The afternoon shine off this wet carapace alerted us to this Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) at Great Swamp NWR.
The swamp is waking after its winter slumbers.
Not even any Skunk Cabbage in evidence, but was it ever mild, nearly 60. 
That sun must feel good to a turtle. And the frogs, too, were starting to celebrate. A couple of Spring Peepers sang out. Talk of the heralds of the spring!
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This work by Matthew Wills is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Backyard and Beyond 
My Ozark forest and lake were waking early this year too.