Turtlesinger, Inc.


is a Federal 501(c)3 Public Charity - New Jersey Charities Registration # CH2998200
Mission Statement: To educate and entertain the public about turtles with original songs and/or live turtles.



MAY 17, 2022



Somebody’s Shy



Three turtles (one hiding his head in this photo) were sunning together on March 11th at one of our favorite Cape May County turtle viewing areas in Seaville, New Jersey.


The smaller, shy turtle (who almost looks like he’s hiding behind a makeshift wooden ladder) and other smaller turtle are painted turtles.


The much bigger turtle is a red-bellied turtle.


Both of these kinds of turtles are some of the first to see catching some sunshine in March.


For some additional, different turtles we saw that day at another location, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 17, 2022



Ten Turtles



Ten turtles were sunning themselves on March 11th when I was hardly warm enough all bundled up outside to watch them!


Here are five of them.


These turtles were enjoying the sun at the Cape May County Park lake outside of the zoo, where I used to be a Reptile Zookeeper before I became the Curator of the Reptile House.


For a look at a kind of turtle we haven’t seen yet on today’s blog, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 17, 2022



Sun Worshipping



Front and center is a red-eared slider joining another red-eared slider and the other red-bellied turtles on the bank.


Red-eared sliders were a popular pet-trade turtle. Many people illegally released their pet red-eared sliders into the wild.


Today red-eared sliders are a New Jersey turtle, but not a native New Jersey turtle, and sometimes this hardy, invasive species can overtake native species.


Like painted turtles elsewhere, notice how much smaller re-eared sliders are than red-bellied turtles.


For a sleepy turtle shot, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 17, 2022



Soak Up the Sun



We love the 2 turtles in the middle with their eyes closed, sunbathing so blissfully. Also note the length of the front claw! Very long claws on water turtles as well as thicker tails are signs of male turtles.


They use those long claws to flutter them in the face of the females while courting! Watch for this behavior if you see 2 turtles facing each other, and watch the one with the long claws (often the smaller one is the male) for this fascinating behavior.


Back to butterflies: now we’ll leave the zoo in March and head once more for the Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area.


For video footage of a beautiful butterfly, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 17, 2022



Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly



We loved seeing this large and beautiful yellow butterfly fluttering about the road. We didn’t have to feel sorry for him for being all by himself after learning they are usually solitary. I also learned to watch for butterflies (sometimes a group of males) on the roads (just like turtles)! They like mud or damp gravel (which perfectly describes this roadbed in the Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area) and what they do alighting on these surfaces is called “puddling.” They only puddle for their first couple of days, and in doing so they extract sodium ions and amino acids which aid them in reproduction. He managed to become still enough for us to get a few stills of him. For a closeup of this butterfly, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 17, 2022



Butterflies and Turtles



What do butterflies have to do with turtles? Well, turtles are traversing roads all over the Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area (as we will be showing you in upcoming blogs), and since these butterflies have also been seen feeding on dung and urine, I would bet at least some turtles are helping them out in that regard at least some of the time… Speaking of dung, the caterpillar of this butterfly resembles bird droppings to foil predators. And turtles are reptiles, and this butterfly caterpillar can also look like another reptile: a snake! A month after taking this video and this photo, I found out this is a male due to his coloration. For a final video of this fine fellow, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 17, 2022



Preparing For Takeoff?



At first this butterfly reminded me of a plane on the runway preparing for takeoff. But: I guess he’s just enjoying some puddling. I sure hope he’s better at seeing traffic coming and avoiding getting run over than turtles—but hey, at least he can fly. By the way, you can find pictures of wild turtles in the Amazon with Julia butterflies perched on their heads, because butterflies help themselves to turtle tears (and even crocodile tears) containing sodium and other minerals (drinking animal tears is called lachryphagy). For another butterfly of a completely different color, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 17, 2022



Rhapsody in Blue



We discovered what we think is this Spring Azure blue butterfly in March on a new path (for us) in Belleplain State Forest. It was so fast we didn’t think we’d be able to capture it on film…then it landed on Charlie’s pant leg! After it took off again (watch for the flashes of blue!)—then it came back and landed on his foot! Guess Charlie is a butterfly whisperer… We ran parts of this footage in slow-mo so you can see the blue color of the wings better. I’ve always loved the color blue in nature: skies and water, hydrangeas, etc. Now this lovely blue butterfly has been added to my “blue” list! For a still shot of this butterfly, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 17, 2022



Echo Blue Butterfly



The Spring Azure butterfly is also referred to as the Echo Blue butterfly.


I wonder if it got that name because it flies so fast and the blue color is so fleeting—it’s like an echo?


Our cousin Sandy in Massachusetts while on a walk with our sister-in-law, Donna, said these butterflies were everywhere—so they must have been surrounded in pulsating blue! She took this photo.


To see a still shot of this blue butterfly from our video, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 17, 2022



Blue on Blue



Charlie’s jeans are blue and we caught this butterfly with blue wings open in this photo.


By the way, on July 13th,Turtlesinger snapping turtle Spike will be a featured guest where we saw this butterfly: Belleplain State Forest, on the lawn next to the Nature Center there. Check out our “Turtlesinger 2022 Events” tab above for details about all our upcoming events (warm turtle weather permitting)!


For our final turtle/butterfly-themed photo, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 17, 2022



Butterfly or Bee



Speaking of butterflies, this painted turtle’s head in Cape May Court House reminded us of a butterfly due to the reflection in the water of his or her eyes!


They also look like little bee wings!


We thank you for celebrating turtles and butterflies with us today.


And thanks as always for reading!





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turtlesinger@hotmail.com | Phone: (609) 205-9248