I spent this morning at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Southwest Philly and I didn't even try to catch any snakes. That was tough, but there was a lot of work to do. The City of Philadelphia, together with the cemetery's friends group, put on a volunteer clean up day. As painful as it was to hack away at the wonderful brown snake (Storeria dekayi) habitat, I have long felt guilty at enjoying the decrepit state of what should be a well-kept and respectfully stately space, and I needed to get out there and do my part to make at least part of it look right.

On the way home I dropped by the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center just north of Mt. Moriah to see if I couldn't find any bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) sitting on rocks along the banks.

I saw no adult frogs, but the shallows were swimming with baby bullfrogs. There were a bunch of this year's tadpoles...

...but the toddlers were all over the place as well, legs out and almost ready to absorb those tails and hop out of the water.



(not sure what this object is, but it appears to be tadpole central)



It made me wonder where the garter and watersnakes were (Thamnophis sirtalis and Nerodia sipedon).