Today Ruth and I strolled the boardwalk at the Frink Centre Conservation area north of Belleville. We stopped at one point to look at a photo display of various creatures in this particular marsh, including the Blanding's turtle. This species is threatened, an unhappy status which applies to other species in Ontario. We Groundlings are adept at destroying turtle habitat and the current government has no regard for wetlands, sad to say.
I thought to myself that I'd never seen a Blanding's there or anywhere for that matter. We walked on perhaps fifty metres and there was a Blanding's turtle. It kindly stuck around long enough for me to do a photo shoot before we continued on.
Some of you know of my "I brake for turtles" outlook, and I have been known to pull over to the side of the road and engage in a turtle intervention, even stopping traffic. And of course I have great respect for the First Nations term "Turtle Island" to describe the Earth. I even have an area at the top of our stairs where I have a bit of an altar, not to worship turtles but to recognize the Creator.
So, I thank God for the elusive and beleaguered Blanding's. He or she made my day!
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