Spring has brought out the turtles in force. The lake by my house has floating islands on it that are perfect for basking. These are all pretty large red eared sliders, who knows how old they might be.
The floating islands are pretty much packed with these turtles all around the edges. If I had walked here earlier I bet there would be even more turtles hanging out one every available square inch of space.
Here's a baby. At first glance I thought it was a painted turtle because of its smaller size and yellow markings but now that I processed the photo I can see its red ear. Maybe this is around a two or three year old red eared slider. I'm sure there will be some extra tiny half dollar sized ones basking in the morning next time I go walking by the lake.
The floating islands are also good for goose and duck nests. This female mallard is scoping out territory already.
Even her boyfriend is starting to stake this place out for nesting territory.
I walked around for a better view of the nest situation and caught her shaking water off.
I didn't see any eggs yet. She will probably start laying them within a week or so, then there will be a bunch of baby yellow puffs emerging by the end of the month.
A couple hawks are nesting nearby too. I'm sure they'll end up scooping up a few of the ducklings and goslings to feed their chicks. Maybe I can capture some of the gory action if I observe the ducklings enough lol.
Meanwhile out on the lake the Canadian Geese are splashing around making lots of noise. I think they are trying to shake off some of their winter feathers as its finally getting warm around here
Can you spot the pie billed grebe here? I noticed it swimming around the lake but wasn't able to get a clear shot. Then after processing this photo I noticed it hidden around the geese. They are tough to get a clear shot because they are always diving under for a long time then they emerge halfway across the lake in a different spot.
That's all for now, hopefully I can find more critters on my next walk and get that grebe with a fish in its mouth. Thanks for looking.