Celebrating the Country's Birthday. With Toads. 7-4-2018

Oh yeah, high 90s. What to do during a heatwave? Well, we chose a place with lots of water. Surely there would be turtles and frogs around, soaking in the cool, cool water of the pond. We got to our chosen place, a spot deep into Norfolk County, at about 9 AM and it was already about 90°. Would anything actually be up and about?

Oddly enough, a mid-sized Garter was our first encounter, laying low in some bushes at the beginning of our hike.

As you can see, he's in the blue. He couldn't see the thermometer to tell him it was hot.

We flipped a big stone and a chubby American Toad was burrowed in to beat the heat.

Not a bad idea.

The baby Barn Swallows that we saw last month are on the verge of getting too big for their nest. I'm sure the parents are hoping they'll fledge before too long. Until they do, they'll be well taken care of.


The colors are almost there.

Another fine American to celebrate the 4th of July with.


This Green Frog was huge. I'm glad he stayed put long enough for a decent photo.


We didn't expect any action on sirtalis Hill but this small checkerboard fella was flitting about.

We put him down and he "hid" in the leaves.


We took the second half of the trail, in the opposite direction to try something new. We still didn't see much along that certain stretch. Then, we got distracted.


This is one of the biggest Bullfrogs I have ever seen. Massive, he is. Quite the patterning, too.


This large Garter was over near that Bully, but she'd have had no chance with it.


On the first pass through this spot, we saw no turtles. We figured it was just too hot. (And the water is plenty warm, I'm sure.) A few Painters were up by now, though, destroying any theories that we were forming.




From atop a small bridge, we looked down and saw the most amazing Northern Water Snake ever... check out how red this one is!

It was an adult, too. Roughly two feet. Damn... that's almost Milk colors.

Definitely a highlight of the week. Just watching him forage under rocks was a treat.

We didn't see a ton, but tiny toads were around. I salute this tiny American.


And I pledge allegiance to this bigger American, too. Happy 4th!


I flipped this musky, blue-eyed Garter. She wasn't too pleased with being disturbed. Sorry 'bout that.


Our 8th and last herp of the day was a Pickerel Frog who patiently posed while I steadied up for a photo.


For some reason, I'll never forget these flowers.


You know, as long as you take breaks and cool off when you can (I did spend some time noodling for Nerodia), 95° days aren't so bad to be out and about. We were thrilled to have this place pretty much to ourselves. It's usually infested with humans and human kids but it was pretty quiet this day. And, as you see, we did all right for ourselves.