Well, We Almost Had a Third Turtle

DH came inside with a baby turtle yesterday, having pried it from the jaws of the great and terrible Airlie.

It didn't survive. It looked intact, until you turned it over- then you could see the crushed underbelly and one small puncture in the shell.

It's also possible that the turtle was dead before she found it. It isn't unusual for birds hunting for food in the nearby gully to drop their dinner when flying overhead. Such a fall could have caused injury, or even death to something so tiny.

We also speculate that the turtle might have been a meal intended for the nesting birds in our backyard tree, and that perhaps a squirrel had a hand in the fall from great heights that placed the turtle in Airlie's path.