Winter activity

This morning there was ice in my car's window and the thermometer showed a temperature of +2ºC. The pond didn't freeze, but it will as soon as the temperature drops a little bit more. A few hours later, in the midday, I saw the female watching me with the head out of the water, hidden in the vegetation. I touched the water to feel how cold it was, and I thought that it is really surprising that a turtle is active at such low temperatures.
Now it is the male whom I haven't seen for some time. Since the 8th of December, when he was on a log in a day without sun (although it seems sunny in the picture). In the winter I usually see the turtles underwater with the head out, but they rarely get out completely from the water. That day he did and he earned a picture.

Ectoderms are amazing. Last year a Mediterranean locust (Anacridium aegyptium) decided to spend the winter behind a net left near a window. I put a piece of insulating material to protect her a little bit more (also from my mother in law) and she used it for shelter. As turtles, she wasn't completely inactive all the winter. When she felt there was some sun, she took the opportunity to warm up. But she always stayed in that place. When the sun disappeared, she hid again. Until a day in late February when she flew away. I hope she had luck.