Painted Turtles Who Should Be Sleeping

From USFWS Leopold Wetland Management District:

They should be sleeping! Landscape volunteers were edging a border today when they discovered movement in the soil. Seven young painted turtles with shells only an inch long were moving groggily. Nearby, turtles hatched in August and traveled immediately to a pond, so biologists suggested relocating these late turtles to pond mud so they can, we hope, hibernate before the ground freezes. 

Painted Turtle photo by Julia Lambert/USFWS