Panda goes canoeing

Today was a beautiful day for a paddle up the Chenango from the bridge at the Rogers Center until we reached shallow water, and then back downriver again. All was peaceful on the river.

Wait. Is that an alligator, over by the riverbank?

No, it's Panda! He was up to his old tricks of standing in the canoe panting and whimpering to be allowed to jump into the water, and then, once in the water, paddling determinedly into the deepest water and then panting and whimpering because it scares him to be so far from land. But he does look happy here:

The mighty canine swimmer shows the canoeists the proper path:

We saw kingfishers, herons, and another fishing bird we couldn't identify, but we confess that we were somewhat mystified by the example below of river-zone wildlife. Found on a rocky island in mid-stream, this critter does not show up in any of our natural history guidebooks. Although we observed its behavior for some time in hopes of finding some clues to its identification, it did not seem to be very active. Fortunately, it had no apparent fear of humans, nor of dogs, so I was able to sneak up close enough to take a picture without spooking it back into the wild. Any ideas on identification from knowledgeable natural historians out there would be welcome.