Snapping Turtle and other creatures at Laurel Creek

Laurel Creek Conservation Area

14 August 2013

    After dinner tonight Miriam and I decided to go over to Laurel Creek to see what we could find. It was a very pleasant evening to stroll beside the lake and we came across this huge Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina. As you can see it had hitched itself out of the water and was astride a log, giving its carapace a kind of odd look.

    Several Cedar Waxwings Bombycilla cedrorum were displaying odd rictal bristles which I can't recall ever having noticed before. You will need to click on the picture to enlarge it to see this feature.

    This Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps proved difficult to photograph, diving every time we got the camera on it. Finally we were successful!