Chris came upon a Texas River Cooter, Pseudemys texana, laying eggs in our yard this evening. We have been blessed with 24 hours of pretty consistent rain today and I think she was taking advantage of the wet ground to dig her nest. She was backed up right against our fence between the yard and the creek area.
She is laying eggs in the first picture and the second picture shows the nest when she was done. As you can see in the picture with the boys, she was a good sized turtle.
In 2010, we found quite a few nests that had been destroyed by predators - dug up with torn eggs shells all over. I am guessing it was the same kind of turtles. Garrett walked the fence and we think he may have found one other nest. To protect them a bit we put some tree cages around them so animals can't get in to dig them up. I am going to do some research to see if I can figure out the hatch time for these guys.
I love the nature that happens right in our backyard!
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