Heading in, I kept my eyes open for things to flip because we'd had a Redbelly Snake here before and we were still on the search for our first of 2026. (So weird, in the middle of New York State, where I grew up, they were everywhere!) The flipping paid off when I got a Spotted Newt, our first ever at this place. Efty Efty Efty!
With gratification not quite as instant as last week with the Green, I found a Redbelly under some bark. We tried to tame it (unsuccessfully) in Andrea's hat.
The obligatory in-hand shot where you can see the belly.
First-of-Year!
These Ebony Jewelwings were plentiful but I wasn't able to get a shot with their brilliant blue abdomens showing... they always covered it with their wings as I clicked. Still, a beautiful damselfly.
We weren't having much luck with turtles even though we were giving the woods and the dry vernal a pretty good sweep. I headed towards the river and scared up a pair of small Green Frogs.
We checked out a number of new (to us) paths and still had no turtles but at 963% humidity, we sure had sweaty clothes. We rested on a stone in the shade. A nice older (my age) couple came and sat with us and we talked for a while. They'd mentioned a part of the place where they always see snakes and told us how to find it. Funny... we've passed it a number of times but never noticed it. After our rest/ talk, Andrea and I headed over to this hidden-in-plain-sight area. We saw no snakes (the sun would be too high and hot by this time) but it looks perfect and I did see what appear to be Racer eggs under a log.
We'll have to hit this spot first on our next visit.
Well, no turtles at the first stop but we had more lined up. The second spot is fairly new to us and we were eager to look around. We had a lot of time to do so but still wound up with no turtles. We did, however, see an American Toad...
... and a Redback that posed for what might be my cutest ever Redback shot.
We had one more stop in mind but we got some pizza and drink first. Then headed to a spot we'd discovered a couple of years ago. We'd not seen Wood Turtles there but it looks perfect. So we headed in, not remembering the trails. Oops.
Yeah, we got pretty lost for a while but saw lots of great habitat and birds. We saw/ heard a Raven, and a Piliated Woodpecker but got no shots of either. Some cool plants too, like this Pipsissewa, not the coolest looking flowering plant ever but it sure has the best name!
While lost, Andrea pointed out a shine ("probably a mylar balloon") that turned out to be a Painted Turtle in the river... our only turtle on the day.
My last photo of the day is a head scratcher. This woodpecker was making a real racket about 50 feet away. Spot on tail... Downy. Chest spurs... Hairy. A little smaller than a Robin... Downy, but a big one. Hell, I could go either way. I posted in a Facebook group and got a split decision. I'm keeping it in Camp Downy. A female, either way.
So that was our Saturday. The good news is, we got home earlier than expected because of our early start. But it was another Wood failure on my part, though the Redbelly makes up for it. Six species (and a missed frog at one point) is pretty good, though, and we must have lost some tonnage with all of the sauna-like hiking we did (over six miles).
On Sunday morning, we were unsure of what we'd be doing. Due to gas prices this year, I'm only allowing us one longer trip per weekend and that was the day before. I wanted to see some turtles and chose a favorite hike in Norfolk County. We'd just been there a few weeks ago but it's such a beautiful place...
It was off and on cloudy when we got there. Our first sighting was a robust Redback.
I'd said on the drive there, "I want to see some Garter Snakes today." I guess I got my wish when we hit the dam... there was one on the other side of a bush but I couldn't get a good shot.
Many Water Lilies were decorating the pond's edge. Two different species here.
Water Snakes started showing up. Some of the big females were warming their internal babies up.
^^ That last shot is two snakes, not one massive one.
What of the turtles I wanted to see? Well, the place had overgrown a lot since our last visit so it wasn't as easy this time. I saw a big Spotted Turtle (the size of you average Painter) that slipped into the drink and didn't see any more until we saw some Painters amongst the lily pads.
A little turtle and a LOT of lily pads!
A small Spotted spotted in a spot about 30 feet away.
Last sight on the dam, another Water Snake. She had plenty of red but my shitty camera-work didn't capture that.
We'd talked on the way up remembering when we used to turn around after the dam. Haha... such newbies! But with the sun up now and the luck we'd had, we considered doing it this time. Plus, our legs were still rubber from the day before. But I made the decision to go for it... do the whole 4 1/2 miles. I wanted to see the Hobo Camp and Ringneck Hill.
It might not have been my greatest decision because we walked right past the path that leads to the Hobo Camp and I found zilch on Ringneck Hill. Some fartface had stacked some of the hill's best stones into a short stone wall, too. But persistence (stupidity?) paid off when we got back close to the pond and a big (over two feet) Garter gal sat there posing for us.
A pretty close-up. Looks like I finally got my wish.
Over by the swimming area (thankfully empty except for two teens cleaning up a bit), a bight striped Garter was in 5 O'clock Charlene's place.
That was our last critter but I did take a shot of this massive patch of what we call Corpse Flowers, but are also known as Indian Pipes, Ghost Plant or even Monotropa uniflora. They're cool because they have no chlorophyl and they are parasitic to fungus (I always thought they were fungus).
Another super-hot one for us and we headed home soaked with sweat but happy with the things we'd seen. We made the whole hike and felt pretty good about that. Showers and an hour or two in bed later in the afternoon also felt pretty good.
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