Typical California Turtles

Basking, soaking up the rays... what a life! Where are you hiding the Corona turtles?

I counted 12 basking turtles on our arrival at the reservoir today. The photo above was taken after two took the plunge. Three of the individuals seen above have transmitters. Another three were next to the willow and can be seen below.

Note the size/age class diversity... and yep that be a transmitter you see (anterior left) on the big guy.

All of the tagged turtles (or at least their transmitters) are in the reservoir. Transmitter six is still shot and transmitter 2 and 8 have a signal that rises and falls every few pulses. This makes it a pain to get a triangulation, but it is possible. The pulse on transmitter 2 has increased tempo about 1.5x. Not sure what that is about.

No snakes were seen today, but the birding was pretty nice. The Great-horned Owl adults and Red-shouldered Hawks were keeping the song birds on their toes (yes I know they are already on their toes). Bullock's Orioles were close by and a beautiful male was feeding on something in the Ceanothus (fruit capsules?). I saw the Red-shouldered Hawks copulating which suggests that the nest by the office may have failed.

The cows are off the road.