Eastern Painted Turtle

Here's a pretty good look at an Eastern Painted Turtle I met last spring. A few quick thoughts on the picture:

  1. You can see the large scutes on the carapace line up left-to-right and yellow/red lines on the head/neck, so it's identification is pretty clear.
  2. One difficulty with photographing (many) turtles is getting a good look at the carapace. Many times the sun reflects off them so much it's hard to make out details. This photo hints at this problem, though the angle I had alleviated this issue. (The other problem is when shells are so covered in algae or mud that you can't make out their details.)
  3. This is probably a good spot for this turtle. Its getting a lot of sunlight, but if a threat approaches the turtle can quickly jump/fall into the water where some threats (including photographers) can't follow.
May 13, 2021 at the Raritan River Greenway
Photo 132037746, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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