It was loaded with Great Egrets. I counted about 8 or 9. I took a few pictures because that wasn't a common sight for me. After looking at the pictures, I noticed yellow feet and beaks... a couple of them were Snowy Egrets (#60). Nice surprise!
We walked along the beach after further inspection of the Green spots and since the sun was trying to come out, a Garter decided to join us. This is one of those beautiful bright, white striped specimens.
On the beach, I flipped an ornery in-the-blue Garter who bit and musked but finally slowed down long enough for a couple of photos. Sorry 'bout that!
That was it but we're pleased. We got home and I finally got a Northern Cardinal (#61) photographed, a bird I'd heard and seen countless times this year but never got my camera on. This pair was enjoying our dumpster.
The next day was a bona fide beautiful day. I'm so happy Andrea has this sunny Tuesday off. Not much gas in the car's tank and no money in my pocket to get more so we took a drive to our favorite pond in Norfolk County to have a nice walk in nearby, familiar surroundings. We got there fairly early (for us) and hit the trails.
We peeked into a known vernal and were very happy to see it still had plenty of water in it. A gorgeous Green Frog jumped in at my approach but stayed buoyant so I could get a shot.
There were tons of Wood Frog tadpoles (maybe some other stuff, too) swimming and nipping at the surface.
On the dam, we saw our first of many Spotted Turtles.
Peeking into a bush on the dam, I saw a massive lump... there was a good sized Water Snake gal with a lump in her belly the size of my bicep. Bullfrog? Sunfish? Turtle? Huge meal at any rate.
Let's hear it for the Painters! Let's give the Painters a hand!
We had a nice mix of Spotteds and Painters. We saw far more than we were able to get shots of.
Andrea spied this wee Painted one... not more than a couple of inches long. Last Year's Model?
The little fella had better be wary because this Water Snake slid into the drink not to far away from him!
A Painter lazing on a sunny afternoon.
Two last Spotted Turtles from the dam.
We walked on, deliriously happy with all of the turtle sightings, the blue sky, and green as far as the eye could see. We didn't add many critters for a while but the air was fresh, the sun was warm and, being a Tuesday, the place wasn't filled with humans. Eventually, we got to a wooded area and added a perfect Redback Salamander to the day.
We were on a path that has never shown us a turtle before but since the pond and bogs were pretty full, we were seeing water where we usually did not. That gave us another Spotted Turtle who was being severely bugged by 'Skeeters. Poor guy... he was covered. I'll bet he didn't stay up long.
We got to Ringneck Hill and rested before starting to flip. Since it had rained a lot on the previous two days, I hoped to see some salamanders. Well, I sure did. We flipped our First of Year Marbled Salamander, a threatened species in this state.
The only other salamander I saw was a Redback who handed me my ass. No snakes. So we moved on.
At the dock, we looked for "Five O'clock Charlene" and I'll be damned... she was there. And she was being harassed by a horny male. While in the blue. There oughtta be a law.
I shot a porno.
We looked around and rested for a while. I walked down some stone steps closer to the pond and looked back at the Nerodia pair and they started across the steps right in front of me. Andrea filmed it.
I felt very lucky to have been right there, able to watch these two.
We sat at some picnic tables before taking the last mile and a half to the car. While there, we saw a Pale Green Assassin Bug...
and a Pieris rapae, a Cabbage White caterpillar. (I think)
We were very happy with out 5ish miles at our favorite area pond. Best. Tuesday. EVER.
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