After years of contributions, with a post nearly every Sunday, John Avise has run out of pictures to contribute. He mentions this below, but I’d like to thank him for his herculean efforts to keep his series going. I am hoping that, as time passes, he’ll take more photos and we’ll see him again. Thanks, Dr. Avise!
John’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them. The subject is turtles.
Turtles and Tortoises in SoCal. This week I conclude my photos of reptiles in Southern California by showing turtles and tortoises (order Testudines) that can be found in this region.
This post will also conclude my longstanding series of Sunday posts on PCC(E)’s entertaining and enlightening site. Our collaboration all began about six years ago when I started sending Jerry pictures of a wide variety of duck species that I had photographed over the years. It then proceeded through a long and eclectic series of wildlife topics: birds from various sites around the world (notably including Antarctica); odd or particularly funny wildlife photos; miscellaneous special topics; followed by butterflies in North America; dragonflies and damselflies; whale-watching trips; and, most recently, various reptile species in Southern California. Altogether, PCC(E) has posted a total of about 4,500 of my wildlife photos across nearly 300 successive Sundays. So, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to Jerry for providing such a stable and inspiring platform for showcasing my photographic efforts. And I would also like to give special thanks to many readers for your encouraging comments over the years. Together these joint factors have kept me fully engaged on this most enjoyable enterprise!
Spiny Softshell Turtles, Apalone spinifera [This distinctive species is native to the Eastern United States, but has been introduced into California]:
Spiny Softshell Turtle, closer up:
Spiny Softshell turtle, headshot:
Spiny Softshell Turtle, posterior view:
Spiny Softshell Turtle, frontal view:
Western Pond Turtle, Actinemys marmorata [This is the only species of turtle native to California. This specimen is covered with algae]:
Red-eared Slider, Trachemys scripta elegans [This species is native to the central United States but is widely used in the pet trade and escapees have invaded California]:
Red-eared Slider, group basking:
Red-eared Slider with legs retracted:
Yellow-bellied Slider, Trachemys scripta scripta [This is another subspecies of the pond slider; it is native to the southeastern United States but has been introduced to California and elsewhere]:
Yellow-bellied Slider, frontal view:
Another Yellow-bellied Slider:
Desert Tortoise, Gopherus agassizii:
Desert Tortoise, frontal view:
Thanks so much for your wonderful photos!
John Avise thank you for sharing your love and curiosity
Thanks, John!
Thank you John!!
Well done, Dr. Avise!
Really enjoyed your photographs over all these years. Thank you. 🙂
Thank you, Dr Avise!
Thank you for these turtles and tortoises and thanks also for all your amazing photos!
So long, and thanks for all the photos!
(Apologies to Douglas Adams.)
Thank you for sharing so generously through all these years.
Thank you so much for sharing the wonderful photos over the long period.
I will truly miss your photos. I especially liked seeing the various critters from my home state of California. I don’t see a lot of what you have introduced me to in your photos. Hopefully you will collect more and share.
Thank you John, this Sunday series always hit the spot!
Thank you John.
Thank you for all the wonderful photos. They’ve been amazing every Sunday. And the last series is about one of my favourite animals, tortoises and turtles!
Thank you so much for sharing so generously for so long. I’ve particularly loved your bird photos. If you don’t mind one last question, any idea what’s up with that first Yellow-bellied Slider’s shell? Thanks again.
Wonderful pictures! I’ve never seen a soft-shelled turtle in the wild. Red-eared Sliders? Often. I love to see them, even though they are pushing out the beloved Western Pond Turtle, considered endangered in Washington State.
Thank you for your wonderful photographic contributions. I wish you would say it ain’t so, but it does seem to be so that this is the end of the road. Please contribute when you get a chance. Thank you again.
Many thanks for the excellent photos!
Hi John. I have enjoyed looking at all your wildlife photos over the years. Thanks.
Comment by Greg Mayer
John–
Thanks so much for years of outstanding wildlife photos. When you accumulate a few more, please come back with a “reunion” post!
Greg
GCM
Thank you so much for all the photos over the years–and for showing the readers of this site many animals/birds etc. they might never have seen in reality.
I hope you will keep taking photographs and will return on an occasional basis with more!
Thank you john. I have enjoyed your many photos over the years. Always something new to me: today’s soft-shelled turtles as one example. Hope you will have the urge to continue to send in some occasional photos in the future. Thanks again!
“John Avise’s farewell” was a disturbing title in my email, but I was relieved to hear he is OK.
I haven’t been following WET as long as many others here, but in the time I’ve been around, I’ve been amazed, educated and fascinated by John’s photos. Thank you John.
Perhaps we could start them all again at the first batch for others of us who joined more recently 😄 I am sure others will be delighted to see many of them again.
Always enjoy your pics John. Hope you can still keep clicking!
best regards,
D.A.
NYC
You ended with my favorite brand of reptile. Thanks John, for the many great contributions over the years. Don’t think I’ve missed many…if any. I like the idea floated above of a reunion set here and there. 🙂
If you want to see many more of my bird photos, you can simply Google “Avise’s Birds of the World”. This will take you to a website where you can click to your heart’s content to view about 10,000 of my bird photographs (arranged by taxonomic order and family).
Another website you can visit to see many of my photographs of various other species can be found by googling “Natural History of Orange County”., a site originally developed by my friend and colleague Dr. Peter Bryant.
And, many thanks to all for your kind farewell comments!
John, thank you for the wonderful posts and photos over the years. They have been appreciated!
Thank you, John, for all the wonderful wildlife photos!
If the hankering returns, you can re-run the pictures.
Another heartfelt thank you for bringing us so many wonderful images.
Thank you for all the pleasure you have brought us readers with your photos. Much appreciated!
Adding my congrats, kudos, and thanks to those of many others.
OMG, Sundays will never be the same. As so many others have said so well — thank you very much, John, and we hope to see you and your photos and insights again in some form. Wishing you all the best.
Thank you, Dr. Avise, for sharing your time and your outstanding work as a photographer and a scientist.
I have truly enjoyed the Sunday photo contributions and I will miss them. The breadth of the collection and your skills as a photographer are so impressive. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for all of the photos, John.
I think that at least one Western Pond Turtle inserted itself into your group photo of the sliders.
For years I have marveled at Avise’s quality and quantity.
Many thanks!
Thanks for all the photos, John. They will be missed.