A Walk with Pat at Garbry Big Woods Sanctuary...May 7, 2018...Part 2

Pat has sharp eyes, sharper than mine.  She was the reason we saw most of the following things during the walk.

"Doesn't that Trillium have four petals?"  she asked.  It did.  It had curiously different arrangement of sepals and leaves, also.

We walked on.

She found several small Crayfish Chimneys.  These chimneys are much daintier than the ones we find in the swamp at Brukner Nature Center.

She likes bright-colored fungi.  You will have to click on the photo and enlarge it to see the fungi she spotted.

Two more Fungi, a little easier to see.  They were beside the boardwalk.

A pollinator, a tiny Ladybug.  Below is a cropped photo.

Ta Da....

This is what Pat found that excited me the most.  As we walked, I told Pat about the few times Tom and I have seen adult male Five-lined skinks displaying their red throat patches for females on the boardwalk.  No, she didn't find a displaying adult.  Even I would have noticed him.  But  she found something neither Tom or I had ever seen....

This little fellow was about the size of a Red-backed Salamander which are common at Brukner.

He moved really fast.  This was the most in focus photo I got as he scurried off to find cover elsewhere.

When I got home, I searched on the Internet for Five-lined Skinks, wondering if this was a young one.  I knew as the adult males had red on their heads and this little fellow had a tinge of red around his face.  On the Internet I learned that Five-lined Skinks live from two to six years so an immature might be the size of a Red-backed Salamander.

I also learned that one way that Skinks vary from salamanders is that they have claws.  And because the critter was so slow and wary of leaving the crack in the log, the hind foot on it was in focus.

Looks to me like he has claws.  I'm going to say he is an immature Five-lined Skink.  So, so pleased with myself.  Hope no one pops my balloon!

A Walk with Pat at Garbry Big Woods Sanctuary, May 7, 2018...A Great Walk...Part One

Pat and I met for lunch at Cracker Barrel and then drove to Garbry Big Woods Sanctuary to look at the wildflowers.  I picked the day, a beautiful one.  The Temperature was in the sixties.  

This is why we went...Large-flowered Trillium throughout the entire park with Wild Blue Phlox mingled in.

The Drooping Trillium were blooming, too.

And so were the Sessile Trillium.  

Pat and I spent three hours walking the boardwalk loop.  There was so much to see.  (This loop can be walked at a steady pass in about twenty minutes.)  We stopped and sat at the convenient benches to savor the day...the soft breeze, the comfortable temperatures, the beautiful sights (and to rest our knees and legs.)

Here are some of the flowers we saw.  (More than just these were blooming.) 

The Spring Beauties were scattered throughout the entire woods but because they are tiny, they are not as showy as the trillium.

Blue violets...(and yellow ones, too.)

Goldenseal

Jack-in-the-Pulpit...

The last of the Large-flowered Bellwort for the season

Rue Anemone....

Solomon's Seal...

Buds on the Solomon's Plume (also called False Solomon's Seal)...

Sweet Cicely...Most of the flowers were not quite open but we especially liked this one which was growing up between the boards of the boardwalk.

A few Blue Cohosh flowers remained...

Though many Wild Ginger buds were not open yet, we found this flower.

The Wild Geraniums were scattered here and there.  We had to keep our eyes open. 

Pat even found a Dandelion.  Fortunately the area is too wet for dandelions to thrive.

I've decided to leave our other discoveries for the next post.  This post is getting too long.  Hope you have time to check out Part 2 which I am starting to write as soon as I post this one.