Andrea scored two May snake species while walking to the train during the work week. First, it was a good sized Dekay's Snake.
Then, a couple of days later, she saw a Garter trying to grab some rays atop some human-thrown garbage.
So, yeah... I was jealous and wanted to see some May snakes of my own. We got to our pond before 10 AM and started hiking. Bird calls instantly caressed my heart and soul. We saw a few male Orioles flitting about and singing. (#74 on the year)
A nice Green Frog was our first cold-blooded sight.
Followed by a shy Redback.
We excitedly scoped out a vernal pool that is always active with tadpoles at this time of year. Sure enough, there were many. Some are Wood Frogs, for sure. I don't dare guess what they all might be.
We spent a while looking into the pool. So long, in fact, that a small Green Frog that we'd scared in came up to look at us.
I was a bit nervous as we hit the dam, what with all of the off-leash dogs and their entitled owners treating nature like it was theirs alone, but this Water Snake was sitting next to the path like he owns the place. Maybe he does.
Yay! My first May snake.
The next Water Snake we saw wasn't interested in getting a portrait.
About 50 feet beyond where the dogs and people were settled in and making a racket, Andrea spotted (hah) this Spotted Turtle lazing at the edge of the pond.
Just look at that face!
About 20 feet from that guy, I saw a small Spotted but he saw me first and scooted into the drink. I got no picture. But further along, we saw this guy basking.
Please note that this turtle is about a foot above the water. I'd love to have seen that climb!
Things were up and we were happy. We simultaneously saw two different Green Frogs.
Still at the dam, Andrea got her orbs trained onto a trio of naughty Water Snakes.
I'd been looking at the other side of the path and by the time I got there, there was only two left, though we saw the "losing" male crawling around nearby.
A little further back in the reeds, maybe about 8 feet behind the sexy-time Nerodia, a pair of peeping tom Spotteds were listening in.
That was a successful leg of this journey, for sure. We didn't encounter any more reptiles or amphibians until we got to the Hobo Camp. Up there, a smiling young Garter was keeping watch.
We also flipped a pretty Ringneck.
We hit Ringneck Hill and flipped some stones but since I had to play in a few hours, I didn't want to rip up my already in-bad-shape fingertips, so we didn't go house. We managed few couple of Redbacks up there, though.
We got to the camp/ dock area and there were some kids all aflutter. They had seen a Water Snake. Obviously, I wanted to see it too. Eventually, it came up to 5 O'clock Charlie's area.
Many of the kids wanted to see it and rather than let the snake get poked by sticks and stuff, I picked it up and let all of the kids touch it, or hold the rear end if they wanted to.
I warned them about Nerodia tempers and their nasty musk but we couldn't have asked for a better show-snake; this one was a sweetheart. A kid named Max let it go all by himself.
We had to get going so we moved on. Andrea then noticed something we'd never seen before. There was a Garter eating an adult Spotted Salamander.
I'm not going to put up the gruesome, heartbreaking shots we got. It goes to show you that nature is tough and it can be cruel. That snake wont have to eat again for quite a while.
Now why couldn't I find a Spotted Sal? Oh well, Garter-guy needed it more, I suppose.
I was happy to flip a healthy, living Redback after that.
Next to the road on the way to the car, Andrea noticed this gorgeous cinnamon colored Garter.
Amazing.
The last thing I wanted to see was a Two-lined Salamander in the stream, I flipped a few in the water but they bested me when I tried to shoot them. I got this guy, sort of... but it's fair to say he outsmarted me.
Finally, I got a Two-lined larvae swimming in hand.
So, we had a successful hike, saw 7 species (not counting the Spotted Sal lunch) and I made it to the show on time. Thank you, Mother Nature, for the one lovely day. Could we possibly get some more?
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