At Lee State Park, on May 15th....
I always enjoy going to this park, it's situated alongside the Lynches River but the river is down a fairly rough dirt tract and most of the time they have that tract closed...Up by the visitors center huge trees draw the attention of the migrants like this Northern Parula.
A very inquisitive bird...This park has several artesian wells and they flow constantly...I see people bring jugs and fill them with the right out of the Earth water. I have never tried it..but know it's cold
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Near the boardwalk I found a Wood Thrush, sometimes you hear them and never see them this time I saw one for a change...
The Hermit Thrush has the rusty color on his tail the Wood Thrush has it on the head, neck and upper back. The melodious song is such a treasure to listen to. On the ground was this Broadhead Skink and this is the female, they are sometimes confused with a 5 line skink.
Once I got on the forest drive, I started to hear different birds the ones who like it damp..this is the
Acadian Flycatcher...they make a loud WHIT, -WHIT WHEW sound...is how I describe it...
As mentioned the River Loop Trail (road) was open so I took it, it's about a 4 mile drive, it's open to horses, foot traffic, and when the gates are open vehicles. It's still wet and muddy from recent rains but manageable...once closer to the river I encountered many Prothonotary Warblers, they like to be near water's edges. I would park get out walk a while then return and move up the road and got a good feel for how the birds were staging. The flycatchers were near the road so they could see and swoop out to get moths and flying insects...the warblers were a layer back gleening the leaves and stems of the trees...and farther back the deep forest birds like the Thrushes and the Towhees.
Prothonotary warbler
the water was muddy and murky due to all the heavy rains in May...
the trunk of this Holly Tree has so many pretty colors!
natural camo
The river bends here by the road and this is a good spot to pull over and enjoy a picnic
I had to help this Snapping Turtle across the road, he got into a deep puddle that was right in the road so with some not so gentle encouragement I moved him to the edge of the road, these guys are heavy and they bite! This one didn't try to bite like the last time I tried to help one...I know it's not very nice but I picked him up by the tail and lopped him off to the road edge on top of these branches then I used a fork shaped stick to push him into the deeper water...good thing too asa I got him over a truck came and he would have been squashed where he had been originally! Here he is walking across the road, but then he settled into that puddle,
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He was none the worse for wear but he did not appreciate my help
nostrils above water
This water snake was seeking better cover also..
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I watched a lady pull over and move a turtle off the road last week, and I've moved 2 since then myself...and one even came home with me, I will explain in later posts...
The problem Im having with the new Blogger is it jumps all over the place...I move the photo or text where I want it, then it jumps by itself to where it wants to be so spacing is going to be difficult...I am assuming. I am not using the new format yet, but I can tell by the way the old one is reacting it's gonna be tricky.
PEACE
Every day is a new Adventure.
