Photo of the Day: Turtle Time, Sea Pines Forest Preserve, SC

One of my favorite essayists, Edward Hoagland, in the evocative title piece in his 1971 collection The Courage of Turtles, notes of these creatures: “They don't feel that the contest is unfair; they keep plugging, rolling like sailorly souls—a bobbing, infirm gait, a brave, sea-legged momentum—stopping occasionally to study the lay of the land. For me, anyway, they manage to contain the rest of the animal world.” No wonder he calls them “the particular animal I wanted to keep in touch with.”

I got “in touch with” this particular member of the species down in Sea Pines Forest Preserve, home to all manner of wildlife down in Hilton Head, S.C. (See, for instance, my prior post on a more exotic—and dangerous—animal I saw down there: the alligator.) I agree with Hoagland: for adaptability, endurance, indomitability—i.e., courage—you can’t top the turtle, though.