Fauna: Red-eared sliders, the fresh water turtles.........

Now-a-days, on every visit to Tewinkle Park, I see these red-eared sliders sunning themselves on the fountain installed in the pools. These medium-sized turtles exposing their carapace to the sun without any noticeable mobility, look inanimate.

Nip in the air is palpable..the red-eared slider enjoys the last few days of swimming in the pond before going for brumation ...

In autumn and winter months, they undergo brumation, the reptilian equivalent of hibernation. What amuses me most is the way they share the space harmoniously with a couple of  Pekin ducks or American coots.

Spring is here. How could the red-eared sliders be still in brumation?

Brumation of the turtles ended with winter. It was delightful to see these sluggish reptiles resting on the fountains and sunning their carapace. Occasionally, I spotted them swimming in the pristine pool, submerged, yet poking the heads out. Today, something  happened, that would have thrilled a herpetologist, even I was jubilant. I was walking past the small pool under the pine trees and saw a red eared slider lying on a rock. To compound my joy, another of that kind joined the former. I rushed towards them, before they sneak back into the pool. One of them sensed my foot tapping and slipped into the water, but the other stayed rooted. I took its snapshots from all possible angles, till satisfaction. Have a look at the portraits.........

The mother-kid pair of red-eared sliders sun basking on the edge of a pool in Fullerton arboretum caught my attention......Despite their dirty, alga-covered carapace they made an interesting sight...