Painted Turtle II

We posted earlier about this spring's turtle abundance, which ranges from ancient moss-backed snappers to smaller painted turtles, at times crossing roads to bury their leathery eggs in high, warm ground. As pond waters warm, the turtles also come to the shallows to crawl up on sunny logs to rid themselves of winter's chill and to foster their digestive systems, which work more quickly in warm than in cold turtles.
What do they eat? The smaller turtles eat about any creepy crawly wet thing that will fit down a throat. The snappers, well, they'll eat everything from duckling to dead fish, and our ponds provide plenty of both.
This painted turtle has spotted me taking his picture, and an instant later dove into the safety of his pond scum.