Turtle islet
At a newly discovered (by us) pond on the grounds of Hyde Park High School on January 21st I couldn’t resist photographing this convocation of turtles on what seems to have been a sandbar. People talk about not being able to see the forest for the trees. Originally it was the turtles that I couldn’t see, lost as they were in the reflections of trees on the surface of the water, as shown below. To get close enough to take the top picture I had to walk around the pond to the opposite side from which I’d taken the bottom picture.
Among turtles there’s no such thing as personal space.
© 2023 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
LOL! That’s a wonderful and cheerful sighting!
circadianreflections
February 3, 2023 at 7:36 AM
I’ll go with cheerful, which isn’t an adjective I often if ever hear applied to turtles.
Steve Schwartzman
February 3, 2023 at 7:52 AM
Well, I did laugh when I saw them in your image all crowded on that little islet even to the point of standing on top of each other. 🤣 Surely it would cheer anyone up!
circadianreflections
February 3, 2023 at 8:02 AM
Point well taken.
Steve Schwartzman
February 3, 2023 at 5:44 PM
What an absolutely wonderful shot. Clearly, it’s not just humans who search for warmth in cold conditions. It took a moment for me to find the head of the turtle in the water at the right of the frame. Perhaps it was calculating its odds of finding a spot in the pile.
shoreacres
February 3, 2023 at 8:36 AM
Maybe this is where the phrase “piling on” came from.
Steve Schwartzman
February 3, 2023 at 5:47 PM
What a cheerful bunch of optimists. All turtles hold their heads up. I believe we humans could learn a few things from them. Great captures, Steve!
Peter Klopp
February 3, 2023 at 9:19 AM
Thanks. I wish I could be that optimistic amid all the crazy things going on in the world.
Steve Schwartzman
February 3, 2023 at 5:48 PM
Wow!!! Thanks for explaining how you got the shots… quite a bit of work, but those are truly wonderful! I really enjoy that close up… beautiful critters, turtles are.
Littlesundog
February 3, 2023 at 12:50 PM
You’re welcome. While the top picture looks close, I had to use my telephoto lens zoomed to its maximum 400mm, and even then I cropped off about a quarter of the pixels around the edges to get the turtles to fill the new, smaller frame.
Steve Schwartzman
February 4, 2023 at 7:02 AM
A turtle pile-up, hehe! That would be a fine sight to see (But hardly likely for me.)
Ann Mackay
February 3, 2023 at 6:12 PM
A pile-up, that’s it. Don’t turtles crowd together like that in Britain?
Steve Schwartzman
February 4, 2023 at 7:04 AM
It’s not warm enough for land turtles to breed over here, so there are just a few escaped pets. (There are visiting marine turtles in the sea.) So I have never seen a turtle, never mind a pile of them… 🙂
Ann Mackay
February 5, 2023 at 6:23 AM
Sounds like a trip to America is in order for you.
Steve Schwartzman
February 5, 2023 at 7:23 AM
Hehe, maybe!
Ann Mackay
February 5, 2023 at 8:23 AM
I love the turtles. Thank you for zooming in on them!
Lavinia Ross
February 3, 2023 at 6:16 PM
You’re welcome. Even after zooming to my lens’s maximum 400mm, I still later cropped off about a quarter of the pixels along the edges.
Steve Schwartzman
February 4, 2023 at 7:08 AM
Lovely pile of turtles!
Alessandra Chaves
February 3, 2023 at 7:27 PM
They certainly put on a show for me.
Steve Schwartzman
February 4, 2023 at 8:06 AM
Party pile-on!! Great image
norasphotos4u
February 3, 2023 at 8:01 PM
Yes, I had a good time with this subject.
Steve Schwartzman
February 4, 2023 at 8:07 AM
It’s turtles all the way down, or up, as the case may be.
melody
February 3, 2023 at 8:24 PM
I’m down with that, as they say now, or up for it, as everyone used to say.
Steve Schwartzman
February 4, 2023 at 8:08 AM
This one really made me smile. I look forward to the warming weather and the turtles that will bring.
Todd Henson
February 5, 2023 at 12:26 PM
Happy smiles. I expect you’ve seen mounds of turtles like that where you are, too.
Steve Schwartzman
February 5, 2023 at 1:44 PM
I’ve not seen a pile-o-turtles like that. Cool find!
Steve Gingold
February 7, 2023 at 3:06 AM
Now, that comes as a surprise, given all the turtle pictures you’ve shown over the years. Maybe you guys up there can borrow a few ours to teach yours how to pile on.
Steve Schwartzman
February 7, 2023 at 6:29 AM