The Wetlands at Slate Run Metro Park

In mid-May Joan and I explored the walking trails at Slate Run Metro Park, especially those around the wetlands at the western end of the park. Joan had visited earlier and was eager to show me the flora and fauna there.

The abundance of frogs was astonishing. Heads were popping out of the waters everywhere, often only a few feet apart.

They were mostly the common American Bullfrog.

Their concentration made me think that the larger birds, such as the great blue heron, should be very well fed this spring.

Joan was hoping to show me the water snakes she had seen on her previous visit, but was concerned that they wouldn't be visible again. She didn't need to be. First, we saw a water snake swimming through one of the ponds. It slowed down as it struggled through some algae, and I captured this photo.

Further along, water snakes were out sunning on the same log where she had seen them before. Two clusters of snakes, in fact; here's a picture of one group intertwined on the log.

The smaller ones are males and the larger one the female. (Click on the photo to enlarge.) Because there is more than one suitor still remaining, we assume the female hasn't made her choice yet.

We also saw a female red-winged blackbird, who was unwilling to fly to her nest until we drew further away. This was educational encounter for me; I would have guessed this bird to be some flavor of sparrow, not a red-winged blackbird. She doesn't need to dress brightly to attract the males, however, and her camouflage quotient is much higher than theirs.

There was a much larger bird circling constantly during the first portion of our hike:

Yes, that's Air Force One, the President's aircraft, although if the Vice President has borrowed the keys to the 747 the call sign for the aircraft would be Air Force Two. Joan later contacted the Columbus Dispatch, which knew of a fundraiser in northeastern Ohio that Joe Biden would be attending the next day, but had no idea why the plane would be circling Rickenbacker airport for hours, and practicing touch-and-go (sometimes the landing gear was down).

Joan suggested that it was an attempt to reduce the federal budget deficit by offering paid rides, or that Joe Biden had told the pilots "I'll only be a short while, just circle the block rather than parking."

We nearly stumbled over a turtle ... a midland painted turtle, the only painted turtle in Ohio. This was turning into a fruitful expedition.

The spiderwort was common in some locations.

One section of the wetlands trail system includes a boardwalk over a pond and nearby swampy area, giving the observer a closer look at the aquatic environment.
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This gave us some spectacular looks at sunning and swimming water snakes.

Any closer would have been too close.

Just beyond, there was a stand of blue flag iris, Iris virginica var. shrevei, a wet soil or swamp lover.

After finishing the boardwalk we walked up to an observation deck atop a small hill. Looking west is looking across terrain scraped by glaciers, so even a modest hill gives a good view. The tip of a telescope on the deck is at far right.

From the deck our path took us along a field edge, which was good for bird activity, and then into the woods as far as the Shady Grove Picnic Area. Almost an hour after leaving the deck, I spotted this woodland toad.

We saw and listened to an acadian flycatcher, what Joan and I know as the "pizza" bird, after its call, which sounds like"peet-sah."

Returning along the field edge, I managed a good shot of this male bluebird. The gods of photography were smiling on me: this was the best of only three attempts before he flew off.

Near the end of our walk -- 6 or 7 miles in total, Joan tells me -- we passed by a tall pole with purple martin nest boxes.

Then we arrived back at the car, about 4½ hours after we began. Life was in full bloom, and except for the parking areas and a couple of joggers close to the picnic area, we didn't meet any other examples of homo sapiens var. buckeye. Well, it was a Tuesday.