Snap'IN turtle

Its another gorgeous sunny warm day at the Biostation. I offered my help to the students but there is nothing to do. Meaning we have the day off....

....so we went to the beach! It is memorial day weekend after all. Luke, Marshall, Ryan, Katie, and I all piled in for a Sunday ride. Katie and the fellas. Some of the biologist from the piping plover crew even came along, following us along straight line country roads past general stores and birch bark forests.

Sturgeon Bay is nestled at the Northwestern tip of the lower peninsula within Wilderness State Park. All of Lake Michigan spreads out before you here. Fir and aspen trees crowd right up to the shoreline, funny little dune plants poke out of the beach seeps, and the coastline is nooked and crannied by little bays and cattail marshes. We saw red winged blackbirds in the reeds, a merlin hunting atop a dead tree trunk at the edge of the forest, Caspian terns and mergansers flying high along the beach line.

We also chanced upon a big old snapping turtle in the shallows, probably a female near shore to lay her eggs soon. It is cold and slippery on the rocks in the shallows and icey cold but we were able to pick her up and get a better look. A gnarly prehistoric beast! No fear and all reptilian instinct come near shore to carry out the cycle of her ancestors. A creature from another age, primordial beady eyed and ancient, covered in algae. Timeless and fascinating. Dangerous too....watch your fingers...SNAP!

We spread out towels and layed in the sun the rest of the afternoon venturing even to take a dip in the icebox of Lake Michigan. It was cold enough to make your heart jump a few beats gasping. But they say cold water swims are good for you right? I can believe it. Laying in the sand and letting the sunshine evaporate the water off your body and warm you up is surely one of the best feelings in the world.