Each day that I visited the Wetlands during the first half of April I was able to locate from four to six different Northern Water Snakes. Towards afternoon of each day, there were at least four of these variably colored snakes on a near horizontal Black Willow trunk no more than a dozen feet from [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘Yellow-bellied Turtle’
Basking Sites at a Premium, Amphibs Exploit the Season
March 15th, 2009By the end of the first week of this period the Wetland’s turtles, frogs, and toads were out in numbers. Yellow-bellied Turtles and Painted Turtles were basking on logs, rocks and any other object projecting from the water, with little room to spare. The young Yellow-bellied Turtle in the image at left (perhaps a two-year-old) [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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February’s Bold Turtles and a Peep from the Frogs
February 28th, 2009With the return of more seasonal temperatures during the latter half of February the only reptiles or amphibians in evidence were the occasional Painted or Yellow-bellied Turtle out basking in the Wetlands and Spring Peepers which sporadically break out in song wherever there is water (image at left). The peeper activity should pick up in [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Wetlands Slowly Awakens
February 15th, 2009One Painted Turtle and 2 Yellow-bellied Turtles were out basking on the 7th of February; many more joined them later in the period. I thought I heard a Gray Treefrog calling early in this period and positively heard Spring Peepers and at least one Upland Chorus Frog sing out as things heated up. At least [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Brave Souls
January 31st, 2009Frogs persist in the Wetlands. Besides the BullFrogs being harvested by the Red-shouldered Hawk in the small swamp adjacent to the Wetlands Overlook, a Pickerel Frog was seen busily hopping along the grass near the restrooms in Explore the Wild on the relatively warm day of 24 January. Where it was going, and the reason [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Winter frogs, and a Strange Turtle Encounter
January 15th, 2009Frogs persist in the swamp across from the Wetlands Overlook. On warm days, especially when the sun warms the shallow water of the swamp in late morning to early afternoon, frogs begin to move about in the water. I’ve not actually seen one of these frogs, that is, before one of the resident Red-shouldered Hawks, [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Looking back: Herps
December 31st, 2008With the closing of the year it’s perhaps time to look back and see what we’ve observed on the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind Loop. Below, in the appropriate segments, I give totals for some of the species seen since January of last year. Following a week of relatively warm, cloudy, misty, and drizzly weather, [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Tadpole Activity?
December 15th, 2008I, and several Museum Staff and Guests, noticed a swarm of Bullfrog tadpoles at the northwest corner of the Wetlands during the first part of December. Water is flowing through a pipe and emptying into the water at that corner of the Wetlands. Tadpoles had collected around the pipe in large numbers. I can’t say [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Brown Snakes
November 30th, 2008Seen on the last day of the previous period (November 15th) but too late to make the presses were Northern Brown Snake, Yellow-bellied Turtle, Painted Turtle, Spring Peeper (heard only), Pickerel Frog, and Bullfrog. The 15th was a warm and humid day with strong southwest winds. Two Northern Brown Snakes were seen in two different [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Sleepy Skink and a Very Small Toad
September 30th, 2008A Ground Skink’s presence is most often betrayed by a rustle in the leaves as the unseen lizard scurries away, leaving the passerby scratching his or her head wondering what made the noise. The skink in the photo on the left was basking in the sun. It must have been enjoying itself too much to [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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