Quick Post this Saturday

Hi! Welcome to another busy weekend. So busy in fact, that I have elected to delay the identification of the critters below until next week. With the Fourth of July weekend coming up, I should have plenty of time to do them justice next weekend. In the meantime, enjoy!*

*All photos taken at Colonial Park, Franklin Township, NJ.

Congratulations on 25 posts"Up"!

Good Morning! Today I am patting myself on the back for sticking with "Up," my weekly blog for a full 25 posts, or one half a year. "Up" is now at 183 views strong - I have a strong suspicion that at least 83 are me admiring my own photography. But really there is nothing wrong with that.

As you may have noticed "Up" is a nature blog, more of an online field notebook than a regular newscast. As its creator, I am quite pleased with what it has become. In future years, I hope to look back on the hikes of my 30th year and admire the creatures and natural landscapes I have encountered.

My current goal has been and remains one post per week, or 52 posts throughout the year. With time at premium between time at work and time on the trail I wasn't sure, initially, if I would meet my 52 post goal. However, I find such satisfaction from seeing each weekly post published and up on the world wide web that I believe I will continue going strong.

Last week (June 13th), with one thing and another, I had just enough time to strike out on the Delaware-Raritan Canal near Griggstown, NJ in a canoe with Aengus. I highly recommend the Griggstown Canoe and Kayak rental, located right along the canal in Griggstown, with another branch in Princeton. This is where I rent all my canoes/kayaks, as my tiny one bedroom living space has no room for one of my own. With several other family functions going that weekend, the time flew by.

Today, June 20th, the temperature has climbed to 103 degrees according to our outdoor thermometer. The sun is out and beating down with full force in a clear blue sky dotted with puffy clouds. Yesterday I walked the trail at Washington Valley Park, Newman Lane trail head in Bridgewater, NJ. As I've covered this area many times via blog, I will touch on it briefly this week, and write up my other adventure next week.

With hot days and light rain fall this June, the water level is low in stream leading to the reservoir. I walked up and down the newly exposed beach of gravel, startling fish and tadpoles away from the shore. A tadpole (baby frog) rests in water that is about 2 inches deep.

I walked out to the center of the stream on a newly exposed strip of rocks. I gazed up and down stream, wondering how all the critters who live in the forest were taking the heat. At that point in the morning, it was probably just hitting 80 degrees.

After I hiked up to my favorite viewpoint, I returned to the spot where rocks extend the trail across the water. A Green frog (Rana clamitans) gazed up at me for several minutes while I relaxed by the stream. I experienced a quiet idyllic moment where the frog sat next to me without fear and few turtles sunned and swam around a log partially sunk in the water. Then some other hikers approached from across the water...

...and with a tiny croak and a splash the frog disappeared. I suddenly felt quite overheated, and I immediately made tracks back to my vehicle where AC and a thermos of ice water waited for me. See you next week on the trail - I'll be there and then I'll be back online, blogging about it.

Hot Day at Washington Valley Reservoir

Saturday, June 5th was a fine hot June day. By 11am the temperature had climbed up to 90 degrees and beyond. Hazy clouds drifted across the sky, leaving things feeling muggy in the grey light or letting the sun beat down.

Below is a view of the Newman Lane parking area approaching from north to south. The parking area is in the middle of a wooded stretch (the rest of the park) and clearly marked by the usual Somerset County park sign.

A major theme of this hike was the low water line. While we have had many cloudy days this season, not too much rain has fallen lately. Many streams had dried up, and the remaining ones were very low. I found many small snails in each shallow area. I couldn't tell if they were especially prolific this year, or if the low waterline was squishing them together into small areas.

I believe this snail is a part of the family Lymnaeidae. However I was unable to narrow it down further. I will have to purchase a mollusk field guide. Unfortunately, not enough snail enthusiasts have taken to the web to make this information readily available. These two were hanging out on a leaf, which I picked up to photograph clearly. As soon as they were clear of the water they began moving fairly quickly towards the edges of the leaf. They can really move when they have to! I replaced the leaf quickly and they settled down again.
I thought this deeper pool would have at least a few frogs hanging out, but I didn't see any (or perhaps they were all camouflaged).
I am sure this is an Eastern Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus sauritus). I want to mention again that the parks of Somerset county are not noticeably crawling with snakes and other reptiles. Over the course of many, many hikes where I am specifically looking, listening and sometimes smelling for stuff I have caught a few lucky shots of interesting creatures. If you are hiking along thinking about clouds or your grocery list, it is very possible to encounter very few.
This season's undergrowth has now come in completely, laying a heavy covering over the woods along the reservoirs edge.
I believe this is a Great Blue Huron (Ardea herodias), fishing on the other side of the reservoir from me.

A few from my favorite spot at the reservoir.

This is Poison Ivy - a whole bush full! Be sure to stay away from bright green leaves that look like this.

I believe this is an American Toad (Bufo americanus). He was about 3 inches long, and while initially startled by my footsteps, he sat quietly by the edge of the trail long enough for me to take several pictures.

This is another freshwater snail - a larger species than the those in the photo at the beginning of this post. I was also unable to confirm an exact species - please help me out! Below is a photo of one of these snails crawling along the bottom of the reservoir (about 1 foot from shore).

Its been another weekend of sun and clouds today, June 13th. I hope to get in a few additional hikes this week.

4 Hikes on Memorial Day Weekend

Wow! It was a great weekend for hiking this Memorial Day weekend! I have an image packaged post to share. While I had a great time hiking around the usual 3 county parks, the following photos hit the high points of each journey.

Colonial Park was filled with babies on May 28th. Canada geese (Branta canadensis) strut their stuff with their goslings.

A male and female Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) fed 3 or 4 nestlings in their nest made of mud above. Baby birds are all mouth at that age!

A female Mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) with her ducklings.

A (full grown) American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana). By sneaking up behind him, I was able to confirm the dark stripes on his hind legs. However, he soon sensed my footsteps...

...and hopped off the board to vanish beneath the duckweed.

A young Painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) surfaces in the Delaware-Raritan Canal adjacent to the park. This little guy was around 4 inches long.

On Saturday morning, I went for a long hike in Sourland Mountain Preserve. It was a warm, muggy morning where you felt you were swimming rather than walking through the air.

Several creepy crawly creatures were out enjoying the weather. I think of slugs as our little slimy brothers of the wild kingdom. This is a Orange-banded Arion (Arion fasciatus) slug.

The view from the top of the hill has changed now that summer foliage has grown in.

While the sun came out intermittently as I trudged up the hill, the sky eventually hazed over and I plunged into darkness when the trail travelled under the trees.

The white squares marking the path seemed to glow like beacons as I moved through the wet leaves and damp boardwalks.

A caught a glimpse of two of these guys, Apheloria virginiensis. Evidently their only common name is simply "millipede."

A Great gray slug (Limax maximus) moves along a fallen log.

At the junction of several trails, a stone cairn awaits you. I will let you discover its location yourself within the park. It is at least 1/2 hour from the main trail head (unless you hike very fast), so look for it a ways into your hike.

I believe this a Garden Snail (Cepaea nemoralis). I had never seen one before, only found empty shells, and I was very excited by this encounter.

The clearing at marker 9 at Sourland Mountain Preserve. It was a great hike but a little more taxing than I had anticipated - I was pretty tired, damp and dirty in general by they time I made it back to my vehicle.

On Sunday, my fabulous boyfriend and I spent an hour or so at Washington Valley Park, Gilride Road trail head.

I was pleased by the abundant sunshine and the cool breeze that moved across the water as we hit some of the overlooks along the gorge.

Another bullfrog lounges in the sun.

I photographed this insect so that I could enjoy identifying it. However, it has me totally stumped - I think it is part of the order Odonata, which includes dragonflies and damselflies. But that was as far as I got. Please help me out! What is this mysterious green bug?

On Monday, I visited Colonial Park, biking down the Delaware-Raritan Canal gravel path to the park. I hung out on the same bridge over the canal and took another photo of the baby Painted Turtle above.

It was a good ride on another hot, sunny day. My family and I finished the weekend with some grilled food inside, as a thunderstorm rolled through around dinnertime. Overall, I was pleased with the many sightings of interesting creatures over the long weekend.