Friday, April 8, 2016

Sometimes, My Neighborhood is a Nature Trail

It's true...sometimes walking in my South Florida neighborhood is like walking on a nature trail.  Look what I came across on my morning walk yesterday.

Oz finds Florida Chicken Turtle on his morning walk

It's a Florida Chicken Turtle, at least I think he is a Chicken Turtle.  He lives in my neighborhood pond but he was out for a stroll on the sidewalk yesterday.  Silly turtle.  Here is a closer look at him.  If you look closely you can see his face and he is not smiling for the camera.

Florida Chicken Turtle, Deirochelys reticularia, in South Florida

The Chicken Turtle is so named because, well, people used to use them for Turtle Soup and they would say it tastes just like chicken.

Is your neighborhood like a nature trail sometimes?  
What amazing creatures do you see?

I am joining my good friend Sugar the Golden Retriever for her {This Moment}: See Beautiful blog hop - because I think all of nature is beautiful.




27 comments:

  1. We don't have turtles but we do have tortoises. I don't know what they taste like because they're bigger than I am and they're probably wondering if parrots taste like chicken.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Oz!
    Wow, what a cool shelled furiend! My crabby girls will be all agog to see him. I bet under that mossy stuff his shell is beautiful. I thought maybe he was crossing the road on his walkie and someone asked why... get it?!? chicken crossing the road...chicken turtle...get it?!? BWAR HAR HAR ahem.
    I see lots of newts and salamanders when I walkie, but not a turtle. Yet.
    Grr and Woof,
    Sarge, Police Commish

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMD a CHICKEN TURTLE.... that is amazing... We are so glad that you saw Him and took his Picture... What a LUCKY Walk THAT was.
    HERE in the NORTH we make Soup from Snappering Turtles.... and mom says that it Does taste a bit like chicken.

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh maybe I can send you Hell-mut and he would a girlfriend in your hood? we have not much wildlife here... but currently the baby sheeps are everywhere, they are cute but very shy :o)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh wow, a turtle on your morning walkies!!! That's amazing. Fank you so much fur sharing his photo wiv us, I am very impressed
    (*shouts loudly* MUM I WANTS a turtle of my very own)
    Loves and licky kisses
    Princess Leah xxx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh Oz that is toooo funny Chicken Turtle.
    Mom told me back when she was a wee girl (when the dinosaurs roamed the earth) her dad when frog gigging. He tried to get mom to taste the fried frog legs by telling her they were chicken legs
    Hugs madi your bfff

    ReplyDelete
  7. he looks like the red eared slider turtles we have in my pond

    ReplyDelete
  8. unfortunately, where I live, we just squirrels, ducks and geese...nothing exciting like you see!
    DakotasDen

    ReplyDelete
  9. A turtle! Where's the hare?
    Lily & Edward

    ReplyDelete
  10. Look at your cool friend. have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The other day a wild fox went trotting down the middle of our street, right in front of our house. Crazy fox! I don't like turtles. I find them scary and will bark endlessly at them.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Chicken turtle? How interesting. Around here we don't run into too much unless we go to the mountain. Then there are lots of things!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

    ReplyDelete
  13. SHE always says, if it tastes like chicken, why not eat chicken.....though probably back then, they didn't have many chickens. We usually only see birds or sheep and the occasional roo. But usually nothing. Could it be we make too much noise?

    ReplyDelete
  14. How cool! We saw a black lizard in my backyard today. We see bunnies and hawks and all kindsa udder burds all da time.

    ReplyDelete
  15. That is one cool turtle!! We see lots of different birdies here and once, we saw a river otter!!!
    Smileys!
    Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love your neighborhood chicken turtle! Does the chicken turtle cross the road for no reason? BOL! BOL! We have an occasional turtle in the backyard but we usually just see squirrels on our walks.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Sometimes turtles try to take a shortcut through our yard, but we don't like that very much. But chicken turtle soup sounds tasty:)

    Woos - Ciara and Lightning

    ReplyDelete
  18. I hope no ones eats Mr. Turtle. He's pretty cool.

    Abby Lab

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow, a turtle! We see then at the lake but not here at the house. Around here we have bunnies and squirrels, birdies - to include big ones like Great Blue Herons and Turkeys, and then we have lizards and snakes and coyotes. Oh. And lots of bugs!
    Yours sincerely,
    Margaret Thatcher

    ReplyDelete
  20. That's a funny name for a turtle. We live on a large property with lot of wildlife all around us. We even had a snapping turtle in our yard once.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Can't imagine eating a turtle BOL!
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

    ReplyDelete
  22. That's a big turtle! We found a tiny one on our walk last week. Sadly it had ventured into the road and been squished. I'm sure the driver never even saw it. But it was cool to know there are turtles living nearby (safely in the water that is).

    ReplyDelete
  23. That's pretty cool Oz! As you know we live in a big city but you'd be surprised at the nature we see every morning! Love Dolly

    ReplyDelete
  24. Wowsa! That is cool Oz! We don't gots no turtles here. I do try and chase the occasional lizard, butts thats as far as it goes. Unless you wants to talk nocturnal wild life, then we got LOTS!
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥

    ReplyDelete
  25. I've never heard of the chicken turtle. thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  26. We never heard of a chicken turtle, so we learned a new thing about our neighbors here in Florida. We have a resident alligator in our pond and sand hill cranes that strut back and forth in our yard like they own the place.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by and leaving a pawprint. I enjoy reading each and every one!
Cairn cuddles,
Oz the Terrier