Late summer turtles

 Returned to the Woods Tuesday to clear two large fallen trees from trails. I was interested to see what changes late summer had brought after unusually dry hot July-August and recent 2 + inch rain Sept 1.

Entering via the NW there was a nice display of yellow asters and white Verbesina crownbeard with a Three-toed box turtle Terrapene carolina beneath them. I found 3 box turtles on the trails I walked today. I did not see any of the ornate box turtle Terrapene ornata. Charles Carpenter did extensive work with turtles in the Woods in the 1950's. I wonder if he found the ornate box turtle to be common seventy years ago. Did the 2017-2018 illegal collection of a thousand box turtles from Oklahoma for export sale include turtles from Oliver's Woods?

The Sept 1 rain and subsequent small shower of a third of an inch have not refilled the NW or East Ponds. They are both empty with only a bathtub-sized area of wet mud near the center. The hundreds of small young leopard frogs that were in both drying ponds a month ago are all gone. 

There is a substantial flow of turbid water in the West Wash. At Island Crossing there was one small young garter snake swimming and all along the Wash there were small fish (minnows?) feeding. Did these migrate up from the long connection down to the South Canadian? 

I wondered if the flow of unnaturally turbid water might be from a broken pipe or part of the OU water system, as was the case for a week or more in early August. But following the water upstream, it remained in a regular watercourse west of Lloyd Noble, west of the Museum of Natural History and east along Timberdell. I did not find a break.

The Beaver Dam crossing was dry with no water or mud anywhere west of there, although it was clear water had recently flowed 'upstream' pushing sticks and debris westward, probably during the 2 inch rain when the Western Wash flooded from southeast to the southwest.

One armadillo ran away (15-20 m) as I walked the northwestern side of the Tree Loop. I often wonder how they survive with such an ineffective escape run.