Land Between the Lakes

Land Between the Lakes, on a good day, is a really magical place.  By that I mean, on a day with few people and perfect weather.  I understand this place can get packed at times.  But during my brief visit, I saw very few people and discovered that the forests are simply full of splendor.

My goal was to find a red salamander (Psuedotriton ruber).  And by the way, this animal is a great example of why some people use scientific names, the way I did in this instance.  "Red salamander".  This describes more than one kind of salamander, but there's only one P. ruber.  Anyway...I started out hiking what appeared to be a well-worn path, but within ten minutes I noticed the path give way to a boulder-strewn hillside leading down to a steep limestone outcropping.  It looked like excellent copperhead habitat.  I carefully made my way down toward the sunny patches of forest floor among the rocks and within a few minutes, sure as God made green apples, I found a copperhead.

I think Ruellia carolinensis (common wild petunia)

Fence lizard

Little brown skinks (another goofy common name) were abundant

I moved to a different spot a few miles away, where the habitat looked more than sufficient to support red salamanders.  And I sure gave it my best chance before a deluge arrived and crushed my chances further.  However, right along the edge of a crystal clear rushing creek, coiled another copperhead.

A large turtle, presumably a snapper, made a valiant and challenging attempt to nest along a very steep slope.  But as it often goes, it was all for naught, as a mesopredator dug up the eggs and made a meal out of them.