Into the Swamp

I cannot believe it has taken a solid week to get the rest of the photos from our paddle posted. Our internet connection has been quite sketchy and unpredictable this past week, leading to some massive frustrations. It seems to be cooperating a little better this morning...

Beyond the upper end of the millpond lies the swamp. It is one of our favorite places to paddle, water levels permitting. I always like to have a full day to explore -- I hate to feel rushed when I enter the swamp.

As we entered, blue pickerel weed and bright red cardinal flower greeted us. It is past peak bloom time for these flowers, so it was a treat to see them.

At the base of a beaver lodge we spied a shed snake skin. It still had the tail section attached, enabling us to determine that it was from a venomous snake. Venomous snakes have an undivided anal plate (the scute that covers the opening to the cloaca) and undivided subcaudals (tail scutes). In non-venomous snakes, the anal plate and tail scutes are paired.

A view of the channel that runs through the swamp. You have to be careful that you follow the main channel -- there are plenty of false ones to trip you up.

There is something everywhere you look in the swamp. From birds in the trees to insects and spiders in the herbaceous vegetation. We found one spot that was full of fishing spiders, some guarding egg cases.

In other spots they were just hanging out on trees or cypress knees. Pretty cool.

We spent as much time in the swamp as we could, but eventually we had to turn around and head back out onto the pond. Not long after we re-entered the upper pond we were greeted by our second gator of the day. It was stretched out amidst some lily pads, soaking in the last sunrays of the day. It seemed quite unconcerned as we glided past. It was busy thinking gator thoughts, I guess.

That's it for now. Hopefully I'll make it out to some interesting places during my vacation in October. Speaking of vacation, our son left on his early this morning. He is headed to Beijing for nine days. And yes, I do mean China...

Fungi Fest

Treebeard and I saw more than just snakes and frogs on our walk this past Sunday. Fungi were everywhere! Such variety of form and color.
The collage above shows just a few of the many 'shrooms we found. I hope to come back to this post and name them all, I just don't have time to do it this morning...
Another office day for me, I'm afraid. And yes, I am whining ;)

Special Places

There are some places near my house that just team with life.
Perhaps I'll bring you along the next time Treebeard and I venture here...
Sadly, I'll be in the office all day today. But, I wouldn't be surprised if I find my mind drifting to this spot from time to time during the day.

Tidbits from Sunday

Sunday was a beautiful day. We headed out onto the pond (of course!) and then up into the swamp. We were paddling with a friend from Vermont who has been down camping for the past few weeks. He really likes it here - well, except for the ticks ;) He didn't even complain (too much) when Treebeard insisted he look in a couple of hollow trees in order to see the bats within.

Below are a few snippets from our day. I didn't take nearly as many photos as I usually do. It was just so beautiful out I wanted to concentrate on being out and not so much on trying to capture images.

Things have greened up quite a bit since our last paddle into the swamp a few weeks ago. The spatterdock (Nuphar lutea) has emerged, much to the delight of the beaver and nutria who have been nibbling off the leaves. Guess everyone enjoys a fresh salad now and again.

Although we usually see them mostly along the shoreline, the gambusia (aka mosquito fish) seemed quite happy swimming amidst the vegetation out in the middle of the pond. Good for them! Gobble up those wiggle-tails (mosquito larvae) little fishies, gobble 'em up!

A nice fresh tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) enjoying a not-so-nice and fresh scat. Aren't you glad we get our salts and other essentials from more appetizing sources?

The larger tree mid-frame is a bald-cypress (Taxodium distichum). It's one of those odd deciduous needle and cone-bearing trees -- hence the name, "bald". This one is extra special. Up there where it crooks off to the left there is a cavity and that cavity houses a beehive. We have found several bee trees up in the swamp this spring. I hope that's a good sign that there are at least a few healthy wild bees out there and that not all hives are suffering from colony collapse.

Otters don't have discriminating tastes, it seems. The head and skin above belong to a blackfish, Amia calva (aka bowfin, grinnel, mudfish, dogfish, spottail). This was a small one - they can get up to nearly 43 inches and 20 pounds - but I'm sure it filled the tummy of the otter that caught it. Click on it to enlarge it and take a look at its teeth.
Blackfish are capable of breathing air and they are tolerant of high temperatures, both valuable traits for a fish living in a shallow southern coastal plain pond. They offer fishermen a nice fight but are not particularly tasty.

A few of the least trillium (Trillium pusillum var. virginianum) are still blooming. We were surprised by that. They are usually through by the last week in March. This flower has some age on it as evidenced by its pink petals.

Sceloporus undulatus hyacinthinus, such an impressive name for a lizard. Me, I prefer the common name, Fence Lizard. This one is just a youngster. Hopefully it will grow up to be a fine fat adult. As lizard's go, these are quite personable and even moderately tolerant of being observed. They aren't nearly as jumpy as skinks.

Smacked tight to the trunk of a bald-cypress, this green treefrog (Hyla cinerea) was hiding in plain sight... just a whisper of Spanish moss breaking up its profile.
I can't help myself, I absolutely love these little amphibians and never pass up an opportunity to photograph them.

It was a fine day spent in excellent company in my favorite place.
I am a very fortunate person.

Keeping a Low Profile

Canada Goose nesting on a beaver lodge.
You will note, the swamp is not in Canada.
Wish the goose knew that. They are pretty birds and they are impressively protective parents, but they are also floating feathered fertilizer factories.

King Cotton

A small cottonmouth, aka water moccasin, lazes on the leaning trunk of a wax myrtle. Cottonmouths are lousy climbers so they prefer leaning trunks and branches that are low to the water. Usually, if you see a "moccasin" up in a tree it is one of the non-venomous water snakes. And no, they do not try to jump in your boat. Rather, when a water snake is disturbed its natural tendency is to head into the water. If you have your boat positioned between the snake and the water, then yeah, it's gonna land in your boat!

Just beneath the little fellow that was hanging out in the shrub, there was another much larger cottonmouth taking a drink at the edge of the water. We saw a total of five cottonmouths within just a few hundred feet of each other.
Yeah, it's a snaky kinda place :)

Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus

Otter Fare

Some otter has been eating well as evidenced by this well rotted scat. We found several similar piles around the edges of an old borrow pit down the road from the house. I can't tell you what kind of fish the otter's been eating, only that its been eating lots!

Lead Poisoning?

Sometimes when you're out walking in a place you have walked for the past thirty years you run across things you have overlooked for all those years. Case in point, this battery. Years ago these woods were logged and farmed. This battery was probably left here sometime back in the late '70s. I imagine we have passed near it numerous times without seeing it. We noticed it this time and bent to take a closer look...something's been gnawing on it. Squirrel, perhaps?

 

 

Oh, Bother!

Beaver feel quite at home in the pond and in the swamp. As we paddled deeper into the swamp, we happened upon a beaver snoozing atop a lodge. When he became aware of us, he decided the water was a safer place to be and headed in -- but not before giving me a look that seemed to say, "Oh, bother!"

 

An Enchanted Forest

Mistletoe grows on the tupelo gums (Nyssa aquatica) and causes them to grow into some pretty unusual shapes. In the transition area between the pond and the swamp and then on into the swamp there are quite a few twisted tupelos. The area is known as the enchanted forest and you find yourself looking for faces in the contorted limbs and trunks.