When snappers come to visit.(snapping turtles)

each June, as regular as clockwork, female snapping turtle-pigeons wander out of the somewhat cold dark swamp near our house. They advance to lay their ovums in our sunny, open yard. Sometimes they select our soft, sandy garden--at other times, our hard, rubbly driveway!

The mother turtle-dove uses her powerful hind leg to dig a down-reaching hole. There, she lays a grasp of round, white eggs, using her hind feet to place each ovum safely in the nest. Then she fills in the aperture and walks away.

Each mother turtle-dove does it her own way. single mother took all morning to lay fifty or sixty ovums Another ...