The first couple of weeks in October were rather cloudy and wet. Whenever the sun did show itself, the turtles of the Wetlands took advantage of it by hauling out and basking in its warm rays. Young and old alike were out on all available perches. Mostly Yellow-bellied Turtles, but even a large snapper was spotted enjoying the brief bit of sun.

The last few days of September and first couple of days of October brought many young treefrogs emerging for the first time from the water of both the Wetlands and the U-shaped pond at Flap the Wings in Catch the Wind. These newly morphed frogs were mostly Gray Treefrogs and quite small.

Several other, slightly older, Gray Treefrogs were also seen. Still only half grown, they had already begun to take on the characteristics of adult frogs.

During the same period, young Green Treefrogs, which had been easy to find for most of the summer, began to move away from the Wetlands. They were often seen on leaves, small branches, and even sign posts, far from water, sometimes in small groups. Towards the middle of the month, they were a bit more difficult to locate.

Bullfrogs are more difficult to find as the season moves along. However, the local Red-shouldered Hawk keeps a sharp eye out for any frogs that do make an appearance. On your next stroll around the Wetlands, keep an eye out for the hawk. If you see it perched in a tree, its head bobbing this-way-and-that trying to zero in on even the slightest movement below, stop and watch a while, you may be lucky enough to see it snatch a frog out of the water and carry it off to eat.