This season, I have been witness to a most interesting situation.Each night while on my evening walk, I pass a large, rather polluted body of water. Runoff from local establishments have given this pond/lake a color which to be polite I will describe as "fecal", and as such I've dubbed it the "River of Dung". Despite the pollution, and only one basking site (a tire in the middle of the lake), the River of Dung is home to a rather sizeable population of Painted Turtles. I have seen as many as 8-12 Painters huddled on the tire at one time. In addition, they are the largest Painters I have ever seen in Connecticut. According to Conant, the record for an Eastern Painted is 7 1/8". These turtles are all of that and more. I have always been fascinated by herps that adapt and survive in disturbed habitats, and Painteds are known for their toughness, but this is something of an extreme. Certainly, a good example of the resiliency of nature. With these observations, coupled with participating in the recent Bioblitz, and adding scale counts of Wisconsin Bulls and South Carolina Northern Pines to my data bank, it has been a very good year.
Bart Bruno
