On a sunny morning in early June, I had gotten the motorcycle out to visit some folks in Dingman Township.

Going down a gentle hill, I saw a car trying to park on the side of the road. At the same time, I saw what looked like a small snapping turtle on the shoulder of the road.

The first impression, which I had from afar, is that this turtle was trying to cross the road, because its head was facing across the road.

I’ve moved many snappers off the road safely, and this looked like an easy one, given its smaller size.

When I got to the turtle and the people watching this animal, however, I saw that the situation was somewhat different than what it first appeared. This female snapper was excavating a nest in the gravel berm of the roadway.

The first course of action that many people would think about would be to move the turtle off the road.

However, the best thing you can do for a nesting turtle laying eggs—they lay 20 to 40 on average— is to just leave it be.

Snapping turtles might dig several test nests before settling on a location to deposit their eggs.

There was a decent-sized pond behind the turtle; this means that if the turtle chose to continue the development of the nest and lay eggs, it would only have to turn around to go back to the pond.

When the young hatch in 90 days or so, they will instinctively head back to the water source. As was the case with the female adult if she chose to lay at this site, the young will not have to cross the road to get back to the pond.

In late summer, keep an eye out for the young, as they are only a couple of inches long and easy to miss on the road.

After the people went on their way, I took a couple of quick pictures and left for my destination. On my return trip a few hours later, there was no sign of the snapper, and her excavation had been smoothed over. We’ll have to go back in early September or so to see whether there are any baby snappers going back to the pond.