July 30, 2020 at 3:27 p.m.
Snappers in love
Snappers in love
By Ted Rulseh-
Many years ago while fishing, daughter Sonya and I saw a deer swim all the way across Birch Lake, pursued by someone's dog. Last year while snorkeling on a reef I stopped to clear my mask, then put it on and looked down into the water, to see three very hefty smallmouth bass circling around my legs.
One day last week while fishing along a stretch of state-owned shoreline here on Birch Lake, I saw a disturbance in the water a hundred yards or so away. At first I thought it was an otter backstroking along and crunching on crayfish.
As whatever it was came closer, it became clear that it wasn't an otter, but I had no clue what it was. After watching for a while longer my curiosity took hold. I started the motor, maneuvered to the windward side of the disturbance, and shut the motor down, hoping the stiff breeze would move me silently into ideal viewing position.
It did; and I took out my phone and readied the camera. It looked like a snapping turtle had hold of and was struggling with something - a loon, maybe? No, snappers don't attack adult loons, and they certainly don't prey on large creatures.
Before long the boat drifted right up beside what turned out to be a pair of very large snappers in a mating embrace, plastron to plastron, and so face to face. As the boat floated up to them and then drifted by, I shot several pictures.
The turtles languidly rolled and tumbled in the water, as if in a slow-motion waltz or ballet. It was strange to see such normally menacing creatures - savage jaws, horned shells, tails like medieval weapons - in an act of such seeming tenderness.
They paid me no heed, just continued their dance as my boat drifted on by. From the time I first saw them to the time I stopped watching must have been at least 20 minutes.
The research I've done since the sighting tells me that in mating the male mounts the female from behind. These two were clearly facing each other; perhaps the actual reproductive act came later. Regardless, the female ultimately will carry her fertilized eggs onto shore and bury them in sand to incubate in a warming sun.
It's not every day one gets to see a snapping turtle, let alone a pair of them in a love embrace. In one of my pictures, the turtle facing the camera appeared to be smiling, not a facial expression I associate with that species.
It just goes to show that time on the water brings rewards, including some we never expected or imagined.
Ted Rulseh resides on Birch Lake in Harshaw and is an advocate for lake protection and improvement. His columns are the basis for a book, "A Lakeside Companion," published by The University of Wisconsin Press. Ted may be reached at [email protected].
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