Tuesday 4 October 2016

Snakes, Toad, Snapper (20160929) Yet another stroll along the tracks.

With the recent successes of finding baby Snappers along the tracks another stroll is definitely in order. So Clarence and I decided to do a trip around 2:00 p.m. Not too long into our journey we found this sweet litle Maritime Garter.
Just 10 minutes later we almost stepped on this gathering of wasps, this largest one looks like she might be the queen.
We were well along our stroll when we spotted this little Pickerel Frog. I am really enjoying finding these little beauties.
Our next find was this gorgeous Darner. My first capture was unable to provide the firldmarks to determine precise specie.
 Then I spotted this bug, which of course Clarence knew the name of. So I took a shot for the blog to share the knowledge.
We then found this nest which we believed was predated. but when I look at this shot I see one egg not yet hatched and what looks like two or three eggs which may have hatched.
As we headed back to our strting point Clarence adeptly avoided stepping on this little sweetheart!
Further along we find this beautiful Maritime Garter, our second snake of the day.
This was a new to the route Caterpiller, so I thought I would grab and image and hopefully get a proper name for it.
It seems that almost every time out now we are finding one or more American Toads. Today was no different with this fella putting in an appearance.
Here is a shot of Snappy on his release log. Clarence and I watched intently as he made his way to the safety of the water.
During our previous walks Clarence and I had a discussion regarding moths and butterflies. He explained that new findings eliminated the thoughts that only butterflies held their wings upright, and only moths laid their wings down. Here is a creature that Clarence noted flew like a butterfly so I took a shot and am hoping to get a identification on it.
We finished out walk in this area with this very beautiful Maritime Garter. Our third snake of the day and a very light colouration speciman. I also found the patterning on this snake to be very unique!
This final shot was taken our second location walk, which wildlife wise was very scarce. This is a beautiful example of death giving life as this log hosts several small maple trees.
I also love the colouring on these young trees getting ready to face what is likely their first winter. Put some "wild" in your life, it will do you good!
Turbo

Sunday 2 October 2016

Song Sparrow, Blue-headed Vireo, Palm Warbler. (20160928) An outing to a new area for turtles.

I ducked out of the house quickly this morning as I noticed little birds out in the front bushes. Unfortunately all I could find was this little Song Sparrow to get a photo of. I shouldn't say unfortunately at all.
A few days later Clarence offered to show me another turtle area so we headed out on a little 5 kilometer stroll. While we found a fair amount of turtle sign, no little critters were found. We did manage to happen upon a small band of Warblers. I was happy to grab a few shots, like this Palm Warbler.
And this might be my only Blue-headed Vireo I have been able to capture this year. The light was pretty bad, so I am happy with these.
While I wasn't able to capture the Blackpoll Warbler, which would have been a blog first, I did manage an okay image of this young Northern Parula.
While no turtles were found we did spot this beautiful young American Toad.
Here is another more natural environment shot of this little toad which shows its back very nicely.
We also found a new caterpillar for me. This little fellow needs to be identified by Clarence. And he has done so St. Lawrence Tiger.
We both had some wonderful "wild" life added out our life, how did you do?
Turbo