Posts Tagged: turtles

Painted Turtle Snack – The Story Behind The Shot

Trying something different today; a story with some background on one of my favorite shots.

Since my last post, I’ve had more excitement than I need. The circus-style tent at the Stowe Foliage Art show came down and destroyed my booth. Thankfully, it collapsed early in the morning and no one was injured. I’ll be doing the Celebrate Vermont show at the Doubletree in Burlington November 22-24 2024 using a booth borrowed from one of my competitors, Jonathan Hart. Thanks Jonathan!

The circus-style tent in Stowe at the start of the show.

What we found when we came back for the second day of the show.



The remains of my set up. It will take awhile to figure out who’s insurance is going to cover what. I was luckier than many of the artists.

In happier news, my 2025 New England Wildlife Calendar is now available.

The calendars are large – 9″x12″ with 13 of my favorite wildlife images. They’re $25 and $3 shipping per order. You can get one on my site: www.IanClark.com/

Let’s go way back to 2013, the year after I met the loons. On a visit to the Middleton’s pond, I was exploring a cove where they like to breakfast. They were still off in the main part of the pond and I settled in to wait for them. While I waited, I noticed a painted turtle in the lily pads.

The turtle was cruising along with his head out of the water. He? must have seen me, but wasn’t concerned.

He swam over to one of the lilies. I missed the shot, but he took one – just one – bite out of the flower.

He continued on to another lily….. and again took one – just one – bite out of the flower.

He move on again. This lily was too high and he examined it for a bit before moving on to the next lily.

This one took a stretch, but up he went. And took a bite – just one bite – out of the flower.
The next lily was low to the water. He grabbed hold….

And moved around the flower before he took one – just one – bite out of the flower. Was it too hot? Was it too cold? I looked over my shoulder to make sure there weren’t three bears in the neighborhood.

Off he went to the next lily. Looks like his buddy already took his bite out of this one.
Could this be the one that’s just right? Nope, he took one – just one – bite out of the flower.
And here’s the shot I love. He’s found the lily that is just right! And I got the shot.

I’ve never seen a turtle take a bite out of a lily before or since. I’ve seen a couple that have taken insects from the flowers or lily pads, but never the flower.

Looking back at the files from this morning, I didn’t get any remarkable shots of the Middletons. But, I did photograph a cow moose and her calf, several turtles and eastern kingbird nestlings getting fed. But, I remember the turtle.

Catching Up with Life on the Ponds

With all the nice weather, I’ve had lots of time to shoot – but that leaves little for posting. One set of fox kits has moved on, the other den is surrounded by grass tall enough that the kits appear only at the top of their pounces. Let’s check in on our three loon families and their neighbors.

I’ll be giving my slideshow, An Uncommon Look at the Common Loon, locally a couple times in the near future. First is Thursday May 30 at 7:00 p.m. at the Lyme, NH, School. Then again on Sunday June 23 at 2:00 p.m. at the Tenney Memorial Library in Newbury, VT.

The Westons are sitting on at least one egg. Their nest is deep in the marsh, updates will have to wait until the chicks appear. (If you’re new to my blog, to protect the loons’ privacy, the families are the Eastons, Middletons and Westons, by the location of their ponds.)

The hummock the Middletons have used for their nest the past couple years washed away in last July’s heavy rain. They toured the pond checking out potential nest sites before settling on a hummock just a few feet from the previous site. Here, they’re taking turns sitting on the site to decide if it will work.

Taking a quick break from inspecting nesting sites.

Back to checking the site. They decided this was the spot and she climbed up and he followed to mate.

Afterwards, they headed off for breakfast, preening and a nice stretch.

Another nice stretch.

The first of the red-winged blackbird chicks must have hatched, the parents were foraging and returning to the tall grass with food.

There are several spotted sandpipers around the pond.

The sandpipers are fun to watch. As they forage, they bob their butts up and down. I haven’t seen a good explanation why.

And beautiful spring mornings bring the painted turtles out to bask.

I returned the next morning, just to find the loons had decided to sleep in.

While waiting for the loons to get up and at it. our friendly neighborhood beaver swam by to give me a
wave.
The beaver went about getting some breakfast of underwater plants and sitting on the shore to eat them.

downy woodpecker with a grub
There was a hairy woodpecker foraging on a downed tree along the shore. She found several tasty grubs.
Common loon stretching
Eventually our loons got going with their day.
common loons on the nest
They returned to the nest site for one last check……
common loon gathering nesting materials to build a nest
Ok, they’ve decided this is the place. But, it needs some improvements. They set about collecting a few sticks and lots of underwater vegetation to build the nest.
common loon building a nest
Sorting out the nesting materials.
common loon gathering nesting material
One more load…..
common loons mating
They set out to make sure they’re going to have little loons.

close up of a common loon
One of the pair swam by close in to my boat.
Canada geese on the side of the pond
A couple late nesting Canada geese were checking out spots near the loons’ nest. The loons strongly suggested they should move along and nest elsewhere.
An eastern phoebe perched on a small tree
An eastern phoebe perched not far from the loons’ nest. The flycatchers are not keeping up with the black flies.

baltimore oriole feeding among flowers
Finding a Baltimore oriole feeding at eye level is a treat.
Gray catbird perched on a twig
Several gray catbirds live in the loons’ neighborhood.
painted turtle basking
This painted turtle has claimed his own small island.
common loon in the nest, turning an egg
When I returned to the pond, the loons had an egg. Here, our male is turning it. Birds turn their eggs regularly. It is thought that turning the eggs helps keep the chick from adhering to the side of the egg and to distribute nutrients to the chick.

common loons in a territory dispute, the male is about to yodel
We know it was the male on the nest as an intruding loon arrived on the pond. The loon that had been on the nest came out to challenge the intruder and yodeled. Only males yodel. That’s the home team female watching in the background. This suggests the intruder was a male and wanted to displace the home team male.
common loon doing the 'penguin dance' during a territory dispute with another loon
Things escalated quickly! This is the male doing the ‘penguin dance’ to threaten the intruder. Both males and females will dance, but it is thought the males do it more often.


common loon doing the 'penguin dance' during a territory dispute with another loon
A nice shot of the penguin dance. Notice how far back the loon’s legs are. And, great elevation from the home team male!

common loon running across the water to take off
The penguin dance display was enough to convince the intruder to retreat to the other side of the pond.
common loon running across the water to take off
After a few minutes of the home team wailing, the intruder left the pond.
Common loon stretching
The home team male takes a victory stretch.
Common loon on the nest with the mate nearby
And then he returns to the nest.

The road up to the Easton’s pond finally got some work and I was able to get up for a visit.

Dragonfly emerging from the nymph stage
There were several dragonflies emerging from their nymph stage and drying their wings in the sunshine.
Scenic photo of a mated common loon pair
The water on the Easton’s pond is a few inches higher than last year, making the nest site unusable. They were scouting the pond for a new site. Here, they’ve stopped to discuss something on their search. We’ve got the same male back again this year. The Loon Preservation Committee banded him in Moultonborough, NH in 2015.
close up of a common loon
Mrs. Easton swam by close to the boat to have a good look at me. (Not as close as it looks, I’m using a 600mm lens and have cropped the image.) The loons checked out several spots and may have settled on one. They discussed it for a time before mating on the site.
bull moose feeding in the water
One of the loons’ neighbors was out enjoying breakfast.

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