{"id":61322,"date":"2019-11-11T05:26:38","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T12:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=61322"},"modified":"2026-02-08T12:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T18:51:08","slug":"possible-western-painted-turtle-on-a-log","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/11\/11\/possible-western-painted-turtle-on-a-log\/","title":{"rendered":"Possible Western Painted Turtle On A Log (See correction)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-168826 size-full\" title=\"Autumn Red-eared Slider turtle on a log, Salt Lake County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Red-eared-Slider-turtle-autumn-mia-mcpherson-0335.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Red-eared-Slider-turtle-autumn-mia-mcpherson-0335.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn Red-eared Slider turtle on a log, Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Red-eared-Slider-turtle-autumn-mia-mcpherson-0335-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Red-eared-Slider-turtle-autumn-mia-mcpherson-0335-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Red-eared-Slider-turtle-autumn-mia-mcpherson-0335-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Red-eared-Slider-turtle-autumn-mia-mcpherson-0335-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Red-eared-Slider-turtle-autumn-mia-mcpherson-0335-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Red-eared-Slider-turtle-autumn-mia-mcpherson-0335.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Autumn Red-eared Slider Turtle on a log \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Even when I don&#8217;t have any birds to view or photograph I am always looking for other subjects and yesterday my &#8220;other&#8221; subject was a turtle sunning itself on a log at one of my local ponds.<\/p>\n<p>These are the turtles found in Utah:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Common Snapping Turtle (<em>Chelydra serpentina serpentina<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>Texas Spiny (<em>Softshell Apalone spinifera emoryi<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>Red-eared Slider (<em>Trachemys scripta elegans<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>Western Painted Turtle (<em>Chrysemys picta bellii<\/em>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We also have one tortoise:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Desert Tortoise (<em>Gopherus agassizii<\/em>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>We have had a few warmish days here lately and that may be why the turtle was on the log sunning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Someone who is good at turtle identification has said this is most likely a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inaturalist.org\/taxa\/51271-Trachemys-scripta-elegans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Red-eared Slider<\/span><\/a>. They were introduced here to Utah.<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/red-eared-slider-turtle-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see my Red-eared Slider Turtle photo gallery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even when I don&#8217;t have any birds to view or photograph I am always looking for other subjects and yesterday my &#8220;other&#8221; subject was a turtle sunning itself on a log at one of my local ponds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7960,709,26,99],"tags":[970,4620,4962,10698,1984,7948,5036,7949,7945,7946,8018,17117],"class_list":["post-61322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-red-eared-sliders","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","category-wildlife","tag-autumn","tag-fall","tag-log","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-red-eared-slider","tag-sunning","tag-trachemys-scripta-elegans","tag-turtle","tag-turtles","tag-urban","tag-winchester-pond-park"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Red-eared-Slider-turtle-autumn-mia-mcpherson-0335.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-fX4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":113912,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/06\/21\/red-eared-slider-turtle-portraits-in-arkansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":61322,"position":0},"title":"Red-eared Slider Turtle Portraits in Arkansas","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I caught movement out of the corner of my eye while photographing birds in my friend Steve's yard. Turns out it was a Red-eared Slider turtle.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Arkansas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up Red-eared Slider in grass, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/red-eared-slider-yard-arkansas-mia-mcphrson-1237.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/red-eared-slider-yard-arkansas-mia-mcphrson-1237.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/red-eared-slider-yard-arkansas-mia-mcphrson-1237.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/red-eared-slider-yard-arkansas-mia-mcphrson-1237.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":166199,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/12\/27\/christmas-day-great-blue-heron-and-turtle-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":61322,"position":1},"title":"Christmas Day Great Blue Heron And Turtle At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On Christmas Day I photographed a Great Blue Heron and a turtle in Miner's Cove at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. Yes, a turtle in winter!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron and turtle on Christmas Day at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133569,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/09\/02\/urban-three-toed-box-turtle\/","url_meta":{"origin":61322,"position":2},"title":"Urban Three-toed Box Turtle","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I was enjoying my coffee outside yesterday morning when I spotted this Three-toed Box Turtle walking through the dew-covered grasses. Yes, I had to take photos.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Arkansas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban Three-toed Box Turtle in September, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/three-toed-box-turtle-september-mia-mcpherson-6014.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/three-toed-box-turtle-september-mia-mcpherson-6014.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/three-toed-box-turtle-september-mia-mcpherson-6014.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/three-toed-box-turtle-september-mia-mcpherson-6014.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45995,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/05\/cinnamon-teal-short-eared-owl-red-tailed-hawk\/","url_meta":{"origin":61322,"position":3},"title":"Cinnamon Teal, Short-eared Owl &#038; Red-Tailed Hawk &#8211; A Nice Mixture of Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It felt great to photograph a nice mixture of birds yesterday and and to be out enjoying the beautiful scenery of northern Utah. Life is good.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sleepy Short-eared Owl male, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-male-sleepy-mia-mcpherson-3622.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-male-sleepy-mia-mcpherson-3622.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-male-sleepy-mia-mcpherson-3622.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-male-sleepy-mia-mcpherson-3622.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":114091,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/07\/02\/three-toed-box-turtle-photos-from-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":61322,"position":4},"title":"Three-toed Box Turtle Photos From Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am showcasing four Three-toed Box Turtle photos that I took while I visited Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Oklahoma&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Three-toed Box Turtle glowing in morning light, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/three-toed-box-turtle-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-7238.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/three-toed-box-turtle-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-7238.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/three-toed-box-turtle-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-7238.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/three-toed-box-turtle-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-7238.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":97866,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/12\/04\/eared-grebe-photos-these-grebes-have-such-fluffy-butts\/","url_meta":{"origin":61322,"position":5},"title":"Eared Grebe Photos &#8211; These Grebes Have Such Fluffy Butts","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning at Bear River MBR I spotted a single Eared Grebe in the marsh and stopped to take photos of it.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eared Grebe showing its fluffy butt, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/eared-grebe-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6754.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/eared-grebe-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6754.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/eared-grebe-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6754.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/eared-grebe-autumn-mia-mcpherson-6754.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}