The Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum - Fine Art Landscape Photography

Snapping Turtles

Posted By: camon crow

Snapping Turtles - 07/09/07 03:08 AM

I learned a lesson yesterday, we, I am responsible for my actions and how they effect the subjects I am photographing. We have lived on a property that backs onto a river and in the three years we have been here I have seen one snapping turtle. I was delighted to see one, a big one near the shore, I hurried to get my camera and returned to start shooting. I soon saw it was not one but two turtles in the act of mating. I shot a sequence of shots Snapping Turtles
In my zeal they became aware of me and seperated, one headed up stream and one down thus I interfered and it really disturbed me. Lesson learned

Please come visit

Posted By: Don Edwards

Re: Snapping Turtles - 07/09/07 08:29 PM

I understand fully what you mean, I've got a picture of two bull snakes mating from our trip to Yellowstone a couple of years ago. There happened to be a ranger sitting near them to keep on lookers from disturbing them as they "went about their business". I wonder how many people would have thought they were fighting and try to seperate them.

Don

Posted By: James Morrissey

Re: Snapping Turtles - 07/10/07 04:04 AM

Hey Camon,

I hear you. I think we all have stories where our involvement had the unintended effect on a critter. You see it particularly in the parks with the tourists getting way too close to the various different animals in the park. I still remember one lady walking up to a bull elk - in the middle of mating season - and stating, "Hey Harry, take a picture of me and the elk!"

James

Posted By: RichardR

Re: Snapping Turtles - 07/10/07 10:48 AM

Quote:

I still remember one lady walking up to a bull elk - in the middle of mating season - and stating, "Hey Harry, take a picture of me and the elk!"

Did you get the picture, too?

The animals in many parks, especially Yellowstone and The Smokies, are more acclimated to humans and more easily approached. I've seen many examples, like the lady with her elk, that are not only dangerous but do disturb the critters' natural behaviours. I saw a teenager charged by a bear when he tried to get close for a face shot with his cardboard camera. Fortunately for him it was only a bluff charge. I had earlier warned him about getting too close but he ignored me. When I saw his wet pants, I didn't need to say; "I told you so". He was lucky.

An even bigger concern is the encroachment of urban and suburban sprawl into the animals' habitat. In our area next to the Smokies, housing developments and rental cabins are replacing the farms, fields, forests, and ridges, seriously impacting the animals' food sources and movement patterns. This affects not only the larger animals but the small critters as well. Not a day goes by that I don't see skunks, possums, or raccoons dead along the roadways, not to mention the occasional deer.

The fact is that there are now over 300 million people in the US, up from the 125 million way back when I was born. Those extra 175 million people have to be somewhere, unfortunately for the critters, it's their habitat.

I hope the two snappers will get back together again and resume their mating.

Dick:)

Posted By: James Morrissey

Re: Snapping Turtles - 07/11/07 03:28 AM

"Fortunately for him it was only a bluff charge. I had earlier warned him about getting too close but he ignored me. When I saw his wet pants, I didn't need to say; "I told you so". He was lucky"

Hey Richard, LOL, no. I did not. The last time Chanthee and I were out there in July, we started a collection, but I did not take that one. I still remember where we were, too. We were just North of the Midway Geyser Basin, and there was a large harem of elk with a big daddy of a bull. The bull attacked the tree right next to the couple who were getting too close - a bluff. It was pretty impressive to watch - even more so, the restraint of the bull.

James