The BRC craftsman and spouse have resided at our lakeside domicile for 4 decades. Since our early years here, we have enjoyed observing a colony of terrapins along our shoreline including two huge tortoises of the snapping turtle variety. We named the oversized twosome Bruno and Brunhilde to invoke a romantic pairing from a Wagnerian opera. These impressive creatures can grow sometimes up to 14 inches long and dwarf the much smaller box turtle species as seen below. Note the baby terrapin perched on the expansive shell of a gigantic half-submerged snapping turtle.
Over the years, Bruno and Brunhilde frequented a favorite recessed area along the shoreline behind the BRC workshop to sunbathe together as seen below. They would promptly flee into the lake, however, if anyone ventured too close for a photograph. These impressive amphibious creatures can live up to 30-40 years or longer. Also noteworthy in the below photo is the shadowy figure of a hefty grass carp in the nearby shallows.
This summer, only Brunhilde has returned to our shoreline, but a new young snapping turtle has surfaced to investigate the aforementioned favorite terrapin sunbathing spot. We will probably name the newcomer Siegfried.
From the BRC: Wishing you a sunny summer observing Nature.
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