Autumn Red-eared Slider Turtle on a log, Salt Lake County, UtahAutumn Red-eared Slider Turtle on a log – Nikon D500, f10, 1/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

Even when I don’t have any birds to view or photograph I am always looking for other subjects and yesterday my “other” subject was a turtle sunning itself on a log at one of my local ponds.

These are the turtles found in Utah:

  • Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina)
  • Texas Spiny (Softshell Apalone spinifera emoryi)
  • Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
  • Western Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii)

We also have one tortoise:

  • Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)

This may be a Western Painted Turtle but it could also be an introduced Painted Turtle from the eastern U.S. that someone released when they became tired of having it as a pet.

I’d never seen a turtle at this pond before and I was quite surprised when I spotted it. I wish it had been closer so that I could have had a better view of the turtle for identification purposes. This image is about a 50% crop of the original file.

When I lived back east I saw turtles quite often but in Utah I see them so infrequently that they stand out to me. The only other turtles I can recall seeing here have been at Glover Pond near the nature center at Farmington Bay WMA.

We have had a few warmish days here lately and that may be why the turtle was on the log sunning.

Note: Someone who is excellent at turtle identification has said this is most likely a Red-eared Slider. They were introduced here to Utah.

Life is good.

Mia