time out and went a bit farther afield than normal, making my way out to the main channel of Black Creek. As with most nights, I started at the pond and looked along the shore while I went. I heard a few frogs and saw a bunch of mayfly larvae and an adult mayfly as well. I was extra excited to see a medium-sized turtle swimming down into the mud near the pond's outlet; I really like turtles. At this point I decided to go out and see if I could find some of the toads I was hearing. Toads have a quite different sound from frogs. Frogs have a repeating croak with 'rests' in between whereas toads have a sustained, trilling note. It took me a bit to get out to the edge of
the stream, hopping from tuft to tuft of grass and walking on fallen logs to see if I could find any toads. I had to be quiet for a while to get the toads to start singing again, it took about 10 minutes or so. I also found that the frogs and toads would swim over to my light after a while. It was quite cute to see the frogs and toads swim across the stream right up to the end of the log on which I was standing. The toads were fun to watch when they were singing. They inflate their neck into a big skin-balloon and trill away.
While watching the toads I saw something moving in the water off in the periphery of my vision moving in the water. At first I thought it was a lily-pad underwater but almost immediately I saw that it was a rather sizable snapping turtle. I think it had either come over to my light or had come over following the frogs/toads that had swum over to me. In any event, it made me catch
my breath as it was only a few feet away. It actually swam a bit closer towards the light/frogs/toads. Now, I have heard that snapping turtle will not bother swimmers underwater but I wasn't sure about it snapping at me while I stood on a log. I realize this was probably totally unfounded, but the fear was still there. Anyway, at this point a toad floated/swam down right in front of the snapper and it started to slowly pursue this tasty treat. As sorry as I felt for that toad, I have to admit I was pretty excited about the chance to see a snapper eat a toad. Luckily for the toad, it happened to see the turtle just at the last minute and swam away rather fast. It was about now that I started to see some flashes of lightening off to the southwest and I figured it was time to head back. I walked back past the pond and saw a nice Pickerel Frog and some interesting amphibian eggs. It was a GREAT night. I love turtles and I got to see two different types along with a bunch of frogs and toads. This is turning out to be a really fun pass-time and I HIGHLY suggest it to people. Again, if anyone wants to come along they are more than welcome!
No comments:
Post a Comment