Not a Painted Turtle

Turtle in Taylor Creek Park. Photo by Heather Kelly.

This turtle could find no peace basking in the morning sun. Unfortunately positioned between a small swamp and a main path through Taylor Creek Park, it attracted attention from people walking by.

I was delighted to see it in the grasses. At first I thought it was a Painted Turtle. Unfortunately, my delight was tempered a bit when I realized it is a Red-eared Slider.

Still a wonderful and beautiful animal. But Red-eared Sliders are an invasive species of turtle likely the result of someone irresponsibly releasing a pet into the wild. And all eight of Ontario’s native turtles are now endangered, threatened, or classified as of concern.

Southern Ontario has the most kinds of turtles anywhere in Canada. There’s the Spotted Turtle with its yellow spots and fiery red-orange-yellow patterns on its face and legs; the Blandings Turtle with its yellow neck and underbelly; the Eastern Spiny Softshell which looks a bit like a green pancake with a head and legs; the Wood Turtle with orange legs; the very small Eastern Musk Turtle  (also called the Stinkpot) with mostly mud coloured body and shell with just a little bit of yellow colouring on its head, the Northern Map turtle with gorgeous yellow and greenish brown patterns on its shell and body; the powerful and larger Snapping turtle; and the beautiful Painted Turtle with red spots around the edge of its carapace (shell) and on its neck and legs. There are actually three subspecies of painted turtle in Canada, two of which live in Ontario, the Midland Painted Turtle and the Western Painted Turtle.

“The Red-eared Slider is the most common non-native species of turtle found in Ontario,” Ontario Nature says, “This species was introduced through the pet trade and is now found in every continent except Antarctica. It has a brown to black upper shell, yellow stripes on its limbs and head, and a distinctive red or orange band around the eyes. Native to the U.S., the Red-eared Slider is commonly sold in pet stores, but many people who buy one do not realize that it can reach a maximum size of 25 to 33 centimetres and live for more than 30 years in captivity.”

The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre says that “Red-eared Sliders, and other species that are not native to Ontario, are increasingly being found in our wetlands and waterways. These animals do not belong in the wild – they are pets that have been released by people no longer able or willing to care for them. Not only is this not humane for the animal, these exotic species may compete with native turtles for food and other resources.”

Back to the beautiful turtle in the park. Even if s/he shouldn’t be there. Basking is actually really important to turtles, since they can’t regulate their body temperature and they can’t eat if they get too cold. So it was too bad that this turtle was being made uncomfortable by humans as s/he tried to bask in the morning sun.

Red-eared Slider turtle. Photo by Heather Kelly.
Red-eared Slider turtle. Photo by Heather Kelly.

Turtles have a long history of being associated with wisdom, longevity, and the creation of the world.

Some of these stories are summarized on Wikipedia:

“According to Iroquois oral tradition, “Sky Woman fell down to the earth when it was covered with water, or more specifically, when there was a “great cloud sea”. Various animals tried to swim to the bottom of the ocean to bring back dirt to create land. Muskrat succeeded in gathering dirt, which was placed on the back of a turtle. This dirt began to multiply and also caused the turtle to grow bigger. The turtle continued to grow bigger and bigger and the dirt continued to multiply until it became a huge expanse of land. Thus, when Iroquois cultures refer to the earth, they often call it Turtle Island.”

“In Cheyenne tradition, the great creator spirit Maheo kneads some mud he takes from a coot’s beak until it expands so much that only Old Grandmother Turtle can support it on her back.

In Mohawk tradition, the trembling or shaking of the Earth is thought of as a sign that the World Turtle is stretching beneath the great weight that she carries.”

“In Hindu mythology the world is thought to rest on the backs of four elephants who stand on the shell of a turtle.”

In Chinese tradition, the turtle is sacred and symbolizes longevity, power, and tenacity. In Chinese stories, the turtle helped Pangu create the world by holding up the sky with turtle’s legs.

There are many more instances of turtles in cultures around the world. Wikipedia’s Cultural Depictions of Turtles in various countries and cultures can be read here.

The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre can be found online here.

You can visit Ontario Nature, the conservation organization, here.

If you are interested in adopting a rescue turtle as a pet, check out Little ResQ.

Our Wild Neighbours

a squirrel friend in our back yard

In the café of a trendy boutique hotel, my friend Tim and I were talking about books we had recently read. In reference to one, Tim, who grew up in a beautiful natural environment outside the city, commented that we can enjoy our city even more when we notice and appreciate the wildlife that is all around us.

Standing at a bus stop in east end Toronto on my way to work that day, I had heard exuberant calls of at least 4 different kinds of birds. Or maybe it’s different sounds from one or two different kinds of birds, I don’t know – but their peeps and yips and whistles were uplifting on a cold grey morning.

cardinal in our front yard

Yesterday morning my local racoon came for a neighbourly visit, which was a treat since she usually comes by at night to see if she can scrounge some tasty bits from the garbage. Squirrels scamper through our yard frequently throughout the day, though I see my little black-furred friends (and one grey one) mostly in the early morning before I go to work. And for the last couple of months a very vocal cardinal couple have been stopping for a visit in our front yard every few days.

I have no idea who else may be passing through when I am at work during the days and many evenings.

raccoon visitor on my back porch (she’s looking into the house…hmmm…)

A few months ago, I spoke with an awesome 12-year-old girl named Adara, and her mom Kendra, about growing up in the city – with wildlife. Adara has watched at least three generations of falcons in her schoolyard and in her own back yard.  “Two years ago, there were babies everywhere… you couldn’t wake up any morning without hearing falcons” Adara told me. “We don’t see them as much now, but they are still around.”

One of the raptors liked to roost in the tree right outside of Adara’s bedroom. The falcon would sit in the fork of the tall tree, where it could oversee back yards across the neighbourhood. Adara said, “One morning I woke up and I was like, huh, that’s a nice thing to wake up to! He would have come up to here [Adara karate-hand points to just below her knee] almost, at that time. And he stayed in that tree for about a year. He left around the time that the third generation of babies were born… there was six babies at one point constantly flying around.” So, their whole east-end Toronto neighbourhood was watching baby falcons.  

Adara facing the window where a falcon lived right outside

Opossums, raccoons, and other wild neighbours have been seen in Adara and Kendra’s yard, as well as coyotes in a nearby urban park. There’s also a skunk that has a regular route through the yard. “It has a ritual,” Adara says, “it comes up from between the two houses at about 11ish, wanders around the front yard for a bit, and then goes back down the driveway.” Kendra and her husband taught Adara that when the skunk is there, to be still and don’t surprise it – it will paw around the yard happily and everyone will be ok. Adara rolls her eyes as she describes the teenagers who scream and shout out when they see the skunk, and says, “really, you are across the road and you are fine.”

In the intro to Wild City, A Guide to Nature in Urban Ontario, Doug Bennett and Tim Tiner write, “Cities are commonly thought of as being outside of nature, and certainly there is no landscape more altered and intensely dominated by humans. … Certain native species, such as squirrels, crows, blue jays and raccoons, have learned to prosper in the new human-structured environment. Many others persist in the less-disturbed, protected or neglected spaces within cities. Their number and diversity may not rival that found in the near-pristine wilderness or even in the rural countryside, but for more than 80 percent of us in Ontario who live in urban environs, it’s the nature most immediate to us in our everyday lives.”

Mid-week last week (on March 4), the Government of Ontario made an announcement with the headline: Ontario Helping Communities Protect Species at Risk. Minister Jeff Yurek (Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks) announced that the government will again be investing to support projects by non-profit organizations, Indigenous communities, and other groups through the Species at Risk Stewardship Program. Up to $4.5 million in 2020-21. The program is designed to improve the status of species at risk and their habitats by supporting stewardship, protection, and recovery, as well as funding scientific research, outreach, and other activities that inspire and enable people to become involved in species at risk stewardship.

Ontario is home to more than 30,000 species of plants, insects, fish and wildlife. 243 species are listed on the Species at Risk in Ontario List, including some of my favourite critters: salamanders, owls, fox, woodpeckers, swallows and warblers, little bats, snakes, quite a few species of fish, dragonflies, voles, as well as animals I didn’t know we have in Ontario and others I had never heard of. The full species at risk list is online here.

In Our Wild Calling (one of the books that my friend Tim and I were discussing in the café), Richard Louv writes, “Here’s an additional possibility:  As climate change and urbanization continue to move wild animals out of traditional habitats and into cities, multiple species will come into closer contact. If our species can devise new rules for living peacefully with other animals, and create additional natural habitat in cities, urban biodiversity will increase, and our species loneliness may be reduced. Creating that new compact will be key to our survival, beginning with our mental health.”

a little friend looking at me looking at him though our screen door