Yay for us, we got up nice and early and made it to the State Forest by 9:30. Take that, Cape Traffic! We went in to our first spot and Andrea even decided to hike down the gas-line trail for the first time this year. We were rewarded with a couple of very small Fowler's Toads.
We made it to the "Pool Runs Red" vernal and from the top of the trail, saw that it was very full and that a Painted Turtle was up enjoying a bask.
Frogs "yeeped" and skimmed into the water at our approach. I swear, some of them got multiple skips, like a kid with a flat stone on a lake. I finally got the camera on a Green Frog on land, hiding in the shadows of the plants.
From there, we went over to the bogs. We heard lots of Green Frogs but only got the camera on some Bulls.
These purple petaled, vomiting yellow stamen flowers were all around the bog. I failed to ID them.
We went to sit next to the pond to watch fish and listen to birds, which we do every time. (This whole trip is always on repeat.) This tiny Toad was with us.
From there, we went to our best Hognose trail. Would we see one? No, but we did get our First of Year Redbelly under some bark.
Obligatory belly shot.
Coming down the hill from that encounter, a family of Black Ducks swam away in the pond.
We gave it our best effort but saw no more snakes. Here's another Fowler's and a basking Painter from that trail, though.
Our last stop, as always, is the Visitor's Center. Water refills and turtles are usually what we seek there. No Red-bells (or Racers, for that matter) but there were a couple of Painted Turtles up, for a while anyway. It was very crowded with humans there.
That's it. That's what we managed. But Andrea did 6 1/2 miles, with plenty of rests in between, so I'd say we're sort of back into our fighting form. Or not. It doesn't matter. Seeing anything is a gift.
No comments:
Post a Comment