A few photos from a cold spring in Southern WI

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corey.raimond
Posts: 240
Joined: July 20th, 2010, 9:43 pm

A few photos from a cold spring in Southern WI

Post by corey.raimond »

In chronological order.

Mid March saw about 8 male tiger salamanders crossing roads in Madison. Despite not having rained at all that day, they will migrating towards a pond that was completely iced over still.
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A few days later, the first plant in out flora to bloom skunk cabbage. The flower actively melts the snow around itself.

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First week of April, fungus growth. Red cup fungus- Sarcoscypha sp

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Mid April- water snakes start to move from hibernacula

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Last day of april, a lot of the spring ephemerals are starting up.

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and I saw something pretty cool. Scattered over a road were a group of hatchling painted turtles that had overwintered in the nest and were all simultaneously heading for the pond.

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A bad photo of a Blanding's Turtle, but I was happy to get any shot because I see this species so infrequently.

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A young pickerel frog missing a hind limb

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and my favorite moment of the spring was when this mink let me get some good photos.

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-Corey
matt ignoffo
Posts: 205
Joined: June 12th, 2010, 1:49 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: A few photos from a cold spring in Southern WI

Post by matt ignoffo »

Cool. What is the deal with mink? I see them everywhere the past few years. You got some great shots of that one BTW.
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Antonsrkn
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Joined: June 10th, 2010, 2:38 pm
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Re: A few photos from a cold spring in Southern WI

Post by Antonsrkn »

The herps were cool but that mink stood out for me. I have only caught a few glimpses of them in the wild. Well we did have a wild one that moved into the macaque exhibit at the milwakee zoo that the keepers allowed to stay, I saw him a few times but its not the same as actually seeing one in the wild. BTW that tiger sal looks massive.
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Carl Koch
Posts: 435
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:45 pm
Location: West Milwaukee, WI

Re: A few photos from a cold spring in Southern WI

Post by Carl Koch »

Awesome, man...didn't know that about skunk cabbage. The SMELL could certainly melt snow! Congrats on the Blandings. Neat observation/photos on the painters...I had no idea they lie on their backs in the road like that! ;) And I must agree, the mink stole the show (pun intended)!
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