I’m still seeing Turtles in September crossing the roads here in my area. Some turtles seen crossing roads are in search of a better habitat, others are in search of food and others are males in search of mates.
I help turtles cross the road, as long as I can stop at a place that won’t endanger me, my vehicle or other drivers on the road. I move it across the road in the direction it’s traveling. If you put it back at the place it came from, it’s just going to attempt to cross the road again.
Don’t move these Turtles a long distance from where you find them. They have a very strong homing instinct and will try to return to their home territory. While traveling through unfamiliar terrain most are killed on roads or by predation.
How I Got The Shot – Three-toed Box Turtle
This Three-toed Box Turtle was crossing the tour road at the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. If I don’t see other vehicles on the tour road I don’t help Turtles cross the roads. This one ducked into its shell when it saw my pickup truck. I decided to park on the side of the road and watch and photograph this Turtle until it decides to move off the road.
The problem with getting in front of a Turtle is that it will turn and move in the opposite direction that it was traveling. After photographing this Turtle I made sure it moved in the direction it was originally headed.
I was hand holding a Fujifilm X-T3 camera with a Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens attached with a Fringer EF-FX Pro.
Camera Settings
- AV Mode
- Back-button focus
- Aperture f8
- ISO 800
- Shutter speed – 1/2200
- Auto White Balance
- Single Point, Continuous Auto Focus
- Multi Metering
- Focal Length – 400 mm