For all you herp lovers on Tweeters:

> Michael Patrick wrote about turtles at the Montlake Fill ...
>
> Painted Turtle - caught it walking from the north field back to Shoveler's
> pond: question for Kelly: do these turtles lay eggs in the fields? Seems
> to be the only explanation for it being on the footpath.

My boys and I found a female painted turtle last year
attempting to dig a nesting hole in the middle of the
gravel bike path at the Fill! She was not having much luck
penetrating the gravel. We took her home and kept her for
24 hours in a sandy area of the garden; she declined to lay
& we returned her to the Fill.

The natural history of painted turtle egg laying is very
interesting. In cold northern climes (not sure if we
qualify here in Seattle), the eggs are laid in the late
spring and hatch in the summer. The baby turtles then
*remain* in their underground nest until the following
spring. During the winter-over they endure subfreezing
temperatures; no one is quite sure how.

Anyway, the painted turtle population at the Fill is
prospering. Not sure about the native western pond
turtles, maybe some more knowledgeable person than me can
comment.

For you amphibian lovers, we came upon a small, shaded pond
in the Alpine Lakes area last week which had *many* of what
I presume were salamander egg clusters. At least twenty
bunches in a pond 40x40 feet and about two feet deep. They
looked newly-laid, the embryos within being mostly
undifferentiated as yet. It was nice to encounter an area
where amphibians were flourishing.

Happy birding ... JAS