Nice weather again?? Be still my pitter-pattering heart! Where to go? Where to go? I let Andrea decide and she chose a place that we've all but sworn off by now, deep into Norfolk County. But, we figured, it might be early enough in the year that not too many humans would be there. A full parking lot and signs for "Dog Walking Day" proved us very very very wrong. We went in anyway.
Most of the human/ dog combos were confined to a field, though a walk would commence shortly. We knew that before too long, we'd be further out than they would be, so we hurriedly hurried. We stopped in a cabin for some Barn Swallows (#62), though.
It was moist under most of the logs so seeing a Redback wasn't unexpected.
I often think of turtles as being kinda dumb but this Painter was well away from the endless human murmuring, so I guess I should tip my cap to him.
Having failed miserably on Fowler's Toads the day before, we were overjoyed to see a young American Toad here (well off the beaten path).
Redback. Very red.
Of course, we were hoping to improve on our snake sightings for 2021, but today just wasn't shaping up and with the foot traffic, we had our doubts. These Carrion Beetles (Necrophila americana) were having more luck. It looks like maybe it was a Garter Snake? Something with highly keeled scales.
Finally, when everybody in the world and their dogs were splish-splashing in a waterfall pool, we went behind the bridge to a quiet(er) spot and saw two Garters not being eaten by beetles. Andrea spied that second, incredibly beautiful one, who was not happy with the attention.
The dog parade was in full force, so we skedaddled deeper into the park. This Eastern Towhee pretty much spoke our minds.
For quite a while, we saw nothing. A few glimpses of turtles through the trees, but it was finally quiet and we enjoyed the sounds of nature rather than entitled human scum. Turtles were still far away.
We were just a little over half way, essentially on our way back. We hadn't seen anything for a while and were figuring that we were going to end up with having made a bad choice. Who knew it would be so people-y? But a successful log flip got us a Ringneck and that cheered us up. It was interested in Andrea's phone bag.
Not far from there, we saw a couple of Water Snakes makin' babies.
That small male certainly had his Wheaties that morning!
Then, things got even more interesting. I could see a distant log with turtles up, but damn, one looked massive!
I'll be durned... that's a Northern Redbelly... our first at this spot... our first in this county!! Not sure if it's a county record, but that is one impressive gal!
Right there where I was photographing that treasure, a gorgeous Water Snake gal was stretching out.
The dog event was over, the traffic on the path wasn't so heavy anymore, and the day had turned from meh to good! These Painters were in full agreement.
Andrea spotted this Green Frog resting in a patch of moss, making for a lovely photo.
This Garter was resting in a bush by a rock, unseen by the humans that remained. I took about 10 photos until I nailed a decent one.
We wanted to hit one more spot before leaving, an old pool area that has been good for frogs, including Pickerels, a species that had thus far eluded us in 2021. The problem is, humans tend to be around it. Much to our delight, a woman was sitting there and we started talking about reptiles and amphibians! She is a herpetoculturist and fan of animals, so we were in good company. She was there with her daughter and a friend who I was to yell for if we found any frogs. We did, and I did. Our First of Year Pickerel was a large guy sitting just under the water.
A small Pickerel was also hiding out...
We all enjoyed seeing the frogs. I managed to clumsily catch the large Pickerel for up close examination, but he made a pretty easy escape before too long.
We also saw this guy a little further out. I do not think there's a dorsolateral ridge going down the back, just patterning, so I'm calling Bullfrog, which would be our tenth species on the day. But my eyesight isn't so hot anymore and it might well be a Green. You be the judge.
That was a nice break for us... nice people and FOY Pickerels and (probably) a tenth species. Time to leave. Or...
We remembered an old grill that is out in a field that nobody goes near. We'd seen some Garters in it on a previous visit. We decided to visit and we're glad we did. Two Garters were visible.
Here's a look at the guy whose tail you can see in the first shot.
There was a third Garter, visible through the back of the grill in the crack of Garter #2, just a tiny shoestring. For being less than a year old, he sure knew how to evade my camera. I tried and tried and couldn't get a decent shot but the one I did get is kind of hilarious, so it's worth showing.
And that's that. We defied the odds and wound up with a good day. New Redbelly county, FOY Pickerels, meeting a human or two that didn't suck and our first ten species day on the year. On a day that the park was over-run with humans and dogs.
Oh, and there wasn't a ton of discarded shit-bags. I only tossed two out on to the path from their "hiding places".
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