Refuge Pond Slider

Day 207: I arrived early for a meeting with Nisqually Land Trust staff this morning in regard to my upcoming restoration field trip, so took the opportunity to stroll around the Twin Barns Loop boardwalk. Usually when the average visitors are pointing and talking, the object of their interest is something which in a wetland is as mundane as a Great Blue Heron or a couple of Canada Geese on a nest. However, when I heard the word "turtle" drop, I decided I'd better have a look. Sure enough, it was a Pond Slider (Trachemys scripta), essentially your pet-shop turtle on steroids, non-native but currently not classified as invasive because they generally don't raise successful clutches of young or die out in a year or two. That said, the population is growing at Lake St. Clair, a fact I attribute to warmer water temperatures. I was not expecting to see them at Billy Frank, and especially not as sizeable as the two I observed today. I dutifully photographed them and sent the information to my contact at the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. I wonder how old they are, to have reached this size? I mean, how long has it been since pet stores were allowed to sell them? Not since I was a teenager! This turtle must be close to my age, and there it is, happy as Larry in a wildlife refuge where it most definitely does not belong.