All,
At 8AM this morning Bobpbx and I were exploring a spring fed stream Bob found to check out the flowers and the stream itself. The water there comes right out of the ground and works it’s way toward a creek. Because of this it is clear and not dark as most Pine Barren streams and rivers are. Since we had to be very careful when waking in the swamps along the stream so we did no sink in over out head, I was not able to take many photo’s. After following the stream for a while it suddenly to our surprise just disappeared. It actually went underground and ended abruptly. An amazing thing to see!
This shows the clear spring fed water free of the color that most pine barren streams have.
My camera lens was foggy because of my frozen water bottles; however, you can see from Bob’s clothes it had been tough going.
At another location later in the morning we found Arethusa and the partially blooming Turkey Beard.
http://teegate.njpinebarrens.com/05282007/IMG_9247.JPG
http://teegate.njpinebarrens.com/05282007/IMG_9242.JPG
Bob capturing his photo and navigating the creek.
http://teegate.njpinebarrens.com/05282007/IMG_9245.JPG
http://teegate.njpinebarrens.com/05282007/IMG_9244.JPG
Then we were off to check on a Rattlesnake. You may remember last year we visited one that Bob had found that appeared to have some sort of disease. We were returning to check it out. On arrival we found the snake resting on the same log as before, but this time there was a major difference. There was a second one on the ground below the log!
This photo shows both snakes circled in red, one on the log and one on the ground.
The one on the ground was so still we thought it was dead.
The one on the log followed bob with it’s eyes wherever he walked. Notice he is not facing me...and notice the rattle which we never heard.
Notice the hole where Bob has viewed one coming out of.
We had been there a while maneuvering around to get better views to take photo’s, when Bob suddenly yelled out there was a third one. Hidden just to the left of them at the base of the log was another large Rattler facing right at us within feet of where we had been standing. This one had the lighter color as the one on the log did. We can now conclude we have a bonafide den.
Guy
At 8AM this morning Bobpbx and I were exploring a spring fed stream Bob found to check out the flowers and the stream itself. The water there comes right out of the ground and works it’s way toward a creek. Because of this it is clear and not dark as most Pine Barren streams and rivers are. Since we had to be very careful when waking in the swamps along the stream so we did no sink in over out head, I was not able to take many photo’s. After following the stream for a while it suddenly to our surprise just disappeared. It actually went underground and ended abruptly. An amazing thing to see!
This shows the clear spring fed water free of the color that most pine barren streams have.
My camera lens was foggy because of my frozen water bottles; however, you can see from Bob’s clothes it had been tough going.
At another location later in the morning we found Arethusa and the partially blooming Turkey Beard.
http://teegate.njpinebarrens.com/05282007/IMG_9247.JPG
http://teegate.njpinebarrens.com/05282007/IMG_9242.JPG
Bob capturing his photo and navigating the creek.
http://teegate.njpinebarrens.com/05282007/IMG_9245.JPG
http://teegate.njpinebarrens.com/05282007/IMG_9244.JPG
Then we were off to check on a Rattlesnake. You may remember last year we visited one that Bob had found that appeared to have some sort of disease. We were returning to check it out. On arrival we found the snake resting on the same log as before, but this time there was a major difference. There was a second one on the ground below the log!
This photo shows both snakes circled in red, one on the log and one on the ground.
The one on the ground was so still we thought it was dead.
The one on the log followed bob with it’s eyes wherever he walked. Notice he is not facing me...and notice the rattle which we never heard.
Notice the hole where Bob has viewed one coming out of.
We had been there a while maneuvering around to get better views to take photo’s, when Bob suddenly yelled out there was a third one. Hidden just to the left of them at the base of the log was another large Rattler facing right at us within feet of where we had been standing. This one had the lighter color as the one on the log did. We can now conclude we have a bonafide den.
Guy
