We went in and started along the shady trails. It was very interesting because the water and duckweed came right up to the trail. It made it feel very Evergladesey. Much to our delight, we could see a Water Snake through the brush.
There's the noggin!
We got out to a boardwalk, clearly the real draw of this place. Some Painted Turtles were up basking.
We saw this Snapper at the surface, foraging for snacks. We watched it for quite some time, chomping lily pads and skimming the surface. A pretty big turtle, that one.
Not far away was this smaller specimen who made itself known by snapping at something. This made for double the pleasure and we watched these two for a good twenty minutes.
A guy came by and said he saw a massive Snapper further out. We pointed out our big guy and he said "oh, mine is twice that size." Always one-upping. What is it with people? We moved on before he started talking about his nether-regions.
Andrea found a gorgeous Garter Snake who either just had a snack or has little ones in her belly.
We got back onto the trail and enjoyed a lovely walk. We sat on a bench overlooking the pond with a gaggle of Canada Geese right behind us, preening. I looked out and saw a dark strip in the water, zoomed out and got this shot.
It appears to be 27 Painted Turtles, my personal best on the year so far.
Another gathering of picta.
As wonderful as the whole hiking area was, that boardwalk was the best and we went back. This solo Painter greeted us.
We went back to where Andrea had seen the Garter earlier and she'd been joined by a smaller guy, also with something in its belly though definitely not babies. They made a "T".
With my ears always open, I heard someone say the S-word... they had a Snapper nearby. We went over to look and there was an absolute monolith of a Snapper there. It looked to be twice the size of our earlier big guy. Perhaps braggart-man had been telling the truth! This is the best shot I got but it might have been the largest Snapping Turtle I've ever seen.
This much smaller one was foraging.
This little Painter had a nice sunny spot to itself.
We finally moved on and went through a sunny field filled with flowers. There was a large patch of Black-eyed Susans peppered with Daisy fleabane.
After a short rest, we went across the street where more trails went around another pond. Unfortunately, it wasn't as critter-filled as the other side. This solo Painter is the only animal shot I got in over two miles of hiking.
This fungus (either Cerrena unicolor or Trichaptum biforme, thank you Jef for the suggestion of the latter) looked very cool covering a tree stump.
Back to the parking lot, ready to leave, I finally got my shot of #68, Purple Martins. Lots of 'em.
So, it's safe to say that Andrea has a new favorite spot, Snapper-happy as she is. We'll certainly be heading back to this place before too long. It feels good to say two for two on new nature-walk places this month!
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