I’ve been out a few times in the kayak in Duck Lake. Every year brings things that are familiar and things that are different. This looks like a year with a bumper crop of turtles. I’ve seen many more this year than last year. Here are a few.
This poor guy looks like his shell is peeling and the flies won’t leave him alone.
I count 11 turtles on this log.
I guess the log wasn’t big enough. They had to start stacking turtles on top of each other.
Same log as above, but a different morning. Not quite so many turtles.
I have seen gar pike in the lake before, sometimes in groups of 3 or 4. On this morning I saw a couple dozen of them all swimming together in the shallow water. They didn’t seem too interested or too afraid of the kayak, but just simply swam around it, giving me a chance to photograph them. I’ve never seen so many at one time.
Last evening we saw three spotted sandpipers.
And a blacked-capped chickadee.
The sky turned a wonderful mix of blues, pinks, and oranges. 
And, the sky was filled with May Flies.
However, the best find of the season has been a pair of loons. We inadvertently got a bit close to the nest the other morning and the female swam off the nest to distract us. So, if you are on the south end of the lake, don’t go too close to the shore; leave her to her nest.
Here she is the next evening sitting on the nest, shot with a long lens from a long ways off. Let’s hope we get to see baby loons on the lake soon.
Well, that’s about it from the lake for now. Looking forward to being back soon.
Mark
as always I loved them all Mark. Thank you for sharing.