Boxy Lady

[Wicked Dark]

ok. that was a REALLY bad pun. But I can't help it. This is my first ever box turtle sighting. She was a beaut, too - about a 10-inch carapace.



I found her trying to get up the steep embankment of an old logging road in a state park. Well, steep for a turtle anyway. So I helped her up it and set her by the tree. Waiting for her to stick her head out was agony because of the bug cloud encircling my own. Eventually she did though she never moved or put a foot out. Luckily I had the legacy 90mm f2 lens for some extra reach. I read that the males have red eyes so pegging her as female was easy even though I couldn't see her tail. I also read they can spend their whole lives inside an area the size of a football field, so that help up the embankment was a big one!