northeast-flora-and-fauna

Most of the time I get pictures of turtles who are out basking in the sun, but with a few exceptions (I'm looking at you, Box Turtles ) most of our turtles are more comfortable in the water. This is presumably a safety issue, since they're both more mobile in water and can hide from terrestrial (like these guys ) and aerial (I'm looking at you, Bald Eagles ) threats better. I suppose River Otters are still a threat, though we don't have big populations of them around here. (Given their potential predators, having a shell/carapace is probably a good idea.) Anyway, I got a pretty good look at this Eastern Painted Turtle , mostly submerged but with its head out of the water. The water here wasn't crystal clear, but wasn't inundated with green muck either. September 1, 2022 at Duke Island Park Photo 238907517, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

I was at Duke Farms about a month ago when I saw something up in the still-thin foliage. I expected it to be a vulture or maybe a Great Horned Owl, but a closer look showed it to be a Common Raccoon spending the day up a tree. Once the tree leafs out, the little fella will probably be almost impossible to see up there. Since raccoons mostly lay low during the day and do their serious food foraging at night, I don't see these guys very often, and I'm always happy to encounter one. Besides being up a tree, a part of Wood Duck Lake separated us; I saw no evidence that my presence bothered this guy. May 4, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 128324421, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)