Withlacoochee River 2

Starting out I noticed the water level marks on Cypress trees. The lower dark area shows the typical high water level in the river. The next marking is lighter brown with white above and shows the water level after the hurricanes of 2004. This hypothesis was verified by talking to locals along the river.

Some of the background scenery.

The water was still too high for fossil collecting but I found my other collecting goal in abundance. Pictures of the Suwannee Cooter Pseudemys concinna suwanniensis.

An adult male. You can see the long claws  on the forelimb and a bit of the long tail.

Gallinule Gallinula chloropus.

One of many Brown Water Snakes Nerodia taxispilota seen this day.

Shortly after seeing the Brown Water Snake and thinking that I never see Cottonmouths, I came around a bend and...Florida Cottonmouth Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti.

Appearing black at a distance this one still had a lot of color when viewed up close. I got in front of it to take pictures and it stopped swimming to check me out. Then it decided to climb onto the kayak and I decided to take pictures from other angles. I didn't view this as an aggressive move, just a I'm-tired-of-swimming-and-there's-a-nice-bit-of-land move.

Eventually it continued on its way to the other side of the river.

What follows are four non-native invasive plants.

Hydrilla Hydrilla verticillata.

Parrotfeather Myriophyllum aquaticum

Water Hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes.

Water Lettuce Pistia stratiotes.

Basking, feeding, resting? Perhaps all 3. This female Redbelly Pseudemys nelsoni was easy to scoop up for some pictures.

Her shell showed signs of previous injuries, but she was healthy and very heavy.

Fossil Terrapene carolina putnami from the Withlacoochee.

Apple Snail Pomacea paludosa eggs.