critters in the semi-wild

Up above is a shot of several logs in a small inlet on Lake Johnson near Raleigh NC. Each log has a multitude of turtles on it--and my movement towards them already had a number slipping off into the water.

This picture was taken after I'd gotten closer, but also had scared off quite a few of the turtles. Only the braves ones were left--but since there's a limit on bravery in animals that don't want to end up in the stewpot, by the time I'd circled the tree on the left side of the picture all the remaining turtles had dove in the water.

However I did meet one fellow that was braver than the turtles. You can take a gander at him in the picture below...



Isn't he a cutie? My girlfriend hates snakes for some reason--at least when they're close up. I tell her it's Freudian but she keeps trying to prove me wrong on that score.

I only have a 3X zoom so I had to be pretty close to this snake. I wanted to get a little closer but I'm not like that insane Australian fellow on Animal Planet--crikey!--so I settled for this picture here.

Unless you really don't like snakes, click on this picture to see it larger. This is really a pretty snake. From what I've read, it's either a Northern Watersnake or a Redbelly Watersnake. It's not an easy ID for me since the juvenile snakes have a different appearance than the adult--and several species will interbreed so this snake could be the product of different types of snakes. The snake appeared to be a little over 2 feet long outside the water and a significant portion seemed to still be in the water.

Here's a picture not of an animal but what the animal did.

When you see damage to the bark of a tree like this, it usually means that a porcupine was working it over. They'll often go after manmade wooden structures also. I remember as a kid, there was one that would go after the wood of one of our garage doors every spring. It would only attack the left door and always left the right hand one alone. Weird.

That's how I spent my Saturday morning. What did y'all do?

BTW, the UNC game is on at 4pm and it's 3pm now so it's time to get fattening snacks ready!