[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re:Snapping turtle attacks



I was fishing in Harriman State Park, NY  7 summers ago, when I witnessed an
attack by a snapping turtle on a Canada Goose. It was approaching dusk this
late August day and a family of 5 Canada Geese were feeding in a section of
water 6 to 12 inches deep topped with a very thick layer of decaying leaves.
The 3 young geese were nearly adult size. The calm of late day was shattered
by cackling, honking and thrashing noises. Looking up towards them to see
what the sudden commotion was all about, I noticed that one of the young was
thrashing about as if stuck in quicksand and unable to free itself. One of
the adults flew a short distance towards the youngster and started to flap
its wings near the young goose as if to to startle whatever was holding the
young one captive. After 1 or 2 minutes he gave up and the 4 remaining geese
slowly left the area. I still had no idea what happened other than my intial
impression that the goose was stuck and unable to freee itself and was left
to die alone. After 1 or 15 minutes, the mostly submerged bird started to
rise back up with an unwanted guest - a huge snapping turtle! If I was in
Louisiana, I would have thought a young Alligator snapping turtle,but with
binocular-aided vision,  a behomoth common snapping turtle about a foot and
half in length was seen starting on its early evening meal.When I left about
2 hours later, it was still feeding. A very surreal event!
Joe Harris
Raleigh, NC



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kelley Van Druten" <vanbird2003@yahoo.com>
To: <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 6:57 PM
Subject: Laughing Gull attacked


> I saw this same thing with a Black Duck on Hatteras
> Island about 10 years ago.  I saw a Black Duck
> swimming low in the water and flapping violently.  I
> knew something was up and in the clear pond water I
> could see a fairly large snapping turtle hanging
> underneath the bird.  It did get free while I was
> watching but I still don't know if the turtle let go
> or the leg came off.  All I know is that was one happy
> Black Duck to get the heck out of there.
>
> Also when I was in Texas 3 years ago my then wife to
> be and I saw a Common Moorhen riding low in the water
> at Aransas NWR (she was the Refuge Biologist).  It
> started flapping so we knew something was up.  I waded
> to it and low and behold a huge blue crab had ahold of
> the moorhen's leg.  It was rescued and later returned
> to the marsh.  It seemed to just be shaken up and
> after some time seemed back to normal.
>
> Brian Van Druten
> Buxton, NC
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM).
> http://calendar.yahoo.com
>