Basking on a Rock

The slider turtles were unusually skittish as I walked along beside the river. They slid into the water faster than I could aim and focus the camera:

Then I happened upon this Guadalupe Spiny Softshell (Apalone spinifera guadalupensis). Judging from its size, it looks like this one is old enough to have seen just about everything that could happen around its aquatic habitat. It continued basking on its rock while I captured its image from the opposite bank:

This set of photographs was taken along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River near the Roosevelt Park Trailhead on Thursday, October 31, 2013.