diurnal ice crunching

[whippoorbill]

They said I'd never go to the barrens in daylight again, but my buddy Al grabbed me by the collar Monday and drug me to the following creeks: Sleeper, Skit, the upper Batsto, and Deep Run. He said, "You're going to take some normal pictures for a change." "Okay," I agreed. "But I will not get my feet wet." Everytime I go to the barrens with Al, I wind up with wet extremities. Of course, first sign of something pretty, I'm crunching bogs and breaking through ice and suffering from a case of ten shivering toes.

sleeper bogs

deep run

upper batsto

skit


A small sampling from a great day wandering shaded streams in the pines.

Thanks for looking,
Bill

 

[bobpbx]

That last one and the third from last are BOSS!

 

[MarkBNJ]

Bill you have an amazing eye. Really outstanding images. The turtle on the ice is wonderful.

Noticed you couldn't resist reversing a couple at the end.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

I must agree with Bob. Great work, Bill. Those are some of the purtiest streams in the Pines. Eh, they're all purty, aren't they?

 

[whippoorbill]

Noticed you couldn't resist reversing a couple at the end.

I tried, Mark ... but you know how it is. I have oodles of photos from Monday; who knows what I'll come up with.

Thanks Bob & Gabe. It's hard not to have an eye out there.

Bill

 

[LARGO]

Nice to see a little display close to home. A really nice day and thank you for sharing. You know you wanted them all freaky, don't deny it.
You've got the eye but of late your "Alternatives" blow away your norms.
Whatever that short circuit is up in the old cranium, leave it be and drive on. Makes for good images. I still think the Peanut Butter sandwich was spiked. Wonder what that rogue tree is thinking about now.

g.

 

[james ungehajer]

Excellent photos Bill, thanks for posting them.

Jim

 

[infinite sameness]

wow

great pics you really have an eye for the most amazing shots........... love those parts (sleeper ect...) so intensly beautiful your photos really capture what the pines do in my heart

 

[dragoncjo]

Turtle was dead I'm guessing?

 

[Sue Gremlin]

That last photo is fantastic. I'd hang that on the wall.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Dragon, why would you guess that the toitle was dead?

 

[MuckSavage]

Turtle was dead I'm guessing?

My question also. Wouldn't they be mired down in the mud this time of year?

And, terrific photos! Thank you for sharing!

 

[whippoorbill]

Turtle was dead I'm guessing?

Yeah, the red-bellied was an ex-turtle. I found it on the high-ground edge of the bog, but gave the guy one last pose by pushing him out onto the ice. Nice foreground was my thinking.

I appreciate all the comments, including Largo's. Neither that tree nor I have been the same since we shared the sandwich.

Bill

 

[woodjin]

Nice Photos Bill!

Regarding turtles. When Gabe and I were out on the iced over beaver pond last weekend we saw two turtles swimming under the ice. We figured they must have a hole in the ice somewhere, but we didn't see one in close proximity. I don't like to mess with mother nature much but we did make an attempt at knocking a hole in ice when we saw the first one. The 3" of ice was too thick for us to penetrate.

Jeff

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Dragon,

Last month, on a bitter cold day, I found a big red-belly seemingly sunning himself on the beach, which I thought was odd. He was rather unresponsive to me. Was he dying?

 

[Teegate]

Very nice Bill. Sad to see the turtle didn't make it

Guy

 

[LongIslandPiney]

Great photos. You were lucky to see that turtle, they seem to hide in winter.

 

[andy1015]

Yea it is suprising that they are still out, they hibernate unitl spring normally. They bury themselves deep in the mud and normally don't come out unitl spring. I wonder if those cuople of really warm days screwed up thier cycle. My aunt once actually had two box turtles in a aquaruim inside, and they still went into hibernation. She ended up moving them to clean the tank and they both died. The vet told her that they probably died because she moved them when they were hibernating. I found that odd though, because they were inside but i guess that is instinct for the box turtles.

I had a lot of water turtles when i was growing up and they never seemed to hibernate