11.29.2009

Scenes from Sunday's Stroll

It has been a busy week. Monday found us cleaning the house, Tuesday found us shopping most of the day, Tuesday evening our first house guest rolled in, Wednesday the cooking began and house guest two arrived, Thursday featured still more cooking and the arrival of yet another family member plus the big feast, Friday food was still a priority with figuring out what to do with the left-overs, Saturday all our visitors packed up and headed home, Sunday morning found us cleaning the house once again while Sunday afternoon found us taking a walk.

Won't you walk with us a while and see a few of the things we saw...

Mysterious trails through the water and duckweed. Wonder who swam here?
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A tupelo gum berry atop a pile of shed cypress needles.
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Woolly aphids on an alder branch.
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The pond looking pretty in the afternoon sun.
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A green treefrog nestled behind the book in the phone booth.
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Sunlight streaming through fiery oak leaves.
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An acorn-munching turkey left evidence of his presence (that's a turkey dropping -- probably from a male as suggested by the j-shape of the dropping).
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One of several cricket frogs out enjoying the warm November afternoon.
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A rolled log revealed this striking red-backed salamander and another salamander busy regenerating its tail.
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Fate was not kind to this earth snake. By the looks of the puncture wounds I found on the body and the fact that the snake wasn't even partially eaten, I have to think a house cat caused its demise. (Please keep your cats indoors.)
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Sometimes, when you stop to take a picture of one thing you get something you don't expect. I was after the Lycopodium, the harvestman was a bonus.
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The nor'easter we experienced a couple of weeks ago left plenty of sign of its passing. Note the dark high water mark on the trees along the creek.
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Almost stepped on this little cricket frog. He wasn't too keen on being caught, but changed his mind when he discovered the hand that held him was nice and warm. I had to shoo him off!
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As the light got low and the air started to cool, we headed for home -- it's just around the bend there...
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Thanks for taking the time to walk with us.

8 comments:

Randy Emmitt said...

Enjoyed your walk. Cute cricket frogs are they Northerns? I found a worm snake today and it was red worm sized, the orange belly gave it away.

Jacqueline Donnelly said...

Everywhere you look, something wonderful to behold! Thanks for the virtual walk through your lovely woods and wetlands.

Ellen Rathbone said...

So what shape scats are extruded by female turkeys? (Curious minds want to know!)

Anonymous said...

A lovely walk, thank you. Love the froggies!

jason said...

Delightful walk! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Don't you just love it when something unexpected shows up in a photo? The harvestman is a real treat.

swamp4me said...

Randy,
We have both northerns (I believe they are called "eastern" now) and southerns (again, a name change to "Coastal Plain")here. I didn't look closely for any of the field marks that separate the two, but based on their more robust figures I think they are probably northerns.

woodswalker,
Don't you feel bad for those folks that take a walk and then come back to report that they didn't see anything?!

Ellen,
Females tend to leave turban shaped droppings :)

LauraO,
I always enjoy sharing the frogs!

jason,
Glad you enjoyed the walk. And yes, I do love finding a little something extra and unexpected in a picture.

Kirk Mantay said...

Your second salamander is probably a lead-phase redback, no? Beautiful pictures as usual. Make me miss my home in southeastern VA :(

swamp4me said...

swamp thing,
It is indeed a lead-phase. This time of year we find them all over the place. I'll wave at southeastern VA for you -- I'll probably be in Chesapeake on Sunday ;)