A Cardinal & a Red-eared Slider & Undercover & Hunters & Happy Crane Flies (Pic heavy)
Cardinal
Red-eared Slider
He lives here. (under the bridge)
Undercover
Hunters Gather (Turkey Buzzards)
Happy Crane Flies (These are not mosquitoes. They do not eat mosquitoes and they do not bite humans. They mate, they die and inbetween they drink nectar - and they swarm all over the yard in the hundreds)
I apologize for being pic heavy.
= new reply since forum marked as read
The cardinal was nice enough to sit still for a minute or two. He was awfully red. Maybe he is flying about the country. Sorta like the traveling gnome.
I did not know what the actual name of the Crane fly was until we got invaded by them last week. I've heard them called Mosquito Hawks. The whole neighborhood got a lesson. Flyers were sent out about their various habits, why they were all over our yards and when we could expect them to reduce in number. The grass looked like it was covered with faeries when the sun hit the yard (and their wings) just right. I like bugs but these have sorely tested that like.
Oh, wow. Thousands of turkey buzzards! I would have hesitated entering their midst. I've seen one feed up close. Disturbing.
There is a bald eagle that lives around the lake. I haven't seen him yet.
The water was filled with turtles. You could see their heads all over the place. That one was floating about just under me while I was standing on the bridge. He eventually swam away. 
Sigh. I miss Germany. I'm trying to learn about my new home. I always do try and learn about the area where we live. There's a town close-by that started out as a socialist colony. There are still some buildings left from the original colony left standing. I'm going to go there and take photos and maybe talk with this one man who came to the colony as a child during the colony's last years.
Thanks, again!!
the whole field was full and they hung like stuffed trashbags all over the trees.
pic heavy? that is why I come here 
love the photos!! the cardinal is wonderful...
