El final de las vacaciones. 7-7-2014

Saturday. Decent weather. Heatwave broken. Sunny, low-to-mid 80s. It would be the last hike of our vacation, so we hoped it would be good. We chose a Bristol County spot just because it has good habitat for many species. We got there late and made it even later when we saw these...

Yes, sidelined by berries again. We grabbed a bucket and picked a quart or two. THEN, we got off our butts and looked for animals.

First up, a welcome sight after the heatwave, a Redback.

That's one hell of a tail on him. It looks partially regenerated, too.

Andrea was having Wood Frog problems due to the bathrooms being locked. While I waited for her in the Garden, I accidentally flipped a Milk.

That's a beauty.


Down on the river, the plethora of Painters was represented by a single picta, of which I got a picture.

Oops... make that two.


Despite the heatwave being broken, it was still pretty hot and humid... mid-80s. We didn't see much until we got to a cool, shaded, woody place and saw another Redback.


Then, we got to a Garter sweet spot. I saw one go into the shade under a tree, so I followed in to try to get a shot.

While I was shooting that, Andrea, from the other side of the tree, said there was one... no, two on the other side. I snuck through and got this shot.

Meanwhile, the third (and biggest) Garter slid right over my foot. I picked her up and fell deeply in love. Despite a musking, she was calm and heavy (probably with-snakelet) and gorgeous.

Totally relaxed for Andrea, too.

If I was one of those dastardly collectors, she'd have come home with me. But those people are scuzzoids, so we put her down and moved on.

This is a plump American Toad. Notice how his face is too small for his body.


Out by the waterfall, distant Painters were enjoying the late morning sun.




Below the falls, a Great Blue Heron and some possible Mallard/ Black Duck hybrids were cooling off.

(I really wanted to call these Black Ducks because I need them on the year, but they're not fully Black Ducky.)

We didn't see anything else for quite a while, though we enjoyed the walk through the woods. We got back up near the beginning and on the river, saw a small Painter basking.


Further along, Andrea spied a lovely Pickerel Frog.


Heading back by the basking Painter spot (he was still there) we noticed a Musk Turtle had climbed up as well.

I'm pretty sure that's a bullet hole in the back quarter of his carapace. We've seen (and inspected up close) a Snapper with a bullet hole at this place before. This illustrates two things: that turtles are magnificent and resilient creatures and that humans are scum.

Andrea's Anuran Eyes were Amazingly Accurate Again. She saw this Wood Frog on the path and practically had to touch it before I could see it.


Before we departed, we hit the berry bushes again to fill our bucket a little more. While doing so, Andrea noticed a noggin poking out from some rails.


Despite being full of berries, we headed over to the Mandarin Buffet and had a massive lunch. We decided to hit a good Water Snake spot that was only a few miles away after eating. We got there and saw some small Painters in the shallow, tangled edge of the water.


We searched for a while but never saw any Water Snakes, stalling us at 8 species for the day. I tried like hell to noodle for baby Snappers but came up empty.


So, that was the end of our 2018 summer vacation. We got some rest, some hikes, some animals and, best of all... lots of time together. Getting back to work was rough but we took with us some good vibes from this past week. Of course, it was all destroyed by 9 AM Monday morning when the stress level once again shot into the stratosphere. But that's another story.