{"id":136640,"date":"2024-11-10T02:42:46","date_gmt":"2024-11-10T08:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=136640"},"modified":"2024-11-10T02:52:52","modified_gmt":"2024-11-10T08:52:52","slug":"roadside-mississippi-mud-turtle-at-sequoyah-nwr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/10\/roadside-mississippi-mud-turtle-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","title":{"rendered":"Roadside Mississippi Mud Turtle At Sequoyah NWR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Better late than never? I photographed this Mississippi Mud Turtle in spring at the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, and I\u2019m sharing it today.<\/p>\n<p>I found this image in my &#8216;to post&#8217; folder yesterday and decided it was time for this small turtle to be highlighted here.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-136633 size-full\" title=\"Roadside Mississippi Mud Turtle\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mississippi-mud-turtle-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-2429.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mississippi-mud-turtle-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-2429.jpg\" alt=\"Roadside Mississippi Mud Turtle, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mississippi-mud-turtle-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-2429-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mississippi-mud-turtle-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-2429-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mississippi-mud-turtle-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-2429-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mississippi-mud-turtle-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-2429-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mississippi-mud-turtle-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-2429-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mississippi-mud-turtle-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-2429-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mississippi-mud-turtle-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-2429-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mississippi-mud-turtle-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-2429.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Roadside Mississippi Mud Turtle \u2013 Nikon D810, handheld, f10, 1\/100, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm at 185mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Mississippi Mud Turtles are small, and I haven&#8217;t seen many of them in my life. They are a subspecies of the Eastern Mud Turtle.<\/p>\n<p>Mississippi Mud Turtles have brown-to-black shells and skin, often faintly streaked with yellow, helping them blend into muddy waters. They have blunt heads, short snouts, and webbed toes suited for swimming and burrowing in slow-moving rivers and ponds.<\/p>\n<p>This turtle was crossing a dirt road at the refuge, with water on both sides of the road. I grabbed my backup Nikon D810 with the 18-200mm lens attached to photograph the shy turtle. Because another car was coming up the road, I had to hurry.<\/p>\n<p>I felt fortunate that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inaturalist.org\/taxa\/39715-Kinosternon-subrubrum-hippocrepis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mississippi Mud Turtle<\/span><\/a> poked her or his head out of the shell for a few images.<\/p>\n<p>By this time of year, these small turtles are more than likely preparing for winter hibernation by burrowing into mud.\u00a0 It\u2019s unlikely that I will see any more of them this season. Hopefully, next spring, I\u2019ll have more opportunities to observe and photograph this unique turtle species. They are cuties!<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/reptiles-and-amphibians\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see my reptile and amphibian photo galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Better late than never? I photographed this Mississippi Mud Turtle in spring at the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, and I\u2019m sharing it today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15935,13973,13974],"tags":[14190,13984,15944,15945,15943,15942,13136,5300,165,5422,7945,7946],"class_list":["post-136640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mississippi-mud-turtles","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forest","tag-bottomlands","tag-eastern-mud-turtle","tag-kinosternon-subrubrum","tag-kinosternon-subrubrum-hippocrepis","tag-mississippi-mud-turtle","tag-reptiles","tag-roadside","tag-spring","tag-subspecies","tag-turtle","tag-turtles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mississippi-mud-turtle-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-2429.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-zxS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":147999,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/06\/09\/three-toed-box-turtle-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":136640,"position":0},"title":"Three-toed Box Turtle At Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I\u2019m sharing two views of a Three-toed Box Turtle I photographed early last week at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Oklahoma&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Frontal view of an adult Three-toed Box Turtle, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/three-toed-box-turtle-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9361.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/three-toed-box-turtle-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9361.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/three-toed-box-turtle-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9361.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/three-toed-box-turtle-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9361.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":114091,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/07\/02\/three-toed-box-turtle-photos-from-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":136640,"position":1},"title":"Three-toed Box Turtle Photos From Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am showcasing four Three-toed Box Turtle photos that I took while I visited Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Oklahoma&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Three-toed Box Turtle glowing in morning light, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/three-toed-box-turtle-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-7238.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/three-toed-box-turtle-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-7238.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/three-toed-box-turtle-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-7238.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/three-toed-box-turtle-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-7238.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":149016,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/06\/19\/ouachita-map-turtle-on-the-arkansas-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":136640,"position":2},"title":"Ouachita Map Turtle On The Arkansas River","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It was two years ago today when I photographed what I believe is a Ouachita Map Turtle on the Arkansas River at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Oklahoma&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ouachita Map Turtle on a stump at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Ouachita-Map-Turtle-Arkansas-River-mia-mcpherson-0351.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Ouachita-Map-Turtle-Arkansas-River-mia-mcpherson-0351.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Ouachita-Map-Turtle-Arkansas-River-mia-mcpherson-0351.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Ouachita-Map-Turtle-Arkansas-River-mia-mcpherson-0351.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":166199,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/12\/27\/christmas-day-great-blue-heron-and-turtle-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":136640,"position":3},"title":"Christmas Day Great Blue Heron And Turtle At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On Christmas Day I photographed a Great Blue Heron and a turtle in Miner's Cove at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. Yes, a turtle in winter!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron and turtle on Christmas Day at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133569,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/09\/02\/urban-three-toed-box-turtle\/","url_meta":{"origin":136640,"position":4},"title":"Urban Three-toed Box Turtle","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I was enjoying my coffee outside yesterday morning when I spotted this Three-toed Box Turtle walking through the dew-covered grasses. Yes, I had to take photos.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Arkansas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban Three-toed Box Turtle in September, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/three-toed-box-turtle-september-mia-mcpherson-6014.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/three-toed-box-turtle-september-mia-mcpherson-6014.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/three-toed-box-turtle-september-mia-mcpherson-6014.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/three-toed-box-turtle-september-mia-mcpherson-6014.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":129537,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/06\/17\/creekside-eastern-phoebe-singing\/","url_meta":{"origin":136640,"position":5},"title":"Creekside Eastern Phoebe Singing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Another bird photo from my last trip to Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge, where this creekside Eastern Phoebe posed and sang for me for several minutes.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Creekside Eastern Phoebe singing, Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge, Johnston County, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/eastern-phoebe-adult-singing-mia-mcpherson-4274.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/eastern-phoebe-adult-singing-mia-mcpherson-4274.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/eastern-phoebe-adult-singing-mia-mcpherson-4274.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/eastern-phoebe-adult-singing-mia-mcpherson-4274.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}