Signs of Spring ...

Hamster's back.

See!

Wondering what goes on there when we're not looking, I set the trail cam up overlooking the back pond (it's mostly wind blown plants, that's what).

I've set the focus on the turtle in this edit. Upper right. While it has been warm of late, in the 70's °F this past week, I was surprised to see Hamster up and about. Although to be honest, I don't know all that much about the normal emergence time of Eastern Painted Turtles. If only there was some way to look it up. Oh well.

After downloading and reviewing the images this morning, I took the memory card back out and re-installed it in the camera. (It was breezy today, so you know what I've got to look forward to.) And there was our hero, sunning on a bit of inflated pond liner.

Cool.

🐢  🐢  🐢  🐢  🐢

This page, from NJ Department of Fish and Wildlife, states Eastern Painted Turtles are active from April through September, in which case this one is a couple of weeks early.  This one, from the Virginia Herpetological Society, says that a bit further south they're active from March through October, beginning with warm days in March. So I guess the mild winter did play a part.