A close encounter at Montauk Spring

On July 21 I was scheduled to do a nature walk at Montauk Spring. Sadly, no one showed. However, I walked out to the spring anyway, and was glad I did!

Bellflowers at the trail entrance. 

One of the many types of yellow radial flowers. I think there are several million relatives. There were quite a few along the trail. This is probably a type of Black-Eyed Susan.

Wild Bergamot – a type of mint.

I walked straight to the spring, not along the creek, and stepped very quietly as I approached. Sure enough, on the far side there was a muskrat! It’s actually in this next photo, but too small to see. I had to zoom in.

Not only did I get a nice zoomed-in photo, I also got one of the muskrat scratching! Although I have no idea why all these first photos are in this aspect ratio.

                                              

I worked my way along, stopping every few steps to take more pictures. I really narrowed these down a lot.

My final view was this lovely one of the muskrat from the rear. After several pictures of this pose, I made a tiny sound, a squeak or something like that. That got his attention!

I took a moment to get a shot of the lovely clear reflections across the spring.

Hey, there’s a snake! Not a surprise at this point.

Whoops, he’s on the move!

…aaaaand back to that same spot under the bank. Definitely a tunnel leading to a den down there.