We got there in the late morning in between periods of rain and hit the trail. It was pretty wet and we were hoping for salamanders. Andrea struck first with a small Spotted Salamander, a welcome sight at any time of the year. A miracle in August.
She struck next, as well, with a pretty Leadback phased cinerus.
This place was originally chosen because of an "overcast" forecast and its a snake haven. Snakes love the warm overcast days. But not so much the rain and it was raining. Still, Andrea was able to stir up this stub-tailed Garter in the leaves.
He was waving his stub-tail away from his head; a tactic that had obviously worked before. We'd never seen a Garter using this defense.
I got devoured by mosquitoes trying to get a shot of this little American Toad.
Worth it.
The grass along the edge of the trail is usually good for frogs who like to hide in it. I was expecting Pickerels to hop out and was quite startled when this large Green Frog plopped into the path.
The rain got a little heavier and we took cover under some trees. The pond was quite beautiful.
See that rock way out there right in the middle of the picture? Here's whats on it...
A gaggle of young cormorants.
We put on our rain ponchos and continued, knowing that we probably wouldn't last too much longer. Andrea finally scored us our Pickerel.
It started to positively piss down but we really wanted to go up to the powerline cut and see if anyone had taken refuge under some boards up there. I did see one brave Painted Turtle thinking about basking but between me standing nearby with a camera and the rain, he went back in.
We got to the cut and decided to wait for a moment. It was quite the downpour.
But we were already wet... our only concern was the camera. So, we bundled it up and went for it. The boards had no surprises for us.
But at least we tried.
On the way back to the car, this gorgeous American Toad was enjoying the warm rain.
A nice way to end the hike.
The next day, we'd had plans to go out again in the "overcast" weather but it was raining heavily again. We sat tight and did some shit around the house before looking out and noticing the rain had stopped. We decided to visit a local place and see if any snakes were up.
We got there in the early afternoon and quickly saw this very knocked-up Water Snake enjoying the warm, wet day.
Not too far from her, another Nerodia snakelet-oven was baking up some goodies.
Soon, we'll be seeing mini zipper-lipped cuties!
Speaking of cuties...
We headed back to the car as it started raining again and I really wanted at least one dry pair of shoes for the work week. But I saw some tarp covering stuff down by a building on the way out. Who can resist tarp? I started peeking through it and found a shed snake skin. After a bit, I found some more skin... with a Garter still in it.
And that's how our weekend was. Wet.
you guys make me so happy
ReplyDelete