I was returning from a fruitless dragonfly prowl down by the mouth of the Mousam River over the weekend, and came upon this fine lady. She had just finished digging a nest, and was laying her eggs. She was only 3 feet from a fairly busy strip of blacktop, between the edge of the road, and a fancy iron fence that keeps the public out of one the larger estates in Kennebunk (last owned by one of the young stars of a recently very popular TV show). They have a large ornamental pond, with a rustic bridge, daffodil banks, manicured white birch trees, etc. She, hopefully, made the pond her home (since otherwise she was on the wrong side of the road from the nearest water…not an issue for her maybe…but a definite hazard to her hatchlings, when and if.)

I mean, this is one tough old lady Snapping Turtle.

Such character! Such power. Such a lady.

Canon SX50HS. My usual modifications to straight Program. 1) 425mm equivalent field of view. f5.6 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 800. 2) 2400mm equivalent. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 800. Processed in Lightroom.