We arrived just after 9 AM and got off to a nice start... we flipped a young Water Snake right away!
Leo, a biologist with a lot of herp experience, knew our native species, though he hadn't experienced them live yet. This was as exciting for us as it was for him!
The place was very grown in and the water's edge was tough to see. Seeing turtles beyond the reeds? Forget it! We were going to have to work hard to see anything! I stumbled upon this Leopard Frog but it hopped off before anyone else could get a shot. Crap!
Leo really wanted to see a wild Thamnophis so I really hoped we'd see a Garter. Almost immediately onto a trail that I said was "good for Garters", we saw a snoozing specimen!
Then, not much further along, another!
This guy was quick to relax and we got to have a nice photo session and Leo got to inspect it up close.
Garters #3 and 4 were also snoozing just off the path.
Garter #5 (yes, it was getting quite fun by now!) was a biggie and we decided to catch her to measure her. She came in at 30", just two inches shy of our year's best (32"- found on this path earlier this year!).
It should be noted that some more Garters were up and about, but slithered away without photographic evidence!
Leo got #6 for us...
#7 was another sleepy-head, deep in the blue.
#8 was massive, but crawled away before we could catch her for measurement.
#9 was an extraordinary specimen... its dorsal stripe was grey, like a line of grey latex house paint. The photos don't quite capture this but in the flesh, this was a very special Thamnophis!
Compare the stripe to the white specs in between the checkerboard spots. Unbelievably beautiful.
Garter #10 was snoozing atop a pile of leaves with a kind of "whatchoo lookin' at" look on his face.
Did we see anything but Garters? Sure! Here's a Bullfrog!
Finally, a happy, smiling Painted Turtle!
Again, the photos don't do it justice, but #12 was as orange as #9 was grey!
Man, I love Garters and their variations!
We finally got to a spot where we could see some of the pond... and were rewarded with 13 Painted Turtles!
On the way back, #8 had returned to her spot:
This was a big snake and I wanted to measure her. I caught her, and she caught me pretty good on the wrist (I still have snake blossoms four days later!) but we got her measured... 33"! Our biggest of the year so far!! We both celebrated together!
She might not have been too happy with me at first but she crawled away a champion!
Where were we? Oh yes, Garter #12!
Right around here, we started obsessing on finding more Leopard Frogs. We found a few, but couldn't catch them for Leo to look at up close.
This Pickerel Frog was more accommodating.
This Painted gave us the side-eye, indicating it was time to head back.
Hey, it's Tiny Toad time! (Probably an American)
A couple of Pearl Crescents were gettin' it on right in front of us!
We were at the dock area looking for turtles and Leo spotted a few. This Painted did some nice hoisting for us to watch... here is his hoist from two angles!
On the other side, another Painted was foraging.
Almost to the end, we finally saw a large Water Snake but it was too speedy for me to grab. I managed a shot of its noggin, though.
So, that was an exciting day, even if the Leopard morphs haven't come up yet!! We ended it with a good pizza and some more animal talk! I'm glad that Leo got to share it with us. We look forward to our next trip with him and our first with Amazona! There is so much to learn from other herpers and animal lovers! And well over a dozen Garters seen? Hell yeah!
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