Still in Hungary but diverting from birds for this post.
As I mentioned in my Red-footed Falcon entry, one of the perks of taking a one-to-one birding trip were stops like this.
Those who know me know that as a young child turtles were my first pets. Back when they were plentiful, we caught them and brought them home from the lake to swim in circles in a large oval, enamel tub. When they tired of their endless swimming, they could climb up and rest on a rock placed in the center of the tub. We, my brothers and sisters and I, fed our turtles raw hamburger which my mother would pluck from the pound she had purchased for our dinner to form little round balls wrapped with wax paper and store in the freezer. Our turtles went after the raw hamburger voraciously. At the end of the summer my parents would talk us into returning the turtles to the lake, which we did, sadly. The turtles would rapidly swim away with no looks back. This taught me an important lesson - wild things are wild.
So, I would say that I have a keen eye for spotting turtles crossing the road. This is what happened with this guy ... "Gerard, it's a turtle, let's stop and get it across." Fortunately, he agreed.
As I mentioned in my Red-footed Falcon entry, one of the perks of taking a one-to-one birding trip were stops like this.
Those who know me know that as a young child turtles were my first pets. Back when they were plentiful, we caught them and brought them home from the lake to swim in circles in a large oval, enamel tub. When they tired of their endless swimming, they could climb up and rest on a rock placed in the center of the tub. We, my brothers and sisters and I, fed our turtles raw hamburger which my mother would pluck from the pound she had purchased for our dinner to form little round balls wrapped with wax paper and store in the freezer. Our turtles went after the raw hamburger voraciously. At the end of the summer my parents would talk us into returning the turtles to the lake, which we did, sadly. The turtles would rapidly swim away with no looks back. This taught me an important lesson - wild things are wild.
So, I would say that I have a keen eye for spotting turtles crossing the road. This is what happened with this guy ... "Gerard, it's a turtle, let's stop and get it across." Fortunately, he agreed.
Eastern Pond Turtle (Emys orbicularis) is probably most like our Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picts).
We got this guy safely across the road and, after several photos, let him make his own way forward. I was having trouble seeing where he would go ... but, wherever this was, it was certainly better than swimming in circles around an oval tub being fed raw hamburger.
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