Sunning

Turtles bask because they have to. They cannot make their own heat, so they climb onto a rock, spread their legs, and let the sun do the work. This one had found a flat stone with the whole pond to itself.

The yellow stripes on the head and legs are the giveaway: a slider, one of the most widely kept and widely released turtles in the world, which is why you find them in ponds on every continent but Antarctica. This one looked entirely settled.

The water was a flat green with floating leaves, and I liked how the turtle's shell picked up the same colour. It is almost part of the pond.