wildlife obsession...

The duck couple floating in the liquid gold of morning sun...

The pond wildlife community never ceases to amaze. Mr & Mrs Duck remain at the top of the completely adorable list. No sign of nesting. Unfortunately, I glimpsed a large (aren't they all) Canadian goose behind a tree on the south tip of the island in the prime breeding spot - sitting still for hours and facing the opposite end as if the better to see interlopers approach over the bridge. I hear geese can be verrry protective of their young. And even though I'd rather see the ducks on that prime spot during nesting season - and know that border collies are considered to the most effective geese-nuisance 'ridders' in the world, I'd fear for Lucy's safety if turned loose on the island at this point.

I have wildlife-viewing obsession and am currently completely over the top when it comes to turtles. With our small but wonderfully powerful binoculars, I spied a large turtle sitting with the above-referenced goose yesterday. Odd couple!! What I want to is to be able to snap a picture of that with binocular clarity and mega close up perspective. A picture taken from the deck is a safe photo bet, as long as I move noiselessly: turtles and ducks will skedaddle at the least little sound (I've even seen deer from way across the pond lift their heads when I simply open the deck door). But a bit too far away. Once, I was successful in going out the front door and coming around to the back, moving as silently as possible on the grass to surreptitiously take a turtle pic from land's edge. Closer... better. The best, but riskiest: from the end of the protruding dock. If you ever want to see 18 turtles hit the water in a split second, that's the way to do it. But then you get to watch their little noses moving just above water level as they swim about and ultimately heed the call of the sun's heat to return to the warm grass.

So, I've seen them - and tried to photograph them - in all their glorious charms, watching their numbers grow from one to 25 on a very fortunate day...observing great variety in sizes as their young join them...admiring their silver-gray backs when dry and warm...and glossy blacks when first coming up from the pond. Yup. Completely bitten by turtle obsession.

Admiring their own reflections?

Meeting of the tribal elders?

Probably not listening to a speech from the robin;
but - as they normally do, simply facing the direction they arrived out of the water.
Ideal/efficient for exposing their backs to the sun?

The day I counted 25 of them: varying degrees of size, dry/wetness.
A wee one on the far right perhaps coming up for a first day in the sun?


The island seems to melt into the opposite shore...
as turtles spread out across the nearer edge
we are most fortunate to have in our view.