Day 3: Some more salamanders and some ferns

Today started with Easter service at my folks church up in Howe's Cave. It was a beautiful service with readings and hymns and mom playing the organ. After lunch and a trip or two to Walmart I made my way back south to New Paltz. I stopped back by the vernal pool just west of Kingston again and caught some more aquatic newts and amphibian eggs. While there I saw a female mallard duck in the pool up at one end. At the end of the day I put these and the stuff I had collected on Friday in a tank I brought back from home. They seemed happy enough in their new home.

This evening I went for a walk at Shaupeneak Preserve in the Marlboro Mountains east and a little north of New Paltz. This park is part of the Scenic Hudson preserves and is a beautiful wooded area with a glacially-scoured pond. No, it wasn't exactly a night-walk but I did end a dusk and the peepers were going strong when I got in the car. I hiked the Blue and Orange trails, a bit over 2 miles in total. The Blue trail follows the perimeter of the pond and the Orange trail is mainly a mountain bike trail through the woods with about 200-300' of topographic relief. There is another trail with nice views of the Hudson as well in the preserve. Last summer was rather wet in the first half and I took some nice pictures of some interesting fungi here. This time I was able to see some nice ferns, moss, and geese on the pond. As far as ferns go, I got some pictures of Christmas Ferns, Polypody, and what I think was a Spinulose Woodfern. I have been trying to learn my ferns for the past year or so and this is a nice place to practice identifications. I also saw got pictures of some nice tree lichen. As far as animals go (besides the noisy geese), I saw several squirrels, both red and gray, chipmunks, and 3 sizable whitetail deer. Pictures of the ferns below: Christmas Fern, Polypody, Spinulose Woodfern (?)

Finally, as I am sort of 'making this up as I go along', I have decided to finish each entry with a list of things I saw during the day. Here's today's list (Animals only): Red Tail Hawk (2), Gray Squirrel (4-5), Red Squirrel, Chipmunk (2), Whitetail Deer (3), Minnows, Aquatic Newts (5-6), Frogs, water beetles, peepers, Mosquito's, female Mallard Duck, male Wood Duck.