Weekend pics - Western Painted Turtles, etc.
 

Here's a few pics I took this weekend up at our cabin. I know they're not herps, but every year the Loons up there have babies, and this is the closest I've ever gotten to them.

Once the fireworks started, I think the only animals that hadn't gone into hiding were the mosquitos. :>poke2<:

Very nice, Paul! Are there a lot of western paints up there?

Oh yeah, there are a TON of them up there. I was really amazed that we only saw a couple. Normally those same "basking spots" would have nearly a dozen of them lined up. I was surprised we didn't see any hatchlings too. I don't know if it's too early or not, but normally if we went into the backwaters and bogs, you could see dozens of babies within 30 minutes. I have a feeling the increased traffic on the lake for the weekend may have had them hiding.
The ecology has changed quite a bit up there in the past 10 years. There used to be the occasional snappers floating around, and there were tons of bullheads and large perch too. I haven't seen any of those since they introduced walleye and tiger muskies though.
I just think that there isn't as much 'catch and release' going on, and I hope that the turtles aren't being collected, but you never know.

Great pics Paul. The background is always as beautiful as the herps are in my opinion. Looks like your cabin is in just the right area.

My favorite is the first one, I especially love the background! Such Beautiful pics, Keep up the good work! =D