That’s Snout a Bird

Congrats to Jan on the completion of her Run for St. Jude’s. Brad gave me some quick stats – her 16th year culminating in segments totaling 30 miles over 4 days on 12 hours of sleep while driving an RV 465 miles. Now that is what I call getting it done for a great cause! I am back on my feet so to speak and will be participating in my 20th consecutive (minus the virtual Covid year) Bix7 (link here). This 7 mile road race marked my first race ever after a career ending so to speak injury in my former addiction, martial arts. Linda and I have decided this will be our last time participating in this Quad Cities extravaganza to allow for more summer traveling in the future and other endeavors (the trail is where I belong). I will not miss those two nasty climbs, but I will continue to long for those Whitey’s Root Beer Popscicles at the finish line – yummmmy. In light of this step back for “other” activities, thought I’d go with something also “other” for today’s post.

Clearly “snout” a bird this time ha! Hit the jump to learn more about this long nosed creature.

Our subject today was quite the surprise when encountered. For some background, Linda and I had just finished exploring Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville, Florida (link here). Full credit to Linda for finding that gem of a place and you will be hearing a lot more about our finds there in future posts. There was some light left in the day so Linda did some quick searches and found another birding hotspot less than 10 minutes away in a city called Micanopy. That place was called Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, also Florida’s first state preserve (link here).

Paynes has a very special winged resident that was our main draw to the area. I’ll just skip right over that until sometime down the road (building the suspense ha). Like Sweetwater, dogs were not allowed which we have learned is code for…ALLIGATORS. Keeping my eye out for those chompy beasts, I nearly missed this other prehistoric kin hanging out in a small clearing less than a couple hundred feet from the entrance. A small group of young adults came out from a nearby trail and made the same discovery simultaneously. By the looks on their faces, they were just as shocked as I was.

Now, I have seen my share of the Turtle family over the years. From Sliders (link here), to Tortoise (link here) and even a mega Snapper that would visit our landscaping on an annual basis to lay her eggs (link here). NONE of those specimens come anywhere close to the size of this monster. Apologies for not getting a reference included in one of these shots … I wasn’t going anywhere closer than I happened to be standing having zero background on this dude..well, likely a dudette. The other observers were keeping their distance as well, so initial thoughts of using them as a size reference and possible America’s Funniest Video entry were scratched. Three things caught my eye about this Turtle. Two were quickly apparent – the large snout and the somewhat smooth and flat shell. I know the smoother shells typically mean more adapted to speed in the water (thinking Sea Turtles) and the snout..well, no idea what weird adaptation is going on there.

The other intriguing feature were the claws and that came a bit later into the encounter. Initially I was focused on getting better pictures of the snout oddity until she rocked at bit to the side and exposed those claws. Whoa…well done inner Bri, good choice to rule out the foot zoom for a closer shot.

She then added a punctuation mark to the threat displacing a chunk of sand and dirt with a mighty thrust. It was pretty clear this was her designated spot for her clutch of eggs. Light was falling, Linda was waiting in the car tending the pups and I still needed to get after Paynes’ MVB (most valuable bird). Opted to eliminate any potential stress of my presence in the midst of her motherly duties and bid the funny nosed critter adieu.

Time to leave you with some background on our big nosed ninja in the halfshell. Did a bit of research on this Turtle as I knew absolutely nothing about this particular creature. Based on what I can tell, it is referred to as a Softshell Turtle from the family Trionychidae. That’s it, all I know, hope you enjoyed this featherless post, see you soon. Kidding (slightly). I also learned that Trionychidae means three-clawed in recognition of those weaponized feet. Their smooth upper shell (carapace) lends itself to their common name. The elongated snouts do serve a purpose beyond being soft targets (see what I did there ha) for the bullies in their Turtle school. In combination with their large necks, they can remain submerged on land buried in mud or sand. They do have gill-like structures in their mouths that allow them to stay submerged in water for extended periods of time. This may be similar to other Turtles – I’m winging it her folks ha. Now the part that surprised me. Females tend to be larger than males and can range up to 2 feet long. I can say without hesitation this specimen was beyond 2 feet in length!! In August of 2021, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issued an executive order (link here) outlawing the taking or transportation of any softshell Turtle in order to prevent the spread of the Turtle Bunyavirus (TBV) also known as Turtle Fraservirus 1 (TFV1).

Ummm, yeah, I’m officially creeped out now so will put a bow on it. Hope you enjoyed our little detour from the feather world. Take care and congrats again to Jan! Oh, almost forgot, and special thanks to Linda for now putting up with me for 33 years of marriage…she deserves a medal.