Spring photography trip to a bond

Spring photography trip to a bond was successful as I got photos of Red-throated Loons, frog and grass snake swimming in the bond. If you are interested in my Red-throated Loons photos from last year, you can see some of them HERE.

Spring is active time for frogs

Spring is active time for frogs. In April-May, frogs have spawning time, making them active and noisy. As soon as they wake up, they start their trip towards the spawning pond.

I was sitting mid of May by the bond photographing Red-throated Loons, while I realized someone was staring at me. Funny feeling as I did not see anybody near me. Suddenly I saw pair of eyes watching at me in the water. Quite a big frog was still by her summons. She was staring at me for a while and when I paid my attention to approaching grass snake she disappeared.

Frog swimming in a pond, Karnaistenkorpi, Finland

I am so happy for this meeting with the frog as I got my first frog in the water photo!!

Snakes love sun bathing in the spring

My spring trip to Karnaistenkorpi was very interesting as I got photos of swimming snakes as well.

Snakes love sun bathing and are usually found in the sunny, warm spot in the ground. A beach with plenty of vegetation, a sunny area and a suitable rocky place to spend the night and hide are grass snakes dream home. The water can be salty or fresh, so grass snake can be found on the shores of the sea, lake or river.

Grass snake swimming in a pond, Karnaistenkorpi, Finland

The grass snake, or the garden snake as old people call it, is familiar to Finns as a “kind snake”. It keeps mice and rats away from the garden. I hope that grass snakes living in our summer cottage takes care of the mice I have seen around our garden!

Grass snakes eat mice, rats, frogs, tadpole and even small birds. Hopefully I am able to see some tadpole this spring I visit the pond and that snakes leave Red-throated Loon chics alone.

Grass snake in a water, tongue, Karnaistenkorpi, Finland

Snakes taste the air using their tongue and the vomeronasal or Jacobson’s organ (heh, my surname is Jacobson :)). The organ recognizes the molecules and sends a message to the brain. The tongue is bifurcated so that the snake can collect more air.

Next week starts summer! at the moment our days are in Finland are long as the sun rises 4:14 and sets 22:30. After mid summer (in the end of June) days are getting shorter and soon it is autumn again 😂 Namely time is flying as the days are similar due to Corona isolation.

Thank you for reading my post! Take care and Wellcome back again 🙂

Spring greeting from Finland!

Minna 😊

17 replies to “Spring photography trip to a bond”

  2. Nice to see you back. The loons are so beautiful. What a wonderful area. It’s funny how you can feel eyes watching you. When I first moved here I had the same sensation and when I turned around I saw that a groundhog was checking me out. Unusual because they normally hibernate earlier but maybe he wanted to see the new person. I hope your little frog stays away from the snake. Have a great summer.

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    1. Thank you! Nice that you had time to visit my blog. Hopefully your cats and animals are ok! Loons are beautiful. I have seen both black and red-throated loons this year😊

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  3. Was just wondering if I’d missed a post or something since I haven’t seen you write anything in a while. Glad to read about your journey to the pond. Lots of action there 24/7 I’m sure 🙂 The nighttime probably gets a bit more dangerous as larger animals come out.

    The Avoimet Puutarha is next month – please say hello if you come to see our garden!

    -Kate

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    1. Hi Kate, thank you for your comment! I had SOME-brake for nearly four months, but now I am back again. Have you ever visited Karnaistenkorpi? It is really awesome place! I have sometimes been wondering what happens during the night and may be some night I am going there to see 😁

      When The Avoimet Puutarha is?

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    1. Thank you Magickmermaid! And nice that visited my blog! I was lucky to shoot those photos, usually I have seen frogs and snake on the ground 😊 Take care!

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