Turtle love

On Friday morning I decided to check out the Frink Centre not far from where we are living.  It is a nice outdoor ed facility but also a Conservation Area which includes a very nice marsh with a boardwalk through it.  I was really impressed with the marsh and managed to pick up a few new Hastings County marsh birds (Sora, Virginia Rail, Least and Solitary Sandpiper) - check out my full eBird checklist.  Turtles, however, stole the show for me.

The night had been cool and the sun was out so lots of painted turtles were basking:

And it didn't take me too long to find a few Blanding's Turtles:

But the really interesting thing happened next.  While slowly walking along the boardwalk I saw some splashing in the water.  I for some reason started thinking "Otter" but when I looked through my binoculars I could see it was something stranger:

That's right, Snapping Turtles mating! I got a couple videos of it too:
That went on for about 30 minutes and at one point one of them even hissed...afterwards they spent some time thinking bout what they had just done:

Snapping Turtles will be out laying eggs in a couple weeks or so. If you see any turtles or herps at all be sure to report them to the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas.