American Toad... darn big one!

I ran out in the rain to measure this gal as best as I could. 3.5 - 4 inches! Mighty big. Just smaller then my hand. It turns out this she a common American Toad, but a darn big one. I say her, because I recently went out with my four year old son to gather some tadpoles, so he can watch them grow, so I am hoping this may be mama! This photos were taken on Thurday, May 19, 2011.

Alisma triviale Or Northern Water Plantain Update 2

I took these pictures today around noon. The large plants are blooming, and I have noticed a whole new crop of little baby plants.

Mud Mystry Plant - Flowers etc.

Here are some more images of this plant. I have no clue or direction to go on this one right now. It is in a dark rich wet soil. Update: I think this is a Veronica catenata Pennell. Status on this plant, commonly known as Veronica's Speedwell is tenatively undertermined.

Christmas fern - Polystichum acrostichoides

I only saw two of these, but didn't got poking around much. This one is right next to my house.

Southern Water Plantain

Southern Water Plantain, not the Alisma triviale Or Northern Water Plantain which is considered an endangered plant in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I just found this one Montgomery County, here near the island. It is also very near to where a major sewer line is going to be replaced.

Alisma triviale can be distinguished by its smaller (~3 mm) flowers, if
present, and the somewhat rounded or heart-shaped base to the leaves. It is similar to a Alisma subcordatum but can be distinguished by larger (~7mm) flowers, if present, and by tapered leaf bases. Thank you to this site for that information: http://research.plattsburgh.edu/wetlandmonitoring/Plant ID manual/Findit.html

Double-Crested Cormorant

I mentioned a black bird with a long neck, with a yellow/orange beak yesterday. I saw him again this morning, diving, diving, diving. So I went out to try to sneak up on him and grab a photo, but apparently he had decided to go, and I spotted him high in the sky. I did get a decent photo of him, as you can see. My best guess is that he is a Double-Crested Cormorant. The photo was taken around 8:05 am. It is sunny out. 37 degrees.

Tree Swallows, and other swallows

Many many swallows are out and about on the creek. 30-50 would be my guess. Most of them have blue backs, and white bellies and chins, thus I believe them to be tree swallows, but I did spy one that was brown, but don't have many descriptive photos of it I don't know what kind that one is. Remember you can click on my photos to enlarge them.