Tuesday, March 17, 2009

St. Patrick's Day in the Swamp


The 5th graders from Sangaree Intermediate School hope that St. Patrick didn't drive all of the snakes out of the Francis Beidler Forest in Four Holes Swamp! The rain over the last few days and the cooler weather this morning keep most of the reptiles in hiding, but the students searched diligently.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, the swamp is wearing green! The warmer weather and longer days have various plants pushing out green leaves and the only non-bird animals we saw were moss-covered (green) Yellow-bellied Sliders (Trachemys scripta scripta), a Greenish Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta x quadrivittata) and a Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea) like the one in the image. The swamp was definitely in the spirit of the holiday!

Image by Mark Musselman

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