Knowing that I’d be tied up for the latter part of the week, I went out today to find a subject for the Estate Find, and/or see if any other snakes had emerged. I wasn’t successful on either count, finding only the typical subjects of the property so far, but a little later on I almost casually got the Find for this week, so no issues there. This guy had to be featured, though.
Naturally,
The turtles outdid themselves today, and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to post another photo. There’s nineteen of them on this little tussock, now known to us as “Turtle Island,” because of course. And there’s even room for more if they’re careful (which they often are not.)
Near as I can tell, these are entirely eastern painted turtles (Chrysemys
… of these conditions.
These are all from yesterday, when the temperature here topped 18°c – not bad for December 30th, and I think it got even higher today. A cold snap is on its way, with the possibility of it dipping below -5°c, so these pics are in appreciation, and to refer back to when we’re not going out at all.
First off, the turtles put on a display.
That’s
Surprisingly so, like about 23°c, with even some sun for a little while. And don’t ask me how they know this when they’re mostly submerged, but the turtles were taking full advantage of it.
These two eastern painted turtles (Chrysemys picta picta) were perhaps a little longer than your palm – hard to judge while out in the middle of the pond, while
I mean, not terribly high, but these were from yesterday’s outing, which was far quieter than it should have been.
Going along the edge of New Hope Creek in Duke Forest yesterday, we heard a plop! not far away, which I took to be a turtle abandoning its basking spot on a log at our approach. Moments later, there was a PLOP! from the same direction, telling us that another