The Watchdog of the Pond and a Friend

This turtle has become the watchdog of the pond.  He perches himself upon one of the rocks and if he sees something he doesn't like he disappears into the water very quickly which warns other inhabitants in an alarm fashion.  I must admit that I have never looked it up but turtles must have the eyes of a hawk.  My deck is at least 75 yards away and he use to sink into the water as soon as I would step out.  I think he knows me now and pays no attention.  By the way he stayed in this position for a long long time.  The dark spot on its back appears to be his shell torn up or peeled up like an injury.

 This heron was cooling down very near the turtle.  No, he's not floating like a duck but rather he's just cooling off.  Taking a break from fishing.

 As you can see, he's standing up for a bit.  Guess he didn't like squatting as long as he did to cool down so he decided to stretch his legs.

 Back to squatting and looking like a deck.

Standing Guard

One of several Heron's that visit the pond, this one stands guard in the early morning light.  When the sun gets higher in the sky his yellow look will fade to more white and gray.

Wild Life Visits

 It all started with a Heron showing up at the pond to feed. I'm not sure if it is the same bird but either it or several come on a regular basis.

 

Next came the Lesser Scaup Ducks. There were 8 total, 5 male and 3 female. These are what is considered as diving ducks. They eat more from the bottom of the lake or pond than the banks or even further off the waters edge as many ducks do. I think these were migrating north and just did a stop if for refueling. I was playing with my depth of field on the 2nd and 3rd picture here.

Lastly we have the Yellow-Shafted Flicker. They are of the woodpecker family. The top 3 are all shots of the female. The last is of the male.The difference is the male has what is called a mustache. Both have what looks like a black kerchief under their beak but the male has a black marking on either side of the beak on the cheek area. It can be seen in the photo but his position makes it difficult. This was his position the whole time he was here. We were just starting to get our "spring" winter storm. Four to ten inches.....we got about six.