Eastern Painted Turtle - Greenfield Township, PA - Turtle Crossings on Waymarking.com

As my family and I were enjoying a country drive on a Sunday afternoon, we spotted an eastern painted turtle crossing Raymond Mills Road, a dirt road in Greenfield Township, Pennsylvania, near the west branch of French Creek, and not far from the border with New York state. The turtle was travelling from south to north. We passed the turtle in our car, then pulled over to see if we could assist it in its journey. As we approached, the turtle was clearly not pleased with our close proximity and hid itself within its shell. We debated whether or not to pick it up and move it, but in the five minutes we were there, no other cars passed and we felt it would be safe to leave it alone and allow it to continue its trek across the road. As we moved away, we saw the turtle pull its head and legs back out and start moving. When I returned home, I did some research and found that we likely made a good decision in not handling the turtle, since, according to Reptiles Magazine, "handling is stressful to the painted turtle and subjects the handler to biting and scratching by the turtle." Hopefully the turtle made its way safely across the road to wherever it was headed.

Source: https://www.reptilesmagazine.com/painted-turtle-care-sheet/

Species Link: [Web Link] How often turtles cross: Months most seen crossing: June

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"Mother Blanding had made her nest between the goldenrod and bluestem outside my window late last June.
By chance we were sitting on the porch when we noticed little blandings in the same location we had seen the mother take 2 months earlier."

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