Return to Blackwater River State Park

Here is the sort of cypress swamp that I was wading through earlier this spring. Only the weather wasn't as nice.

It takes a sharp eye to make out a turtle hatchling like this,
so far from the water. Not expected. Very surprising. Even
more surprising that I spotted it at all.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my favourite spots at West Campus, my usual weekend destination, was destroyed by a mob of excavators and bobcats. Thus, I started making regular trips out to Blackwater River State Park. When I got back to the park this second time, the weather was perfect. Insects buzzed and people played; birds bounced around the branches of magnolia and pine. After a long hike, we even cooled off in the river a little bit (though it was still quite cold). Sliders of all sizes were out basking on logs and a menagerie of other cold-blooded creatures where spotted and captured. Here are a few of the highlights.
When stalking through the forests, it often takes me a few minutes to "tune in," if you will. I'm usually not at optimum levels until after at least an hour. Then I start seeing things that I would normally never have noticed. A leaf moves on the ground on a windy day and turning it reveals a ground skink. The rustling grass at my feat rustles in a way that disturbs the music and I know someone else is down there. A rodent or snake, perhaps. It's almost sixth-sensish. My peripheral vision becomes exceptionally clear as well. On this hike, my eyes scan back and forth across the cypress swamp, focussing in on logs, stumps or any other protrusion from the waters surface. Ripples reveal a fish turning just under the surface. A soft point reveals the nose of slider spying on me from the rushes. As my field of vision moves toward a slanted trunk, my eyes clamp onto a small lump a couple feet from the water. It's too far away for my eyes to decide exactly what it is, but the lens of my camera does better. It's a juvenile cooter.
Meanwhile, my friend Dakota has begun his own visual search of the pond. He said something, but I was clicking away on my shudder and missed it. Then I caught a key word: snake. "Water snake," he said. I'd never caught one of those (though I've come awful close) and wanted to really bad. My heart skipped a beat as I aimed my zoom lens at the bush he was pointing at. "That's not a water snake," I said, just a little disappointed, "I think it's a cottonmouth." It was after all. That being the case, I wouldn't going to disturb his quiet ambush position over the pond. I've caught lots of cottonmouths before.

This young cottonmouth snake is hiding in a snag above a pond. I'd nickname Dakota "Eagle-eyes" if the title didn't belong to someone else I hunt snakes with already. It's a wonder he spied it. Even after he pointed it out to me I could hardly make it out.

Here is the fence lizard before I tried
catching her. Gorgeous, eh?

Notice the pale blue spot on the
throat characteristic of this genera.

Besides cotton mouths and cooters, Dakota also spotted a fence lizard. From his initial call, it took quite time before I caught the little rascal. My brother and I were crawling and scrambling up and down the river bank grabbing at the frightened little lizard. When I finally had it in hand, both of our hearts were racing. I took as many pictures as I liked to and passed it to some of my friends so they could feel her little beating heart. People find it easier to love something that they can touch and hold. She was released into the shade of the tree that I had caught her under. Always release an animal right where you found it.
I enjoy breaking from the main group and poking around an area alone for a while. In one of my frequent diversions, I spotted a large frog under the board walk. He was sitting in the shade on the bank in a shallow depression. He seemed aware of my presence but had a secret hope that I hadn't noticed him. I approached carefully and was able to successfully swing my net overtop of the ranid and pull him into the open. Once in hand, I called the others over and had my friend Jonathan take some photos of me with my catch. At the time I thought it must be a bullfrog but, after getting back to my dorm room I decided it must be a river frog instead. The mottled groin (area just in front of the leg on the side of a frog) seemed characteristic.