Turtle and Tortoise Photography by Kozmic Dreams

My Digital Photography of

Turtles and Tortoises

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Spiny Softshell Turtle, Apalone spinifera

Sharon Mills County Park, May 23, 2020 (with painted turtles)

Lower Huron Metropark, May 17, 2020 (with map turtles)

Sterling State Park, June 9, 2019

Lower Huron Metropark, June 1, 2019

Map Turtle, Graptemys geographica

Sterling State Park, June 7, 2020

This map turtle's shell was only about 2" long.

Lower Huron Metropark, May 17, 2020 (with softshell turtle)

Lake Erie Metropark, June 16, 2018

Lake St. Clair Metropark, September 24, 2017

Holland Ponds, July 23, 2017

U of M Interpretive Center Trails, June 17, 2017

Blanding's Turtle, Emys blandingii

Pontiac Lake State Park, May 3, 2020

Proud Lake State Park, April 6, 2019

This pair was separate at first, with one in the middle of the pond on a log and the other at the edge of the pond.

Later in the day, they were together on the log.

Wolcott Mill Metropark, July 28, 2018

Highland State Park, April 15, 2017

Kensington Metropark

July 7, 2019 (same pond as turtle in 2015)

April 22, 2019 (same pond as turtle in 2015)

August 1, 2015

Dauner-Martin Sanctuary, July 11, 2015

Holly State Land, May 18, 2014

Lake Orion, MI, May 14, 2014

This turtle was just about to cross a busy neighborhood road. I moved it to the other side, which had a pond farther onto the property. It was the first one I've handled that was covered in algae.

On road near Brighton State Park, June 13, 2013

Brighton State Park, April 21, 2013

Yankee Springs State Park, June 2, 2012

This turtle was in the middle of Lindsey Road. I moved it to a safer location.

Eastern Box Turtles, Terrapine carolina carolina

Oak Openings Metropark, August 4, 2019

I set out to see if I could find the October 17, 2017 eastern box turtle whose location I had marked on my GPS. I didn't find her, but just 130 feet away from her marked location, I found this one! She was just sitting in a patch of dirt near the base of a tree. It looked like she had a little sitting spot in some roughed up leaves about 4 feet from where I found her. I decided to photograph her on the same log upon which I photographed the 2017 turtle.

Oak Openings Metropark, October 17, 2017

This female had damage to the front left portion of her shell. Some kind person repaired it and released her.

Yankee Springs State Park, June 2, 2012

I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked down a few feet from the trail near the Devil's Soup Bowl at Yankee Springs State Park on June 2, 2012, and found an Eastern box turtle! My first one. Definitely a male, judging by his plastron and bright red eyes (that I saw just before he closed up and wouldn't come out again. He was one tough guy---he had bone growth instead of normal shell on the right rear of his shell, indicating a serious injury that removed that part of his shell down to the bone. He also had some concavity and damage to the left side near the middle of his shell.

Eastern Painted Turtles, Chrysemys picta picta

Huron Meadows Metropark, April 18, 2021

Waterloo State Park, Lyndon Park, June 27, 2020

A painted turtle was laying eggs in the sand near the south lot.

Sterling State Park, June 7, 2020

Huron Meadows Metropark, June 6, 2020

Painted turtle laying eggs.

Oakwoods Metropark, May 24, 2020

Proud Lake State Park, May 4, 2019

Crosswinds Marsh, September 16, 2018

Wolcott Mill, July 28, 2018

Point Pelee, July 6, 2018

Lake St. Clair Metropark, September 24, 2017

Sterling State Park, May 29, 2017

Preparing to lay eggs.

Proud Lake, June 28, 2015

This turtle was possibly getting ready to lay eggs in a sandy spot right at the edge of the lot by the Garden Road bridge. Its shell was badly damaged, but seemed to have healed well.

Henry Ford Estate, April 2, 2010

Henry Ford Estate, July 14, 2009

The Henry Ford Estate in Dearborn, MI is always a great place to find good creatures to photograph. Although I intended on photographing insects on this day since all I had with me was my macro lens, I ended up photographing mostly frogs at a certain pond, but I also captured these two turtles. One was just a little baby, only about an inch long. Click here to see photos of the frogs I photographed on this day.

Huron River, August 29, 2006

I love canoeing along the Huron River, looking for turtles and other wildlife. Click here to see more photos from this canoe trip.

Huron River, August 24, 2005

Click here to see more photos from this canoe trip.

Common Snapping Turtle, Chelydra serpentina

Highland State Park, May 31, 2020

Wetzel State Park. June 3, 2018. Digging a hole to lay eggs.

Maybury State Park. June 9, 2017. I think this is the most algae-covered snapper I've seen.

Waterloo State Recreation Area, Eddy Discovery Center. June 4, 2016. Laying eggs.

This different turtle is first photographed walking, then an hour later it had dug up the grass where I left it, and looked ready to lay eggs, right by the side of the park road.

Waterloo State Recreation Area, Linden Park. June 4, 2016. Laying eggs.

Pinckney State Recreation Area, "Moss Paradise." May 30, 2016. Laying eggs.

Waterloo State Recreation Area, Eddy Discovery Center, May 31, 2013

Hines Drive, July 26, 2009

On July 26, 2009, this turtle was spotted climbing down a hill toward Hines Drive. Having rescued several snappers in the past from busy roadways, I wasn't going to let anything happen to this one either. I knew it should be relocated to a safer place. But before its relocation, of course, I had to take some photographs of it. It wasn't the largest snapper I've ever found, but it was quite big and muscular. I also removed and photographed two leeches from its shell, although I think they had been sucking on it's hind leg area because it had some bloody marks.

These are the photos of its release into a nearby pond. They are kind of out of focus because there were so many mosquitoes it was unreal. I would have taken more photos if I could, but I already suffered 5 bites for these 6 photos.