Makin' Time. June 15 and 16, 2018

With a busy weekend planned, we had to find time to squish in a few quick hikes. On Friday evening, it was still pleasant at 7 PM so we went over to a nearby spot in Norfolk County; our usual after work place. It was still in the 70s and the shadows were getting long. Andrea wasted no time and found a (full) decent sized lady Garter laying in the leaves.

Gorgeous.. orange blush on her cheeks and enough musk to sink a ship. Andrea wiped her hands on my shirt.

The man-children like to build bike ramps and tool around on the dirt paths, screaming "Weee! Wook at meee! I'm a big boy!" The local American Toads have learned how to utilize this cover without getting squished. The top one seems to be waiting for his chance for revenge.



We hiked the length of (formerly known as) Racer Alley, enjoying the evening breeze. Andrea flipped a thin piece of tar paper and this little Garter was snoozing under it, along with a pretty spider.

The Garter never even knew we were there.

The following morning, we tried to get out of the house early. We were going to a friend's party in the early afternoon and figured we'd hit some local spots before heading over. Our destination was a Norfolk County place by the bay where we've seen Garters, Greens and DeKay's. We saw a beautiful Garter right away, though getting a photo wasn't too easy.


Likewise with the next few...


Andrea was able to flip a couple of small Garters for up-close viewing.


No Greens or Dekes but these few sirtalis specimens made us happy.

On the way back through town, we decided to stop by the pond in our local cemetery to see if any turtles were up. The sun was shining bright and the temps were into the 80s. Right away, we saw three Painted Turtles.

Here's a closer look at that fella on the left, doing his Rick Wakeman impression.


Some goslings were swimming about being cute.


A couple of distant Painters.


Sadly, this pond is the dumping ground for unwanted pet turtles so there are a few Red-eared Sliders living here. I love them... they are resilient and they give a hearty "fuck you" to the haters. Long live Red-ears. This guy is showing humans where to kiss him.


A swimming Painter...


There were loads of large Bullfrog tadpoles skimming about through the water. I finally got a shot of one... he's just about ready to come ashore!


The adult Bullfrogs in this pond are massive. This guy was enormous.


We were watching the frogs when this pretty Red-ear drifted out towards the deep end.

Don't let those vivid markings fool you... this guy was big, probably 9 or 10 inches long.

This one, further out, was small. That just means it was released more recently.

I wish him well.

We were over on the "opposite" side of the pond and were surprised to see one of our old friends coming up to see if we had a snack.

We didn't recognize this one; it's smaller than the usual beggars and it didn't get too close. Still, it's wonderful to see Snappers up close.


Over in one corner, there were plenty of humongous Bullfrogs, including some remarkably pretty ones.



Another angle of the silly basking Red-ear.


I saw a Painter on a distant log walking along it at a pretty good clip. I like the shot I got... high-steppin' turtle.


This Bull was the size of a small dog.

This one might have been even bigger...


Our last animal of the trip was this happy Painter, just hanging out in the sun.


We were quite happy with our findings and then went to watch a trash triple feature of films with our friends, making this a very good day.