It’s 5:30 a.m. and I’m leaving the house to meet my friend
Kathy to explore the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch. I find a parking space and get my camera gear
together when I spot a couple of love birds in the parking lot. They were on the ground under some trees in a
median. I snap a few photos and off to
find my friend Kathy.
Love Bird
We meet up by the Saguaro cactus and off to pond 7 to see
what we can see. No birds, the pond was almost
empty but off to my left I see a Coyote; my first Coyote in the wild! I snap several shots as he stands and scopes
out the dry pond looking for rabbits since no birds were to be found. The Coyote was off for better hunting ground
so we’re off to pond 1 to see if there is any water and birds.
Coyote
Canada Goose
At pond 5 there was some water but mainly very tall
vegetation; no birds and a lot of Cottontail Rabbits. We
looked for Jack the friendly Black-tailed Jackrabbit but so sad no Jack. I haven’t seen him in over a year.
Peek-a-boo Cottontail Rabbit
Cottontail Rabbit
So off to pond 2 we go.
We come to the first clearing at pond 2 and no birds, so farther down
the path we go. The next clearing there were
4 Mallard ducklings on the shore and no parents! We kept our distance not to disturb them and
I took several photos of the little guys.
We went to the next clearing and still no birds but we decided to stay
to see if we could see the mother Mallard; no luck. While standing there talking a Great Egret
flew in, love these majestic birds. Took
several shots and here comes mother Mallard landing in the pond and swimming
over to her babies. Several other mother
Mallards swam by with their ducklings; yay some birds!!!
Mallard baby ducks
Great Egret
We decided to go over to pond 6 and yay water! No birds but water. We hung around waiting for something to fly
in and nothing. So off to the foot
bridge by the to find the Least Bittern Heron.
We are at the bridge and we witnessed two Least Bittern
Herons flying out of the reeds. Of
course, we just arrived and I didn’t have my camera ready. Standing there talking with another
photographer we noticed a lot of fishing line and lures tangled in the reeds
and we all were concerned about the Least Bittern Herons when we notice a red
eared slider caught up in a line.
My friend Kathy decides she can’t take it anymore watching
this poor turtle struggle she takes off her shoes and socks, rolls up her jeans
and she’s in the water to rescue the turtle.
She finds the turtle totally tangled in the fishing line with a hook through
its mouth. This hook was huge and thick
and went all the way through its mouth and out the other side.
Kathy
Kathy brought the turtle over to me and a passerby helped
cut the fishing line and part of the hook away from the turtle. Kathy went back to the reeds and cut out
several fishing lures and pulled out a lot of fishing line before we helped her
out of the water.
Kathy and I were on our way to the parking lot so I could
take the turtle to the Arizona herpetological association to see if they could
get the hook out. I called and left
several messages but no one was calling me back. I tried every button I could press but no one
was answering the phone! So I drove home
to get the turtle into some water and keep trying to reach the association.
Finally, home my darling hubby had gotten our wash tube out
and we put the turtle in there with some water.
I grabbed some needle nose pliers and holding the turtle John was able
to push the hook out of its mouth and the turtle was saved! The turtle was so happy.
Hook
So back in the car we go to drive back to the Riparian Preserve to
return the poor turtle back to its habitat.
I released the turtle back to the fishing pond where we rescued it but
on the other side away from the reeds and fishing line. The turtle was so excited to get back to its home it
couldn’t wait to get back in the water.
Red Ear Slider Turtle back home
