Snappers bask and Water Snake appears

Green and Gray Treefrogs continue to call from the Wetlands and other locations around the Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind loop. The brief, lamb-like calls of Narrowmouth Toads have been heard at both the Wetlands and the pond at Flap the Wings in Catch the Wind. Good luck finding one of these tiny toads; they spend most of their time hidden under leaves or logs, and even when calling during the breeding season they are difficult to locate.

The transitional frogs that I saw during the last half of May were Green Frogs after all (see Green Frogs, Explore the Wild Journal, May 16-31, 2009). During the first two weeks of June I saw many small Green Frogs in both Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind.

Common snapping turtles catching some rays in the Wetlands

If you were to read a field guide description of the habits of the Common Snapping Turtle you would most likely come across a statement similar to this, “Snappers rarely bask as most other turtles do.” The author of that article obviously would not have been to the Museum of Life and Science’s Wetlands. While it’s true that our snappers don’t bask as often as the Yellow-bellied Turtles, they do occasionally get out of the water and catch some rays. On the 6th of June there were two large specimens hauled out on rocks in the Wetlands.

There was a Northern Water Snake poking its head out from under a large rock in the grass at the northwest corner of the Wetlands on the 6th of June. Although I’d heard reports of water snakes being seen by others, this was the first that I had seen since early May.

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