Turtle love?

Were they having a friendly conversation?  Facing off ready to fight?  Flirting?  Who knows with turtles.

 

Turtle party

A meeting of the turtle society.

 

Old turtles

These big old turtles were basking in the sun.  

A red eared slider.  

These turtles are not native, but are becoming ubiquitous because people release their pets into the lakes.

Snapping turtle. 

These are native, and not too friendly (see here)

 

String of...

Turtles!

On a sunny day they fill up every inch of space on a log.

Turtles

There's a new line of turtles at the outdoor play space.  I don't think they'd be very good stepping stones.

Lake side

Mr. Heron, Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, and even a few turtles were out enjoying the weather.

Sneaky Heron

The heron seemed to think that he could escape notice if he tiptoed around the lake.  

He went past ducks

And turtles

A very elegant sneak.

Kingfisher again

Now that I've found him, the kingfisher seems to be easier to spot.  He was fishing in the lake, and stopped to eat his catch on a turtle log.

Follow the leader

Maybe they're having a race?  Maybe they're watching something on the shore?  For some reason all of the turtles in this conga line are headed in the same direction.

Flirting Turtles

We found this odd turtle behavior while walking around Lake Lynn.  The little slider turtle was swimming up to the bigger turtle and waving his little fingers in her face.  Turns out that's a form of turtle courtship.  She wasn't too interested.  

I posted a video of the action on youtube here.

Which way is up?

I think this picture would make a good jigsaw puzzle.