Mothers - whether bird or turtle, don't always make the best choices when choosing a nest.
The little bird on the left made its nest in a hole in the wall of a lock (see below for a context photo). This became a problematic choice when navigation season opened and the lock filled with water. I took this photo as I was locking through the lock. When the water was lowered, the bird came into the lock, flitted around for a bit, and then flew into the hole (to say I was suprised is an understatement).
Snapping turtles, when choosing a nest, look for a nice gravel location, heated by the sun, with a downhill run to water. In this case two poor choices - the location is a fair distance to water (several hundred metres) and this road is about to be paved. I think though that the eggs might be okay at the edge which should remain as open gravel. But it's going to be a long haul to water for the newly hatched turles.
 
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