Turtles

It's hard to tell if these turtles were fighting or mating.

Turtle resting on a log

Turtle

Turtle Party on Lake Nelson

 

Birding on Flip Flop Friday

We relaxed a bit on our dock on National Flip Flop day. Some cedar waxwings were catching bugs over the lake. The mother oriole was looking for food to feed the babies that we can hear but not see high overhead. Some turtles got into the spirit and sunned themselves on the float island.

Two Waxwings


Female Baltimore Oriole

Great Blue Heron flying overhead

Blue Jay in the water feature

Three Turtles relaxing in the sun

Eleven Baby Ducks: Beat that Octomom

 

We are happy to see our little floating island planter getting some use.  So far, we've had just a pair of sandpipers, a lone duck or turtle on it.  At dusk today, we saw the mother and all the baby ducks on it.  It's hard to count them on the island, but all 11 were on it.  She must be a very good mother.

 

A boat ride in the sun

Great Blue Heron

 

Cormorant

Turtles

Beaver

We were finally able to get the pedal boat out this morning and we saw some of our favorite creatures enjoying the sunny day. The beaver is smaller than the ones we've been seeing come by our dock. Perhaps he's one of this year's offspring.

Turtle Sunbathing at the Dam

 

The sun was out for a few hours this weekend. We went out to enjoy the heat and encountered a turtle sunbathing on the dam.

Turtle in the Sun

Turtles in Love

When Mike got home tonight, he spotted something unusual in the lake. At first he thought it was the muskrat, but then it appeared to be an otter. As he got closer, and watched for a while, he was surprised to see that it was two turtles. Photos don't really do this justice, so there are two videos. The turtles did swim off, unharmed.

Click on the links below for the videos. They are fairly large, but worth the wait if you are a turtle lover.
Turtles (quicktime)
More Turtles

Cormorant Soaking up the Sun with Turtles

I'm gonna soak up the sun
While it's still free
I'm gonna soak up the sun
Before it goes out on me

Hairy Woodpecker

Today was an interesting bird day. It rained really hard last night. Early this morning, there were quite a few fancy ducks in the lake. Mike spotted a female
Green Winged Teal but confused it for a female mallard. Next Chris spotted three female Hooded Mergansers and then Mike saw a male Green Winged Teal join the group. Chris then spotted four Wood Ducks. They must have taken refuge from the storm at Lake Nelson during the night. It was too grey to get any good photos so we just enjoyed the visitors.

Much later in the day, it cleared up and we got a good photo of a male Hairy Woodpecker at the suet feeder. For a while, it got warm enough for some turtles to come out and sun themselves on a tree that fell into the lake in a recent storm. The turtles jumped in the water when we got close, but they don't seem to mind sharing the log with the geese.

Turtle

We spotted a turtle poking his head up. We all are really looking forward to spending more time outside this Spring.

However, we also have fond memories of snorkeling among the sea turtles in the Caribbean. We won't be snorkeling in Lake Nelson.

Technically, a turtle is not a member of the bird family and doesn't belong on this blog. We like turtles though. So does our daughter Lynn. Below is another turtle picture from UCLA's botanical garden just for her.