JW: Another beautiful day for a nature walk, the 4th of May, and a time when the birds are really
alive, Rudy! RM: Yeah, and this boardwalk is great, it's
a wonderful way to see these things without really getting down into, in the, uh, water.
And when you walk out and you've got standing water the world does begin to change, doesn't
it? Look at the plants here . . . (JW: Different ones.) yeah, we haven't seen these trees yet.
This is, uh, Water Elm, right next to us. It's-it's related to that American Elm that
we saw earlier. But this one is always found in shallow water. It really has an odd - look
at the, uh, fruit up there on it - kind of an odd fruit with all these little projections
off of it. JW: Is that normal size or will it be bigger?
RM: Yeah, that's about it. It gets a little bit larger than this, but it never gets to
be a gigantic tree. And then next to it, something that usually gets a little bigger, one of
the, uh, Willows, looks like Black Willow, there. And, again, a tree you-you expect to
see in shallow, fresh water areas. Of course the Cypresses are all around us, you expect
to see that. Here's one that's interesting . . . (JW: Uh, frilly leaves!) frilly leaves
on it! Scientific name: Gleditsia aquatica - always you look for that, uh, Water Locust
in wet places, and there it is! And I can see the spines on it from here. Look at those
large spines! JW: Usually, or always on the Locust Trees
. . . mmmhmm. RM: Yeah, looks a lot like the relative, uh,
Honey Locust, which would be on higher ground. JW: Many, many trees, but also the aquatic
plants, Rudy. What kinds (RM: Mmmhmm.) are these sticking up in (RM: Yep. . .) the water?
RM: And it dominates here, coming up out of the, uh, water, emergent vegetation - Swamp
Dock is the common name for that. And you see the whirls of flowers on it, sticking
up, kind-of that greenish look to it? JW: And look right over here on this branch,
on-in the-near the water . . . (RM: Ooh yeah, when you slow down . . .) A snake!
RM: Absolutely, that's what you expect here! And that is the, uh, Diamondback Water Snake,
and really, you can see those markings clearly enough for it to make sense. See those kind-of
diamond- shaped markings formed by the dark markings on the back.
JW: I think that's the key - kind-of diamond-shaped, (RM: Yeah, yeah.) but not very large snake.
RM: No, and look at the, uh, round pupil in the eye. Even from this distance you can see
it, letting us know that it is a nonpoisonous snake, vertical dark lines on the lip scales.
Now a lot of people would look at that and think it was a poisonous snake, would think
it was, you know, a cottonmouth - which are here - but that is certainly not a poisonous
snake. And that's a small one, just coiled up in the sunlight. We ought to look closely,
now, we should see more of, uh, those, because reptiles really love the sun. I see one more
tree over here that's just an interesting tree, it's so big: uh, Silver Maple. Lot of
varieties of Maples, and a number of them love wet places, and that is one: it follows
river systems and gets out is shallow standing water like that. Silver Maple . . . (JW: Mmm.
. . Ano- . . .) . . . big seed on it. JW: One more snake over here, (RM: What'cha
got?) a larger, much larger . . . RM: Oh yeah, ooh yeah! There's another . . . Now
that, look at the markings, that is another one of those Diamondback Water Snakes, and
there's a bulge in the body so that snake has had a meal. They feed a lot on fish in
here that they catch in the-in the shallow water. But, again, a nonpoisonous snake, and
yet look how large these things get! JW: They can get to be four feet long, (RM:
Right, yeah.) close to five even. RM: Yeah, and they are protected here. They
are protected here because they are a part of the natural, uh, world. And you can get
a look at them here, and yet not really be that close to them. I saw some more movement,
look at this one! Here's a beautiful snake, I think, Broad-banded Water Snake, swimming
away from us a little bit. See the markings on that! (JW: Why . . .) It almost looks poisonous
just by the markings, and yet, uh, you see that it's not a poisonous snake, moving to
the side there, giving us a real good look at the body, kind-of slender! On the prowl;
this is the time of year when males are in search of females . . . (JW: Water snakes
should be left alone, though . . .) so maybe that's why they are more feisty than most.)
Well any time you see a snake and you don't know what kind it is, treat it like it's poisonous,
which - to me - means leave it alone. Southern Painted Turtles out there on the little raised
area. (JW: Ooh, yeah.) See, there's one of them up there, reddish line down the center
of the back of the shell. Out sunning, again, the reptiles love this kind of day. Warming
up early in the day before it gets too hot. Oh, that's nice! And movement right over here
- I didn't even see them when we came up: Mallards. (JW: Oh, the Mallards!) Mallards,
right there, male and female. (JW: Told by the green head and the white band.) Oh, yeah.
The drake is so obvious, the male is so brightly colored, and, again, we're seeing breeding
plumage now, in these birds. And that's obvious. And then the female, a little more, uh, drab
than that. Both of them getting some meals, and they don't even seem to mind us!
JW: Winter time counts at Reelfoot, during the Winter, could over 100,000 Mallards!
RM: Wow! Well it's a good Wetlands area that's been protected. Now, I see something right
up here, look in the-i-in the Water Elm in front of us. (JW: A bird? . . .) Look at the
bird - Rose-breasted Grosbeak - look at the big beak, look at the-the reddish color on
the breast, rosy red, darker bird elsewhere with some white on it, too. Oh, that is beautiful!
And look at it, feeding on the fruit that we saw earlier on Water Elm! Changing it into
Grosbeak, oh, my goodness! What a beautiful bird! And, again, migrating through, they're
not gonna nest here. They'll head a little further North. I see the female, up there,
too, now look at her. (JW: Not as brightly colored.) Again, you see that the female generally
is not as brilliantly marked as the male. Uh, again, the breeding plumage of the male
is really something to see. The female blends in a little bit better. And when you're on
the nest a lot, that makes pretty good sense. Gosh, that's a beautiful animal.
JW: Well, if you want to advance your bird list, this is the place to come.
RM: This is a great place, especially this time of the year. Let's just head on down
the boardwalk.