TrailsideTurtle Egg Omlette!

photo by Jonathan Schechter
July 14, 2012

Somewhere in the woods along the Shiawassee River Loop Trail in Holly, Michigan a raccoon is resting in a tree with a full belly. What we see here are the remains of a turtle nest.  A turtle dug an egg-laying hole in the dry hard packed sands of the trail but to soften it for digging she first urinated. 
 (Raccoons like turtles that pee in the sand!)
After laying her eggs she crawled back to to the waters to never return.
Most likely on the same evening or perhaps the next night a raccoon wise to the ways and scents of turtles located the nest and methodically dug out and ate every egg: a perfect omlette for the raccoon.