Typical Friday... it was nice out, I was off but Andrea had to work. I did my usual errands in the morning and told her... "we are going to visit the local dens for lunch". And we did.
It was sunny and mild. Knowing we only had about a half hour of hiking that we could do, we headed straight to Robles' Den first thing. Nuthin'. But the Valley was happening! A few Garters were strewn about...
There was a Water Snake out, too. Could this be the same one we'd seen two weeks ago? It was in the same place and both have a bum eye. I say yes... it is the same one, likely getting lots of Vitamin D for that eye.
A few more Garters of the Valley.
I was eyeballing Sly's vernal from the ridge and I scared a few frogs into the drink. One brave (or super comfy, anyway) Bully stayed put and we got our First of Year Bullfrog!
A shy Redback made the fourth species within a couple of minutes!
A pair of basking Garters. Was love on their minds?
Double your pleasure with two Redbacks!
We watched a tenacious Garter work his way up a hill, leaving the Valley. We followed him up and saw where he was heading... Garter Orgy Time!
This little guy was all confused, laying right in front of the crowd.
We eavesdropped on them for a bit, then hit the path in hopes of seeing some more at other spots. I walked right past this gal who was right off the main path.
The Cottonwood Dens weren't as squirmy as the Valley but a couple of Garters were up. This first guy was laying in the walkway and didn't move, even as we stepped over him!
This youngster made it through the Winter and was enjoying some sun.
Leaving the Cottonwoods, we saw a good sized female Garter just off the "path". She took exception to me moving a stick for a better shot.
Walking back, Andrea spied this big, beefy Nerodia girl! What a beauty!
The orgy had moved on but two Garters were still in the mood...
We were running late but I couldn't resist flipping a few pieces of bark. I got a few Redbacks for my trouble.
So, that was a pretty good lunchbreak.
The next day, Saturday, was pretty crappy. Cooler and rainy. We almost decided to go look for salamanders at night but inevitably got lazy and didn't do it. The next day, Sunday the 10th, was much the same as Saturday, but drier. It was in the low 50s with intermittent sun. We headed over to a spot in Middlesex County in hopes of seeing mating Water Snakes, and maybe a Leopard Frog or a Blanding's.
When we got there, we realized... it was cold! It was breezy and when the wind blew, we froze! But we carried on, enjoying the birds. Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds were calling and that always helps. I didn't get pictures of either, though. Eventually, we saw a distant beaver mound that had plenty of Painted Turtles up trying to get some sun.
This guy marched to the beat of his own drum...
After getting off the main path, it was less breezy but turtles were tougher to photograph. But we did see some. Here are some more Painters.
This guy looks to be quite the old-timer.
We had given up any hopes of seeing snakes but Andrea spied a small, stub-tailed Garter.
Some more secret Painted Turtles.
This guy looks pretty grumpy...
This guy looks pretty happy with himself!
But not for long...
A three Painter balancing act.
The sun was making a valiant effort and this periscoping Garter was taking advantage of it.
Some Garter love here, too! 💗
We had been told that the only way to tell apart American Crows and Fish Crows was from the voice. We heard a plaintive caw. It was pretty amusing. This guy was very vocal but the silly, short caw was new to me. Now, I can tell the difference. This Fish Crow is our 60th bird on the year.
The sun was doing a better job by now, but we were on our way out. My last shot was through the reeds of another cluster of Painted Turtles.
No frogs for us (though we did hear the occasional Leopard trilling) but we're pretty stoked with the two reptile species we did see. Things are waking up and we couldn't be happier.
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