Painted Turtle in the Duck Pond

I was on campus on Thursday and much of Friday for an event at the Libraries.

It had been hot and dry much of the past few weeks, but these two days were overcast and cooler with some rain. Before and after my event, I strolled around with my camera.

The duck pond is one of my favorite places to visit. The ducklings from spring are growing up. And I noticed something I hadn't seen before: a pair of painted turtles (see wikipedia info about painted turtles here), one small and one large.

The ducks seemed unsure of what to think about the turtles. But I like them and think they are a great addition to the duck pond! The wikipedia listing indicates that in Algonquian lore, the painted turtle played the role of trickster. These turtles can live to be more than 50 years old!

In this scene: one of the ducks pretends to ignore the larger painted turtle (note its yellow face stripes and webbed feet) that is posing on the rock.