June 10th, 2011

While working at the pond with a class from Driftwood Park Public School we witnessed a very touching event. A female Painted Turtle was laying eggs, and we were lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time… Some of the students sent me their thoughts, posted below. I was inspired by this moment and obviously, they were too.

“I saw the turtle lay only a few eggs and then I say her burythem with her back legs. Her legs were in a kind of scrunched up position. Then she ran/scurried back to the pond” -Alyssa

“What I saw was truly amazing. You could see the eggs come out of the turtle and then when it buried the eggs it made the ground completely flat again with its hind legs. It even put twigs, seeds and other stuff on top so you couldn’t even tell where it laid the eggs” – Lewis

“The female turtle started digging up gound to lay her eggs. She continued to dig for a while. Next, she buried her eggs. Finally she covered the eggs with dirt and ran quickly down to the water. She swam off into the cattails.” -Brooke

“I think it was cool to see the painted turtle lay eggs. I liked how it dug the hole and then put the eggs inside. Also what was cool was how the eggs were pink. Then after laying the eggs she pats down the earth with her strong legs and pulls twigs over it.” -Suleman

“The painted turtle was amazing with how she layed the eggs and used her hind legs as almost human hands and scooped the soil and patted it down evenly over the eggs. When she ran back to the water and the way she swam fascinated me.” -Emily

“What I saw was a beautiful act of nature from the turtle laying eggs. It was amazing going from the city to see a remarkable act of nature.” -T.J.

“I saw the turtle in the hole and I saw the turtle lay eggs. Her legs were covering up the eggs with dirt. I thought that the turtle was really cool! I’ve never seen anything like it before. When she was done, you couldn’t even see the eggs. It was an amazing experience.” -Morgan

“I saw a painted turtle laying eggs and dropping the eggs. When she was done she used her back legs to cover up the eggs with dirt.” -Ryan

“I thought it was really cool to watch how it works. I saw the turtle moving back and forth and covering up the eggs with sand. I really thought it was cool how fast it moved to cover the eggs up.” -Taylor

“A female painted turtle was laying eggs on the shore in the sand. When she finished she buried the eggs with her back legs by grabbing the sand. The eggs were a pinkish colour.” -Ryan

“I saw a wonderful painted turtle laying her eggs in the sand. It was amazing. At first the sand was different so you could tell where the eggs were but at the end you could hardly tell where she placed her eggs. I loved this experience.” -Jenny

“I loved the experience. When I arrived I wasn’t keen on being outdoors all day but as the day went by we saw newts, spiders, tadpoles and a mother painted turtle laying her eggs! We spotted the turtle with her hole dug in the sand under the shade laying her pale pink eggs. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Thanks.” -Michelle