Three's Company

Out at Swan Lake yesterday I enjoyed this trio catching some rays.

Traffic Jam

Volunteers at the Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary have tethered floating logs here and there all around the edges of the lake as basking spots for the Western Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta bellii). But when I was out there last week all the logs were vacant except for this one. Why they all decided to pile up on this one log is a mystery to me. However, these animals have been around for about 15 million years so I guess they know what they're doing.

Lazy Days

The cruising Mallard Duck and the snoozing Western Painted Turtle above perfectly embody the scene these days at Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary. Time to lie down on a log and get toasted!

Do You Think This is My Best Side?

Western Painted Turtle posing poolside at the Abkhazi Garden.

Cuteness

Yesterday's duckling shares his little pond with this pair of Painted Turtles. Looking at yesterday's duckling and today's turtles raises the old question of the nature of beauty or, perhaps in this case, the nature of cuteness. Why is the duckling cute and the turtles are decidedly not cute? These are all just animals looking like they are supposed to look after all but why is the duckling so appealing in comparison with the turtles? It's not just age - baby turtles are only slightly cuter than adults. But I suspect that age has a lot to do with it in many cases. Who can resist a kitten? Or a puppy? But the question remains as to why a kitten or puppy is so attractive and a young centipede is not.

Western Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta)

Here's another Victoria resident that many of us have never seen, the Western Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta). This one lives at the Swan Lake nature Sanctuary and was basking in some spring sunshine on the edge of the lake when I took this photo. There are only about a dozen species of reptiles in British Columbia so I felt a little privileged to see this turtle. It was quite large, about the size of a small dinner platter.