We explored new areas of the refuge and, while the snakes remained fairly scarce, it was a phib-tastic day! We did see two snakes... a fleeting glimpse of a ribbon snake disappearing into the grass (I missed it- Mike) and caught a young garter snake.
The frogs were out in force!
We saw pickerel frogs,
wood frogs
and bull frogs.
We saw dozens of redback salamanders
and our first red eft of the year.
We even found a painted turtle on land. She emptied her cloaca all over, then hid inside her shell... like any self respecting chelonian would.
It was the day of the toad, though. We lost count of the American Toads that we saw on this 4 hour trek. Big ones and little ones and they all looked put upon.
We even saw a swan with her goslings!
An exhausting but successful day.
