Ohhhhhh, OK. You can call it the Rio Grande if you choose.

In fact, that is usually what I call this heavily silted river which is the border between Texas and several Mexican states. Jake and I were observing the river in the Big Bend region of West Texas. What caught our attention was a sizable, distant, emergent snag on which 2 turtle species, a soft-shell and a slider, were quietly basking in the August sunshine.



Air temperature, already 100 degrees Fahrenheit, would rise another several degrees before the setting of Sol would allow temperatures to first stabilize and then begin a slow--a very, very slow--drop. This was, after all, the Chihuahuan Desert.

There was a wide spot in the river and the snag on which the turtles rested was far enough away to tax the maximums of our cameras and lenses. There seemed no way to get closer. Jake was particularly concerned for both species were "lifers" for him.

Despite the distance, the slider dropped into the river and was immediately lost to sight as we positioned ourselves. That was frustrating. But the soft-shell, the Texas subspecies of the spiny soft-shell, Apalone spinifera emoryi, seemed to make itself more comfortable. It sat quietly, moving only its head and neck, as we snapped photo after photo. Out of the many snapshots several proved usable. It was a well spent half hour.

Now to find the slider again.

More photos below...