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Captain Don of the Seafire has a great stop to visit the turles on his Molokini tour. As I post turtles, you will see the colors change... it all depends on the light and the depth I guess. For this reason I don't think I'll post them all at once :)
Have a great weekend!!
Kihei, Maui, Hawaii
May 2012
Just out of hibernation, these turtles awaken in a pond FULL of goldfish!
Monument Valley Park. Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Did you know? Eutrophication causes algae bloom. Is a natural process that occurs in an aging lake or pond as that body of water gradually builds up its concentration of plant nutrients.
One of the best moments on my visit to the Potomac was this adorable young Wood Turtle. (since there were no Odes) I was trying to get a picture holding it in one hand, the camera in the other while trying to cast my shadow over the little wiggler. On the ride home I couldn't figure out why my palm was badly scraped? Then I realized it was from the turtles little claws. It made me smile :)
Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) - Walworth County, Wisconsin, USA
The small lake that these were seen in has one of the largest populations of turtles I have ever seen, walking the perimeter of the lake I must have seen over a 100 painted turtles. I stopped on shore to observe a few turtles and saw some interesting behavior, a 3rd turtle swam up and began stretching its neck out of the water towards the face of one of the basking turtles, it did this for several minutes took a break and then resumed its activity. At several points the basking turtle retracted its head back inside its shell but this did not dissuade the 3rd (persistent) turtle, my view was obstructed by the basking turtles shell but the turtles were so close that their snouts must have been touching or very close to it. I don't know what this behavior was, perhaps the 3rd turtle wanted the other to relinquish its basking spot or maybe some sort of mating behavior. In any case it was interesting to see. You can see the turtle in the water stretching to reach the basking turtle from the water in this shot.
Malachi found this little guy at the park towards the end of the day. He was a cut little fella and full of spunk. Most of my turtle experiences have been with box turtles. When you get close to a box turtle, he'll withdraw into his shell and wait. This little guy wouldn't stop moving for very long and didn't seem to be worried about us. He just wanted to get down and hit the road. Not once did he shy away from fingers, hands or the camera. He did pose once of twice for me though.
Green turtles are found throughout the world, occurring primarily in tropical, and to a lesser extent, subtropical waters. The Hawaiian green turtle is genetically distinct from the other green sea turtle populations, nesting primarily in the French Frigate Shoals of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and feeding in the coastal areas of the main Hawaiian Islands. This species was in a steep decline as of the 1970s because of direct harvest of both turtles and eggs by humans. The population has grown steadily over the last thirty years after protection began in 1978. Greens are the most common species of sea turtle found in Hawaiian waters.