Getting there early wasn't really the remedy. We hoofed it down and up the gas line and had two disgruntled Fowler's Toads to show for it.
Down at the Bog, things were more interesting. Green Frogs were calling like crazy. There were many beautiful specimens and I got what I think is my first ever shot of Greens in amplexus.
Some more suitors...
↓Just missed a full throat sack.
We sat down for a bit. Andrea was having a very tough time with her allergies. Something was really affecting her. We sat down next to a pond and scared in a bunch of Painted Turtles by doing so. Eventually, as we sat, they came back up.
Upon getting back up, I got a Green with his sack out! Yowza!
This is the only Bull we saw in the bog, but it was a giant!
We skipped our usual next stop. Personally, I didn't feel like dragging myself for another 2 miles of seeing nothing. We went to a spot to sit down again. (At my age, these rest stops are becoming more frequent.) We got to watch some massive Redbellies sun themselves while we contemplated quitting going on hikes.
We walked a little bit around that area, taking in the non-snake beauty. Pink Ladyslippers are out in force in some places.
I think this is a Blue Corporal. There were a lot of them.
While I was cranky, Andrea calmly suggested we explore a new trail. There are plenty of them here and we've been sticking to the same ones for years. We've done so because they'd been fruitful. In the past. But not for some time now. So we got in the car and I asked left or right. We went right.
I pulled into a parking area that might not have been legal. We decided to make it a quick hike just in case. Her allergies were a bit better after that rest. Right away, we saw another Fowler's.
Then, maybe about 100 yards from where we parked, some strange colubrid was on the edge of the path...
You know, it had been so long that I'd almost forgotten what they look like! I almost thought it was a Gopher Snake! But no, not an out of range Gopher, but a pretty adult Hog. Finally.
It stayed pretty chill while we photographed it. I've seen them play dead; I never have to again. I imagine that it expends a lot of energy to do so. I'd rather just watch them.
Of course, Andrea couldn't resist booping it before we left and that made it hood a bit, but we and the snake parted ways, both none the worse for wear.
We tried a couple other paths and decided that we'd had enough. Target hit, we headed home. I did see a smallish Racer crossing the road on the way out. I slammed on the brakes, pulled over and went running towards it, but my camera was off. I was 10 feet from it as it was leaving the road and figured I had a shot at catching it. As soon as it hit the grass, it just disappeared, as if it went into a black hole. Oh well...
So, tenacity paid off. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The new path made us just a little less insane.
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