Wednesday Walking with the Turtles

My entry for the #wednesdaywalk community, as hosted by @tattodjay.

My plan this morning was to get to the top of the local bluff and get an early morning hike in. I did just that, and took some photos, but none of them really stood out to me. It was one of those days that the morning felt perfect in reality, but I couldn't quite capture the same feel with my Pixel camera. So, it was time to come up with a plan B I could pull off after work.

I chose to check out an old trail that I've shared before on Hive. Only a few weeks ago, this trail was completely submerged in water. The area had been pounded with a foot of snow, and then one week later, temperatures blew into the 80Fs. Lots of water came after that...quite a bit, actually. As in high energy Mississippi River flood waters roaring out of the Northwoods.

The trail is still in rough shape, but reachable and walkable. Hoping to stumble upon a possible bald eagle or heron along the shoreline, I instead ran into a bunch of female turtles laying eggs. Not at all what I was expecting to find this afternoon, but it was very cool to witness. As I watched the mothers kicking away soil with their legs to bury their caches of eggs, it dawned on me how brutal survival in nature can be.

All three of these mothers were burying their little ones in a high foot traffic area. I read online that only 1-5% of these eggs survive long enough into a reproductive age. What an amazing statistic...it made me want to pick all of them up and take them home with me, letting them bury there little ones in our yard so that we could protect them. Alas, I did not do that, but I did wish them all well. Life finds away, sure, but wow, can it be brutal...

Off of the profound thoughts already! What a green, wonderful afternoon to get an afternoon walk in. Thanks for checking out my #wednesdaywalk share! I hope everyone had a wonderful Wednesday too and until next week...