The Garden was also home to this American Toad who popped out before I even peeked under the rock.
We walked down to the river, hoping that some turtles were up and basking. They sure were! Painted Turtles a'plenty.
Even though this place can be sketchy at times, it still holds one of my favorite spots in the world where you can get down to the river and see nothing but nature. It may have some grains of my ashes in the future. A small Pickerel was there and he hopped into the water but didn't hide.
Walking up the secluded path, a shoestring Garter darted out of the way and we corralled it into Andrea's hat for a photo.
Redbacks had been scarce for a while in the Summer (they usually are) but are back now, much to my delight. Here is a Red and a Lead.
This one was humorous... I peeled back some bark on a fallen tree and this Redback slid out and fell, but caught himself on a mushroom.
Under an off trail car hood, we found this snoozing Milk. As tempting as it was, we didn't handle it and it never woke up. Never even knew we were there.
I must say, the day was going quite well. It got even better when I spied a hidden Garter in a bush and actually managed to get the shot.
We got to the waterfall, pretty much our halfway turn-around spot, and saw some distant Painters posting for a Greatest Hits album cover!
Back into the woods, we kept an eye out for Snappers in the swampy water next to the path. We always want to see Snappers. We didn't see any, but there is always art to see in nature, like this dead tree hosting some mushrooms in the Xeromphalina family. (Thanks, Jef!!)
We got to a trickling brook that is pretty fun sometimes and a Pickerel hopped into the drink and hid from my camera.
We'd mentioned Wood Frogs earlier in the hike, wondering when our last one was. It's fitting, then, that we saw this newly metamorphed Woodie next to the stream.
Going back up to the trail, we saw this messy sight. Thanks again to Jef, we now know it is a Puffball in Aspic (Calostoma cinnabarinum), a mushroom that sheds jelly chunks of itself!
We got a chance to sit for a bit, but a family came by and some kids noticed a frog hopping around. It was a good sized Pickerel that I tried to catch to show the kids but it bested me and hopped into the river. He "hid" under a leaf which was fine... everyone got to see it and it stayed safe from grubby hands (including my own).
Walking back toward the front, a large American Toad distracted us. Quite a beauty.
A log flip shortly after that revealed a small, dark American Toad sharing the underside with a Wooly Bully.
Back through the Garden on the way out, a Katydid caught our eyes.
A rock flip and I saw another wee shoestring Garter. They are incredibly fragile so I scooped up a whole handful of leaves with it and we quickly got this shot before sending it home.
One last path before we hit the parking lot, almost done. What are the odds that we'd see two more Wood Frogs on the way out? The second was comparatively large.
We had our 7 species and were feeling like it was a pretty good day but we were a little sad that we'd seen no shoestring Water Snakes or Snaplings. But still, a pretty darn good hike. We got some pizza and then decided to drive a few miles over to Plymouth County and check out the old Mill which is good for Musk and Snapping Turtles as well as Water Snakes.
Well, we struck out on any turtles but while walking along the river, we looked down and saw this massive Nerodia gal catching some warm sunlight. Well over 3 feet easily.
This smaller Water Snake was up basking as well until I tried to get a photo, at which point it slid into the drink but it didn't stray too far.
We were satisfied and tired and decided to head home instead of going anywhere else. I had practice in a couple of hours anyway. On the way to the car, this Pickerel hopped up and bid us a fond farewell.
That was a pretty fine day in the field.
I drank some lemonade at practice.
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