The weather is cooling off, but whenever there is the slightest amount of sunshine, I can count on seeing turtles basking in the warmth of the sun. This past Wednesday, I spotted these three turtles on a partially submerged tree branch in the small pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. I am pretty sure that the turtle on the right is a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) and the other two may be Yellow-bellied Sliders (Trachemys scripta scripta).
I am always a fan of reflections and I love the way that we can see reflections of the turtles on the rippled surface of the water. It was an added bonus to have some patches of red, a sign of the changing season.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 