rtwhitson3's Identifications

The Hawthorne Crossing Conservation Area is managed by the Campbell County Conservation District (KY), is currently undeveloped (no trails) and so not open to the public, but I was allowed to take a peek to check for interesting plants.

There are three ponds on the property. The first is along the main entrance road, just before it turns and goes through an old house site. The pond isn't large, but is still, shaded by trees, and apparently doesn't dry out, because it was home to several obligate-aquatic species of plants.

We saw three box turtles while we toured the property, and this one was my favorite. It was a Wolffia covered turtle within about 10 feet of a Wolffia covered pond, thus demonstrating that even terrestrial turtles like to take a dip from time to time. The pond was very shallow at the edges, and so would have been easy for a box turtle to wander through.