|
NEW JERSEY
|
Pine
Barrens
|
|
Click on any photo to see a larger version (DM) photos courtesy Danny Mendez
|
|
2 of 7
|
|
|
Travel
half an hour from my house and you enter the Pine Barrens, a million acres of
forest, swamps, and
sandy trails, the largest stretch of open space along the
eastern seaboard between Washington, D.C. and Boston.
Most
frequently seen herps are Fence Lizards, frogs, toads, and an assortment of
turtles.
|
|
|
|
Eastern
Fence Lizard
Sceloporus undulatus
|
|
|
|
|
Grey
Tree Frog
Hyla Versicolor
|
|
|
|
|
Fowler’s
Toad
Bufo fowleri
|
|
|
DM
|
|
Eastern Box Turtle
Terrapene carolina carolina
|
|
DM
|
|
|
Eastern
Painted Turtle
Chrysemys picta
|
In early summer
it’s not unusual to find pond turtles along the sandy roads. Females emerge from the water searching
for a dry, open spot to lay their eggs, a place with soft soil warmed by the
sun. Such chance encounters on land
provide a rare opportunity for close-ups of shy aquatic turtles, typically
seen only from a distance before they dive and disappear.
Red
Belly Turtles frequently lay their eggs on the levees of abandoned cranberry
bogs that have turned to lakes, providing the deeper water these turtles
prefer. While hiking one of those
roads I saw a Red Belly from a distance, but as I got closer
I realized there were actually two females digging nests right by each other.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Redbelly
Turtle
Psuedemys rubriventris
|
|
|
|
|
|
Red-Eared
Slider
Trachemys scripta elegans
|
|
DM
|
|
|
Eastern
Painted Turtle
Chrysemys picta
|
One
of my favorite spots is a secluded pond, quiet and still
and surrounded by green. Quiet, that
is, except for the rich k-chuck,
k-chuck, k-chuck of Carpenter Frogs calling, the banjo twang of Green Frogs, or the rolling
rumble of a lone Bullfrog. And on certain special nights it becomes a magical place,
when the bushes are adorned with jewels that take their name from this unique
region of New Jersey.
|
|
Carpenter Frog
Rana virgatipes
|
|
|
|
Green
Frog
Rana clemitans
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pine
Barrens Tree Frog
Hyla
andersonii
|
|
|
|
|
|
