Eastern Painted Turtle Photo Shoot

[Vicious_Fish]

Well I got a call today from my mother saying she found another turtle in their front yard. Last week it was a Box Turtle but this time she didn't know what kind it was. She knows what a box turtle is so I asked her if it was a Wood Turtle and she said no. She thought it looked like some type of water turtle. So I took a drive over to see what it was (they live about 15 minutes away) and when I got there she had it in a box and thought it might be a Painted....which is was.

It was a nice looking, very friendly male so I decided to take some pics of him before I released him into the small pond on my parents property (I'll upload some pics of the release later).

 

[evilxyardxgnome]

Nice shots Seth!

 

[Vicious_Fish]

My parents just build a new house and on the property there is a small stream that comes from the overflow of a nearby farm pond. It goes through their woods and fills a small pond about 40'x20'. It's about 2 feet deep in the middle. My goal is to clean it up this summer. The pond itself is in good shape except for a few fallen trees in it but the stream exiting it is full of junk. Some idiot dumped a ton roofing shingles in it years ago along with some wood pallets. My goal is to have them all out by the end of the summer.

The pond.


As soon as I put him in the pond he hid under some stick and leaves for a bit. I sure hope he sticks around.



After I put the turtle in he kicked up this big crayfish. Didn't even know the pond had any in it.


The stream exiting the pond. Full of tadpoles and roofing shingles. I've got some work to do, that's for sure.


I found this Whited-footed Mouse under one of the wood pallets near the stream.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

There's quite a lot of wildlife around the pond. It's loaded with frogs and Spotted Salamander larvae but I couldn't get any good pictures of them. No fish though. Which is sort of a good thing for the amphibian life.


Lots of insects in the pond like this Water Strider.


Jewel Weed. Helpful fact about this plant: if you happen to be suffering from poison ivy, the juices in this plant's stem help to sooth the itch.


There were tons of dragonflies zipping around the pond.







Females laying eggs in the pond.



Hope you enjoyed the pics!

 

[Salt Life]

very nice pics vf!

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

wow!! very nice pics!! jealous of ur parents property

 

[McFall]

great lookin pics camera man!

 

[DREAM-faw]

Awesome pictures! Goodluck with the pond!

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Thanks guys.

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

Great shots!