Rare Animal Returns to Ellicott Creek Park After 30 Years

Here in Western New York, we have plenty of amazing parks that people love to spend their time at during the warm weather months.

The most popular is Delaware Park in the City of Buffalo but another popular park is Ellicott Creek Park in Tonawanda.

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Elicott Creek Park sits near the edge of Amherst and off Niagara Falls Blvd. It’s a very crowded park at times, since there are so many things to do there. From playgrounds to renting gazebos, along with basketball and tennis nets.

The views of Ellicott Creek are also a popular attraction and the number of animals you could see there, such as turtles.

This week, news came of the return of a unique kind of turtle to the park after 30 years.

According to the Erie County Parks social media pages, a Eastern Spiny Softshell turtle was spotted by one of their park rangers this week.

The turtle has not been seen in the park since at least 1990 and it might be even further back than that.

The spotting was also near the end of the turtle’s breeding season, so there’s hope there are baby Eastern spiny softshell turtles in the park and more will appear next year.

The fact this species of turtle has not been seen in over 30 years and has reappeared is so cool. They are such an amazing-looking turtle, which looks almost like a breed of dinosaur.

Have you seen this turtle somewhere near Ellicott Creek Park?

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