Today the weather was muggy, but somewhat cloudy, so I decided to go for a long ramble in Forest Park (I start Biddly duty again tomorrow, and won’t have time for such a long ramble again, perhaps, before I leave)

The highlight of the day was a sighting of the

RED-EARED SLIDER

…several of them were basking in what there was of the sunshine:

The red marks give it the name, and Collette North of the

Missouri Department of Conservation

whom I met at the Visitors’ Center and started chatting with, told me that only males have these red “ears”, and often in older turtles, the colour disappears, so I was lucky in sighting several males with the coloured “ears”!

In this one, you can see the webbed feet of the turtle…and there’s another one in the water, probably did a “slider” into the water as I came by, and waiting for me to go!

It was lovely to see these creatures “in the wild”….