Recently Susquehanna Fishing Magazine friend J Michael Mann came across a rare red-bellied turtle (Pseudemys alabamensis) along the mouth of Bald Eagle Creek near the Susquehanna River, in Clinton County, PA. Now, possibly for the first time ever documented in Clinton County.
The threatened red-bellied turtle is the second largest of Pennsylvania's turtles. They are able to reach over 10 inches in length.
Mann notes, "I knew what it was the instant I saw it, but I could not get over it's size, and I have never seen one in the wild before, just pictures in books and on the internet. I'm glad to have found one so far north, where they are not supposed to live."
The Red Bellied was returned to the wild.
For more information:
http://www.fish.state.pa.us/endangered/endangt12.htm
