Mr. Speedy

Two weekends ago (the one before Memorial Day weekend) I made a morning bird watching visit to Dutch Gap Conservation Area (DGCA). Specifically, I walked what I call the "River Trail" (this is called the "Henricus Park Trail" if you follow the previous link to the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail website, but that website's description is out of date because the boardwalk they mention no longer exists). This is an out and back walk that totals 2.5 miles. A few weeks back Google announced the capability to create your own Google maps, which I promptly used to depict the trails within DGCA. Take a look here. The "River Trail" is the red one.

While on my little jaunt, I came across Mr. Speedy. He is a turtle of some variety who was making his way across, or perhaps along, the trail. Here is a fairly good description of our encounter:

1. Locate turtle.
2. Photograph turtle.
3. Get distracted by nearby bird activity.
4. Remember turtle.
5. Worry that I might step on turtle.
   
6. Return to step #1.

Eventually some part of that chain failed because I did not step on the turtle, and at some point I either failed to remember he was there or failed to relocate him. Here is a picture for posterity. Good times.