Painted turtles get their name from their head, neck, feet, tail, and sometimes shell

Spring is a great yawning and stretching of the seasonal world, an awakening and rebirth of flowers, color, and thriving biodiversity.

Wake-robin (also called red trillium)

Spring returns in many shapes and forms. People have lots of sights and signs that signify the return of warmth to our Commonwealth. For some it’s the return of robins or the purple highlights of redbuds, or walking barefoot again on the grass like long lost friends reacquainted. The welcomed sound of a buzzing bee searching for the first flowers. Birdsong chorus growing more intricate with new members and old ensembles that become morning alarms as days get longer. Frog song and open windows. Buds ache and expand, ready to burst with fresh life. Violets, dandelions, and redbuds adorn salads, and the green wave of Spring slowly ascends from east to west and south to north across Virginia, forming rippling waves up the mountains as well- a glorious and welcomed seasonal event. 

Frog serenading for a potential mate. A familiar song of Spring.

I just took a needed walk in the woods and gained a newfound appreciation and recognition of another sign of Spring, another visceral rebirth of a member of the living, pulsing fountain of energy making up our biodiverse community and ecosystems.

The painted turtle, Chrysemys picta, is teaching me about Spring this time in our planet’s tilted journey around the Sun. 

Painted turtles and many reptiles, being cold-blooded, can be found in groups at ideal sunning locations.

I munched on a few wintergreen berries and violets, soaking up the sun myself after this long winter. A new revelation was shown to me by this member of the reptile family.

Painted turtles, the most common turtle of North America, were everywhere in large numbers. I always enjoy spotting the different reptile groups for the first time in a new year, and like most people, those hard-shelled animals hold a soft spot in my heart. I had seen a few lizards and one snake thus far this year, and my first turtle sighting always bring a smile to my face. Important members of the ecology of our forests and waterways, they have many lessons they can teach us. Seasons remind us the importance of timing. 

Painted turtle covering her eggs at First Landing State Park (older photo)

Painted turtle mothers-to-be will sometimes wait 3 weeks to lay eggs if drought continues, awaiting the right conditions. She even presses her throat on the ground in an unknown mechanism or behavior related to picking the right nest site and conditions to dig and lay her treasure of continuance. A single clutch can even have multiple fathers, ensuring genetic diversity and increasing their chance of survival as a species. And it is the incubation temperature that determines the sex of the hatchlings. So many choices and interactions decide how the tapestry of life known as our food webs exist.

I’ve noticed times where I’ve seen an unusually high number of box turtles on a spring hike within a day or two. But I’d never seen anything like this outpouring of painted turtles. 

A group of turtles is referred to as a bale

Seasonal cues affect many plants and animals. In this case, temperature is the key releasing the turtles from their winter hibernation. Painted turtles will dig themselves feet under mud and dirt to help prevent freezing: at the bottom of ponds and near wet places, even in old muskrat dens and under pastures. Heart rates can average a single beat every 2-3 minutes. An interesting and more unknown adaptation is these vertebrates--animals with backbones--can survive without oxygen for months at a time during hibernation. Different animals hibernate, but most can only survive without oxygen for several minutes. This turtle can for months.

Young children understand turtle shells protect turtles from other animals. But nature is often more cunning, complex, and complicated than meets the eye. Let’s look beyond skin-and-bone deep. That shell has another adaptation that allows the painted turtle to survive hibernation with limited to no oxygen. During hibernation lactic acid builds up inside the oxygen-starved body of the turtle to levels unsustainable for many other animals. The turtle’s shell and bone act as a buffer to the excess lactic acid, and the shell even sequesters, or takes up, some of it during that time. This special adaptation of its blood chemistry and heart, shell and skeleton, combined with slowing their metabolism dramatically allow them to survive the harsh times of winter with no oxygen for up to five months.

I also saw a Mourning Cloak, one of the few butterflies that hibernate instead of migrate. They are yet another cue or symbol of Spring’s return as they get a head start on mating before the migrating butterflies get back. This competitive advantage makes hibernating worthwhile, creating their niche in the complex puzzle of our interconnected, dynamic, and efficient web of life. 

Mourning Cloak, Nymphalis antiopa

Seeing this huge bale of turtles made me start thinking about their reemergence. They are known to bask in large numbers, but I’d never seen anything like it! ‘So many lined up along this one long log?’

Can you spot all 27 painted turtles?

I also saw a hilarious situation where one climbed atop a fellow turtle, the one on top just hanging out, with its’ legs pulled in perfectly balanced. 

Painted turtle balanced on another

When the bottom turtle later made a move, they both went tumbling into the water! If one turtle gets frightened in a situation like this, and dives in the water for safety, a chain reaction like dominos of webbed feet slides down the line. “Safety in numbers” comes from more sets of eyes to spot possible predators.

Evidently turtles were clamboring over anything to get a good sunning spot, whether it be another turtle or a different type of reptile altogether.

Northern Watersnake and Painted Turtles soak up the sun together

Then I had this interesting thought: Just as sea turtle clutches 'boil' up out of the sand in large numbers upon hatching, hibernating turtles of seasonal environments 'boil' out of the mud and earth all across the landscape, re-creating another visceral reminder of rebirth implicit within Spring. ‘A Spring boil?’ The turtles come to life again, clusters across the Commonwealth, resurfacing into life like the blooming perennials of our seasonal environment.

Spring reminds us of the importance of starting anew, and the indomitable truth that we cannot afford to not be reborn. For in rebirth, we see the world with a fresh set of eyes. With a heart pumping of reason and conviction, hunger and passion--once more after any lull that may occur during the winter period--of our also forever seasonal selves. Imagine those first fresh breaths of oxygen and how rejuvenating it must be to the turtles’ bodies and energy levels.

We, too, come alive again within Spring, through recreation and getting back outside in the woods after sometimes holing up for the winter. Breathe in the revitalizing freshness and signs of Spring. Stretch out and take in the returning verdancy and colors. Visit a Virginia State Park, after all, getting back outside, getting reacquainted with all the other members of our community, is one of the best parts of Spring. The reunion of our thriving biodiversity has begun, get outdoors and reintroduce yourself!

Spring Sunrise over Appalachian mountains in Virginia

Click here to view a map of all 36 Virginia State Parks to help you plan your next outdoor adventure!