Frogs. And lots of 'em. Great meadows 9-3-2012

What better way to spend a Labor Day off than to look for frogs? We took the advice of our friend Steve at http://www.newenglandherps.com/ and headed over to Great Meadows in search of Leopard Frogs, a tough cookie for us to crack this year! We had a "probable" a few weeks ago (here: http://hitmewithyournaturestick.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-things-you-learn-in-borderland-8-25.html) but that might have been a hybrid or even an oddball Pickerel. At any rate, it wasn't the bright green Leopards that we wanted to find! Steve gave us some good tips.

So, with a possible broken toe (it wasn't) all taped up, we headed out and got there at about 9:00 or so. First up was a Bullfrog!


The Lotus flowers are beautiful and they're everywhere here, but they're trying to slow them down... I think they're taking over. Pretty, though...

Note the bee nuzzling inside this one...

It didn't take long... Steve was right... here is a gorgeous Leopard Frog!


And another who we got a close look at!

(I might have still thought possible Pickerel here, except for the white thighs!)

Finding what you seek within 15 minutes is a great feeling! Anything else is gravy! So here's some of the gravy we saw...

A Snapper noggin!


Some Bullfrogs living the lily-pad stereotype!



They were both huge, but this little Green Frog jumped past the first one and frightened him off!


A Lotus Pod with it's seeds...


Ah, now we're getting spoiled!!! Another Leopard!


Another couple of large Bullfrogs!



A Green posed beautifully for us...


Andrea was stuck with a dilemma... there was a Pickerel Frog posing right in front of her and as she readied the shot, a Garter Snake scooted quickly into the brush. Grab snake? Finish shot? The hesitation proved fatal. We got neither!

Luckily, not far away, this Garter was hiding in the shade. I made a valiant lunge, despite some bees that were right there, but missed him and got some road rash on my arm for the effort. Thank goodness Andrea got this keen shot!


Good things come to those who wait... we eventually got a Pickerel shot too!


This is a particularly cute Green Frog in a faux nature shot!


So, where were the turtles? The water level was EXTREMELY low, so we just weren't seeing them! A birder with binoculars was looking out at one of the few watery places along the path and mentioned a spot way out where he could see a shell. 42-Zoom lens to the rescue!

Some Painted Turtle yoga 50 feet out!

Andrea found that, much closer to us but obscured by a tree branch, was a small Painted basking. Sure enough!


So we only stayed for about 3 1/2 hours, but certainly got what we came for! We saw a DOR Garter Snake of pretty good size, which saddened us. Sadder still was the realization that this would probably be our last visit here in 2012. We just discovered it this year and we love it, but with the water lever so low and the seasons about to change, it probably wouldn't be in our best interest to visit again this year.

That's because our best interest is definitely snakes, so we're going to stick to the snakier places throughout the rest of the herping season. Great Meadows- you're great indeed! See you in 2013!