On Monday, May 18, there was a small incident in our pond that made us wonder how Aesop could have used it as a teaching tale. As you can see, two of our six Eastern Painted Turtles were on what we call Turtle Rock, a partly hidden stone that the turtles often pile onto in a collective “bale”:
:Monday, one of our Common (“Bronzed”) Grackles that nests in the pond’s surrounding cattails burst on the scene unexpectedly. It landed about an inch from one of the turtles, scaring the panicked thing into the water and giving the bird room. The Grackle did not pay the slightest attention to either turtle on their rock and commandeered it as a base for finding larval food:
We’ve seen this kind of bullying of the gentle turtles by bold grackles in the pond before. Perhaps Aesop would end his story by saying: “And, that is why only half of the angry Grackle family survive into adulthood and most of the kindly Painted Turtle family live for 25 to 30 years.” (Brooklin, Maine)