I really like turtles and enjoy learning about them! You can call me Oli : } (<- turtle face)
I try my best to accurately ID everything, and I always research and check everything, but I’m not always right. If you feel that I’ve made a mistake, feel free to correct me and tell me why! Also know that I go by the American way of naming turtles, where everything is called a turtle and tortoises and terrapins are sections within that.
Info about tags and submissions below the cut.
Tags
Most if not all of my tags on here are for organization, and they’re pretty self-explanatory, but here’s a quick explanation regardless.
Turtle time! - ID’ed a turtle
Not a turtle! - Decided something was not a turtle
Guess/headcannon - I’m not sure or its a fictional character (tmnt)
Turtle art - Drawing of a turtle! These are less likely to be accurate
+ a bunch of tags to keep track of species
Submissions
If you find a turtle and you need an ID, feel free to submit it to me! I’ll try to keep up with them but I’m not always on this account.
If you submit a turtle you found IRL, please include where you found it. Knowing the general area (you dont’t need to dox yourself, just the state, country, or continent will work) and the environment (forest, lawn, pond, etc.) helps me a lot by greatly reducing the possible turtles it could be.
If you want, you can also say when you found it or what it was doing, as I may be able to tell you some fun facts about that!
Butorides sp., likely either striated heron, Butorides striata, or green heron, Butorides virescens!
while i only have personal experience with the green heron, these two species are very closely related, and yeah they're just Like That. the actual evolutionary reason is probably related to the ability to shoot their head pretty far out to have more area available to fish, especially when they're perched on a branch or stump just outside of the water, which they do a lot.
image source
they have some interesting muscle and tendon structure in their necks that lets them dart their necks out and back in extremely fast so that they have the element of surprise. they also use their long necks to appear larger/more intimidating when scaring off predators or competitors, and to see over the tops of aquatic plants.
image source
fun fact, when their neck is tucked in it's not getting pulled into the body or anything, it's still just as long but bent into a tight S curve that looks like a continuation of the body because of the way the feathers sit! (you can see it well in the above picture - the reddish neck feathers look like part of the body in the first part.) also, their trachea (throat) can move around in funny ways so that they can bend their necks so sharply without cutting off breathing.
yep!! this behavior is called baiting, and while it's been observed in multiple heron species, it's most commonly seen in green herons. here's an excerpt from birds of the world about it (emphasis mine):
Green Herons bait for fish (Figure 2) with variety of baits and lures, e.g., crusts of bread (Lovell 1958), mayflies (Keenan III 1981), and feathers (by an immature bird; Norris 1975). For B. striatus in Japan, Higuchi (Higuchi 1986, Higuchi 1988) reported that they bait fish more frequently in open water with few suitable perches. Three of these Japanese birds used lure bait (twigs, leaves, berries) 80% of time, live bait (flies and other insects) 20%. One bird spent 84% of foraging time baiting for fish; other birds used feathers and plastic foam for bait. Success rate highest when live bait used; juvenile birds did poorly baiting. One bird dug earthworms from mud and used them as bait, and twice birds broke pieces of stick to make bait, an example of tool-making. Baiting behavior rare among other herons.
this behavior has also been documented in striated herons, though less extensively. here's a video of one using some bits of foam(?) to successfully lure in and catch a fish!
and here's a few videos of baiting behavior in green herons
the duck at the beginning: Muscovy duck, Cairina moschata. could be escaped domestic or wild depending on the location.
other bird at the end: Ardea sp., likely great egret, Ardea alba
unfortunately i can't identify the bird that flies off the shore in the background at the start of the video or the one that called in the background audio :(
@i-identify-turtles @whatsthatturtle @identifying-fish-in-posts @identifying-fish-in-photos @potentiallyfishin thoughts on the turtles and fish?
Hmmm I've narrowed the turtle species down to something in Phrynops, a genus of side-necked turtles. There's 4 species of Phrynops, all native to South America, all possessing those big barbels on the lower jaw. My best guess is either Phrynops williamsi or Phrynops geoffroanus. The patterns on the shell look more like P. williamsi, but the turtle in the video has an awfully wide head for P. williamsi... so potentially P. geoffroanus?
P. geoffroanus:
P. williamsi:
I'm not too familiar with sideneck species so I had fun figuring this out!
Washed Tort's aquarium today. It's still kind of messy, though.
Dracula the cat was participating. Big time. She even touched Tort's head with her paw while I was looking away. Thankfully, no damage was done to both of them.
complimented a cashier on her turtle pin this morning and she said "oh thanks, I am a little bit of a Turtle Person" with the carefully contained energy of Cookie Monster telling you he's mildly fond of chocolate chips
I hope she and the multiple tons of turtle merch she definitely has at home are having a wonderful day
Do you ever feel like a wattle-necked softshell turtle (Palea steindachneri)? You are not alone. Found in parts of Southeastern China and Vietnam, this rare reptile’s carapace, or shell, can grow up to 17 in (43.2 cm) long. It inhabits freshwater pools and feeds on fish, insects, and small invertebrates. Unfortunately, this critically endangered species is threatened due in part to habitat degradation and being hunted for the food trade.
Noticed a severe lack in herpetology communities so I made one! I’m not super active on this account anymore but feel free to join! https://www.tumblr.com/join/C7bW21Qh
A community to discuss, share news about, and care for reptiles and amphibians.
today's walk took an unexpected turn when we had to rescue 45 (!!!) snapping turtle hatchlings from the road by the park. while not many of a clutch are meant to survive, the nissan rogue is not a natural predator so today they got a little help. ❤️
