Essentials Cafe

 Hey, Guys! I've done my good deed for the week! My hubby and I were passing by a reservoir near our favorite birding place when I spotted a small turtle trying to cross the road (it's nesting time here in MA), so we stopped to help it across. Turned out, it was a rare Red-Bellied Cooter! So I took a picture and painted it in gouache. The best part is, it wasn't wearing a tracking tag, which means it was born here! (tracking tags are put on the cooters that are part of the "Raise and Relocate" program that Fish and Game Conservation groups here in Essex County are using to try to repopulate local lakes and ponds) After taking the pic, I placed her on the other side of the road so she could find a sand pit to lay her eggs in. How'd I do?

You did just fine both in thought,deed, and artwork. I love pies but the crust on these ones is a bit too hard for me, I prefer a shorter crust, but seriously this little critter might yet have a full life thanks to you, and not end up as a roadkill delicacy for raptors, well done!

As to their size, they can reach 10 inches along the carapace. They grow slowly in the wild, tho; it takes about a year to grow an inch as hatchlings, which is why there are groups who take hatchlings and feed them and keep them warm for one winter, so they can grow up to 4 inches in one winter! Then they are released to the wild (at 4 inches, they are less vulnerable to predation) with these little yellow tags on  their plastrons. Mine must have been second generation, as there was no tag nor a sign of one. I guess the programs are working!