Spiny Soft-shelled Turtle

Large Spiny Soft-shell Turtle on the bank of the water with its head looking upward. Another turtle head is apparent behind it as is a Spotted Sandpiper that has a flying insect in its beak. Some Northern Shovelers are standing in the shallow water just in front of the turtles.
Spiny Soft-shell Turtle, Mitchell Lake Audubon Center, San Antonio, TX May 12, 2023
Canon EOS R5 with Canon 100-500 mm L-series lens with 1.4x Teleconverter; 700 mm; ISO-640; f/10; 1/640 sec. -0.7 exposure bias.

This page is for the Spiny Soft-shelled Turtle (Apalone spinifera). I still remember the first time I saw one as a kid in the late 1970s. I was riding my bicycle over a small bridge and in the little pool of a creek one of these guys was sitting. I had to look in some of my father’s field guides to figure out what it was (pre-Internet by a few decades).