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This
sub adult male is a spotted turtle, a species in decline
regionally, as old farms and their ponds become developed or even
forested. The natural shallow Mud River flows through alder and red
maple thickets parallel to Route 153 and is a huge underground aquifer
of pure water.
The
spotted turtle needs space from human encroachment, which brings opportunistic
predators like the raccoon, which smells out and digs up the
egg clutches left by female spotted turtles in late spring.
Fortunately, sections of the Mud River drainage are relatively pristine
and remote from encroachment. The Mud River flows from Old Saybrook through
Centerbrook and is the water that the Viney Hill Park is part of. The
spotted turtle is uncommon on the Falls River watershed, which flows through
Ivoryton, where the most common turtle is the painted
turtle.
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