It was after noon by the time we got there but things started right off. I was admiring the Fairy House that survived the winter (it still had a painted rock that I'd added last year... my daughter is a rock-artist) when Andrea saw a Garter sunning on the other side of the path.
Off to a good start.
While crossing a boardwalk, a man and his kid were coming back the other way. The kid excitedly told us there were snakes in there. I said, "Great! That's what we're here to take pictures of!" The dad explained... a small brown snake had crossed the path. Sounded like a DeKay's from his description. We headed up the path and sure enough, not too far in, a gorgeous DeKay's Snake darted across the path and into the leaves. I had to grab a handful of leaves and settle him down. Our First-of-Year DeKay is quite a looker!
We'd never seen this species on this leg of the hike so its nice to know that a few are in the area.
We got up to the place formerly known as Racer Alley (still haven't seen one since the path-widening/ train hill clearing) and checked the area closely. A sound attracted my attention. A Garter was poking around through the brush, trying to find lunch and avoid my camera. I proved to be too wily for him.
Next up was this interesting Redback, kind of a golden-Lead.
This Garter was hard to miss, though I did until Andrea pointed him out. Right across the path.
We didn't see anything for a spell after that. I had to take frequent breaks while Andrea scoured the area. Eventually, we got to a log where we flipped two of the fattest Redbacks I've ever seen. I picked one up and she almost popped her eggs into my face.
Lead-Orcas.
Andrea got this nice shot of mold. This is what it felt like in my stomach, complete with pillbug.
Heading back, a small shoestring of a Garter shot across the path and into the leaves. I made two failed attempts to corral it for a shot but it threw me a bone and stopped to strike a lovely snake-pose.
Me, trying to get that photo. If you look close enough, you can see the little squiggle in the shot.
That was our day. I didn't have much in me but I'm glad we got out. I started feeling better after a few days. Guess who is in bed with it now (5 days later)?
But for a brief moment during the week, we both were relatively healthy. In fact, Tuesday we were fine and the weather was, too. We made quick plans to meet after work and head over to our local cemetery to see if the snappers were up yet. (This is the place with the overly-comfortable and always hungry Snappers). It had cooled off significantly by the time we got there and the gates would close in a half hour so we didn't have much time to waste. We spotted a Painter noggin in the water right away.
Over by a rock in the corner of the pond, we saw a big Snapper shell above the water... bingo! I went over to snap pictures.
I lay on the rock, camera focused, waiting for her head to pop up. I kept commenting on how huge she was. Finally, a head emerged.
Andrea and I switched spots and I stood on land behind the rock as she went to watch the turtle. "You know, I think your 'she' is a 'he'... there's another shell below this one. Sure enough, this massive brute was a male trying to get in some Springtime lovin'. This blurry shot reveals two tails. They're not too close together, either... he wasn't as successful as he was hoping to be.
As I stood back on land, Andrea exclaimed that he'd just pulled his head in and jetted away. All of a sudden, the bottom turtle, a female half the other one's size came running up on to the shore and running right towards me!
One look at the big mammal with a camera in front of her made her turn back and she slid back into the pond. Damn, stupid males everywhere!
We think the male was thrown off by the female who really wanted a breath of air. We're not positive, but she sure made a break for it when she got the chance.
At any rate, that was two days in our life.
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