last time I rescued a turtle it urinated all over me. Not this time!).

This turtle was about the same size 5 x 3.5 inches - just larger than my palm - as the dead one and was calm as I moved it to the grass at the edge of the road (across the road in the direction it appeared to be going).

Smug little turtle waits for me to walk it across the street.

Finally, on the way back down the road I stopped to take a photo of the turtles sunning themselves on a log in the turtle pond. I wasn't having an easy time "getting the shot" when I saw bird legs at the edge of my photo. It was a Green Heron fishing from the end of the log. I would have missed it completely had the large number of turtles out and about not drawn my attention.

So, there you go. This was a good day to head to the ponds. We saw enough "wild things" to hit 10,000 observations in iNaturalist.*** Whatever, it's not every day you get to stage a clean turtle rescue. That adventure goes in the "win" column.

Soaking up the rays!

NOTES:

*https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/vachel-lindsay

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vachel_Lindsay

** Even though this is a country lane there are vehicles up and down the road all the time - residents, birders, ornery teenagers....

***iNaturalist is Facebook for Nature Nerds. It's citizen science and I also use it as my naturalist journal - daily and on adventures.