Well, hello there!

Look who we found sloooooowly climbing down the path towards our driveway.

Close up of our visitor

This is a baby snapping turtle, and he has a very long way to go to get to the pond that's down the driveway, across the street, and through a patch of wooded brush with many obstacles in between.  

Now a turtle this small doesn't just appear out of thin air.  There must be a nest somewhere that his mom dug some weeks ago which just hatched.  I've looked everywhere and can't find it, however.  They're easy to spot when the female is actually laying the eggs.  When we first moved in, we often saw one or two in late spring, burrowing under the cotoneasters to make a cozy nest.  Like this:

Snapping turtle nesting in our cotoneasters 4 years ago

Once she finished her business, she'd make a slow march down the driveway back across the road to the pond where, presumably, she makes her home.  The treacherous part for her is when she crosses the road.  We always wanted to help, but snapping turtles are nasty in general, and even more so when they're nesting, so you want to stay away from them -- they have telescoping necks that can reach out, turn backwards and do some real damage to the hands helpfully holding her aloft so she can reach the other side.  Ingrate. 

So we would simply watch and make sure no cars were careening down the hill in front of the house while she trudged across.

Mom makes the long walk back after laying her eggs

But today's visitor was so tiny that we were able to scoop him up into an empty 6" pot, and Mr. Mulch transported him safely to the pond on the far side of the road, safe and sound.  

Our tiny visitor, with the sedum to give a sense of his extreme tinyness

I'm not expecting a thank you note.