Spring is Here!

This Nature Walk edition continues from #4.2 – Birds.

I’ve broken this post up into four parts due to the large number of images:

• 4.1 – Arthropods
  
• 4.2 – Birds
• 4.3 – Reptiles, Amphibians, & Mammals (this post)
  
• 4.4 – Plants & Fungi
  

The images are highly compressed for bandwidth’s sake, but you can click on the images for larger versions (and a few are much deserving of an extra click).

As always feel free to give me any species identifications where I have failed to do so or done so incorrectly.

Reptiles

One creature that exists by the thousands at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science is the turtle. If my identification skills serve me right, these are Florida Cooters (Pseudemys floridana) – though they could be one of a few different slider turtles. I really love the fact that there are turtles called cooters!

Florida Cooter (Pseudemys floridana)

Florida Cooter (Pseudemys floridana)

Cooters perched on a beaver lodge

Dead cooter. As Steve Irwin would say (in that awesome Aussie accent), "It's nature's way."

Amphibians

I just happened to look in a ditch at the spot where I eat my lunch. What did I see but hundreds of tadpoles.

Tadpoles

Tadpoles

Back in the swamp behind my house, which is currently flooded and filled with millions of chirping frogs, I came across quite a few Northern Cricket Frogs (Acris crepitans), though it was nigh impossible to get a shot of them.

Northern Cricket Frogs (Acris crepitans)

Northern Cricket Frogs (Acris crepitans)

Mammals

I happened to glance down a swath of land cleared for a high-power transmission line and saw a familiar lone figure staring back at me. It was a White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus).

White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Of course, these are a dime a dozen at my workplace as I’ve shown you before. Yesterday I managed to get a good shot of a deer’s backside as he looked back at me.  You can even see the nubs of his little antlers poking through.

"Take a Picture - It Will Last Longer"

"Get one of my guns too!"

Also in the flooded marsh behind my property, almost every single surface was covered with the shape of deer hooves.

Deer Tracks

If I don’t see at least fifty Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) in a day…I probably haven’t gotten out of bed.

Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

Ain't he cute?

As a rare treat, I managed to spot the elusive Carolina Forest Cow (Bos notrealicus).

Carolina Forest Cow (Bos notrealicus)

And finally, in the wee hours of a beautiful Spring morn, I awoke to the bloodcurdling hungry cries (and annoying paws to my sleeping face) of three not-so-big Carolina wildcats:

The Rare White Ocelot (Felix spoiledieai)

Rare White Ocelot (Felix spoiledieai)

The Marbled Manx (Felix epililepticus)

Marbled Manx (Felix epililepticus)

The Pygmy Jaguar (Felix obnoxious)

Pygmy Jaguar (Felix obnoxious)

Apparently all three of these magnificent beasts are part of some scientific study. You can tell by the radiotelemetric tracking tags affixed to their necks.

See the rest of this Nature Walk:

• 4.1 – Arthropods
  
• 4.2 – Birds
• 4.3 – Reptiles, Amphibians, & Mammals (this post)
  
• 4.4 – Plants & Fungi