Snoozing on Turtle Island Once Again

    I woke up on Turtle Island this morning and learned about Apalone spinifera, the Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle.

Strong Wind Photography by John A. Martin, Perkasie, Pennsylvania (2017)

     John Martin ventured out into the cold and stopped here to take a photo of some “Honoring Stones,” you might say in English – some variation of “Wâunonaqussukquanash” in another language that was spoken for a much longer time in Pennsylvania.

(See: http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2017/12/waunonaqussuk.html)

     I look for stones intentionally placed so that the “quassuk” or stone appears to have “eyes” toward the top, suggesting it was placed that way to appear to resemble (or "be") an animal head and I go from there looking for clues to a body that is suggested as well – and find it “sometimes but not all the time.”

      I looked at the photo several times, attention drawn to a certain stone:

      I just had to satisfy my curiosity and Google up an image of a “Long nosed Turtle in Pennsylvania:”

Image from: http://www.paherps.com/herps/turtles/spiny_softshell/

And then another one:

Not from PA but: "Stock Footage of A female Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle (Apalone spinifera) in Ontario, Canada. AKA the Pig-nosed Rubberback Turtle, this is one of nature's most unusual animals. This female is looking to nest."

From: https://ak1.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/4194991/thumb/1.jpg?i10c=img.resize(height%3A160)

     Sometimes I just have to get "Species Specific" - and I only considered the Musk or Stinkpot as an afterthought, having observed that particular turtle here and there, now and again:

PWAX photo from Rock Piles used in a collage

 http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2014/05/if-it-looks-like-duck-or-turtle.html