Look at this guy!

 To see how big it was, go to my other blog.  He was visiting my daughter when she got home this evening

From the archives....

It has been a long time since I saw a bunch of turtles like this.

 

From a distance

 They were far enough away till I did not know they were turtles till I zoomed in.

Ready for some sychronized swimming

 Another scene from the past...I always love seeing a bunch of turtles on a log.

Summer turtle...

 

It looks like he has been for a good swim...

Little one

 This little turtle was only 3 or 4 inches long, at the most.

From today

One of four turtles I saw today at the Heron Viewing Park...or whatever they call it.  

Up close and personal from a different angle.

Turtle soup....turtle stew?

We drove over to Green Valley today....it is old strip pit that is open to the public for fishing, and used to be open for primitive camping but I think the camping has been prohibited.

I just had to show you a glimpse of the water before I show you all the turtles...then I urge you to please click to expand the view.  The images are so much better then.

I have no idea why I did not try to count them all...now I am regretting that....I don't mean just in this photo, I mean in total.  Wait till you see!

They were over across a little inlet....I had my Point & Shoot on a monopod....

To the best I can tell, all the turtles I am showing you are different turtles...unless otherwise noted.

In all the time I was there, I did not see one slip into the water...

I think this guy was one of the first ones I saw....I walked back to the Rav to get the monopod because I could not hold still enough to focus while zoomed in.  Imagine my surprise when I came back and started seeing ALL of the others.

Looking at the ones I took, I am pretty sure I missed at least a couple more singles...

About the time I think I have showed them all, I see others...

I hope you enjoyed seeing these...

Pile of turtles

Perched...do you use that term with turtles sitting on logs...or do you just call it sitting?  The above has two turtles.  It is hard to tell  but the one behind is a turtle.

This is a pile of turtles...but I am not sure how many.

Again from the strip pit area.  These were in the first strip pit we pass on the regular way we go in.

Kodak --The strip pit area is an area where strip mining was done for years.  Strip mining is surface mining...sometimes it left shallow areas and sometimes deep pits.  They fill with water.  This place is changing.  But for years we have enjoyed a variety of wild life:  Ring-necked pheasants, Short-eared owls, Canada Geese, White Fronted Geese, a few Sandhill Cranes,  Northern Harriers, Swans, Snow Geese.  Other than the Sandhill Cranes, the ones previousl mentioned have been in abundance.  And I am forgetting so much.  We see different types of hawks, different types of water birds such as Northern Shoveler, Coots, Great Blue Heron...I even saw a Sora.   Oh, and we saw one Osprey...we sea Bald Eagles fairly regularly.  I am not sure how big you would call the area...

You would be better off clicking my label of Strip Pits to get a good idea...also my other blog has a lot of posts with things from the strip pits....

High and dry....

I should have taken a video of this little guy...he was almost stranded up there.   He was resting there on his belly and his feet could not touch anything.   He had all 4 legs flailing about and almost never got down.

I don't know what he did different, but he finally managed to totter off one side.  For some reason he did not want to enter the water at this point.

He pulled himself back up on the log and proceeded about a foot down the log to slide off the end.  Just want to say I am calling it a 'he' but I really don't know if he is a 'he' or a 'she.'

Born on the Bayou

A mama on her nest....

I always love turtles on a log...

Just a little bit closer

Love this place...

I love dragonflies...I did not know there was such a variety till I started blogging.

Thought it would be fun to share a few from the backwaters here...

A small bale of turles...

I started to call this a small crop of turtles, but thought I might as well see what a group is called....and 'bale' is what popped up when I googled it.

This little guy was out by itself...

 And I just managed to capture this one...the others that were there slid into the backwater before I could snap any more.

From Lorelei's Corner of the World...

First of all a few pics of Lorelei with a Luna moth...I think her mom found it where she works.  The place she works is at the edge of town and the woods are near her.  She is always finding something there...and if she don't find it, someone else will see something and tell her.  They know how she and Lorelei loves things like this....well, I do too.

You might want to click to expand the view.

You got to admit that they are both beauties!

Next we have this little guy...she actually had several on her hand at one point.

I am not sure what these are called...

And here she has another treasure...she did let it go before we left.

Just thought I would show some creatures from my part of the world...linking to My Corner of the World.

Lonely turtle

The above is from last night's drive through the strip pit area....

This one is from the 21st...one week before.  I think it must be lonely.  It is the only one I have seen out there.  Though maybe they are actually two different turtles.

Moving slow

Saw this guy as it was about to get across the road...

Box Turtle

Roger spotted this little guy when we went for the drive a while back...

I stopped and took him on across the road. 

Slow like a turtle...

I am doing a post just because...but still not ready to start blogging again...

This was painted turtle was north of us. 

Come on in, the water's fine!

Actually, it was getting ready to join them on the log.  Looking at the pic, it appears to be asking them to come on in.

Turtle show...

A week or two ago we were crawling through the strip pit area....up ahead there was this shallow mudpuddle.  I thought I saw something in it--when we got up there this is what we found.

I took a few quick shots and left it to its business...

This road is not traveled very much at all so I did not worry too much about leaving it there.

I think this is a Red Eared Slider...
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I am still experimenting some computer problems which began yesterday.  I have not been on the computer continually today. But different times I could not do google searches, but could on Bing.  When I did a google church, there was no button to click.  However, gmail and Youtube are still working.  Maybe all the kinks will eventually get worked out.  I feel pretty sure it is not this computer because my chromebook acted the same way yesterday.  So bare with me if I am slow to visit.