Soft Shelled Turtles in New England!

 Extremely high on my 2025 bucket list was to go see Soft Shelled Turtles in western MA. I only found out about them when herper extraordinaire Michael Lupachini posted them last year. I was shocked that a species I associate with Florida lives in Massachusetts

 Spiny Soft Shelled Turtles are not native to Massachusetts. They are considered invasive however it seems their presence has not caused any negative effects to other species. Though not native to Mass, their range does extend fairly close as they are native to Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes.

 Seeing them this year was worth the two hundred mile round trip. Laurie and I went to see them on Saturday. We got a late start and it worried me that they may have been done sunning themselves for the day. The air temp high was 85 degrees. By the time we reached the river it was that temp and humid. Luckily, a quick scan of rocks across the river revealed two Soft Shelled Turtles. The river is wide so my photos are from about a hundred feet away. We looked at the two turtles for twenty minutes. I realized I had my spotting scope in the car. Unfortunately when I walked up to my car to get it, both turtles decided to go for a swim.

  We decided to check another spot on the river. There is a boat ramp with an extensive view of a a beachy shoreline. We found another five turtles! They were really far away, the furthest being at least a quarter mile away. We used the spotting scope and watched a couple go into the water only to climb right back up the shoreline after a five second dip to cool off.

 

 I'm pretty sure I saw a swimming Soft Shelled Turtle in Florida last time I was there but didn't get a photo and the water was muddy. So I never counted it on my official list. I'm counting them this time obviously. I'm pretty sure that Spiny Soft Shelled Turtles are my first lifer this year. Quite a contrast from last year where I got thirty four lifer vertebrates.

  After our turtle adventure we had a picnic of steaks, potato salad, and strawberries at Hopkinton State Park. In the evening, we went the opposite way in MA and went to see Dirty Deeds at Plymouth Memorial Hall (separate post). Saturday June 21, 2025 was a great first full day of summer for me!!!

Three of the seven that I saw are in this photo
from a beach across the river